“BROKEN BOAT”

In The Name Of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful
The Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) told us to read Surah Kahf on Fridays, and on some Fridays, you breeze through it. It doesn’t seem to relate. You read it and vaguely remember the stories. You get the big picture, and just like that, you move on. It’s Friday after all. You have plans after work, or are excited for the weekend.
But there will be Fridays where you need Kahf. Because it will hit you.
There is a part in Surah Kahf where Khidr is destroying a boat. Damaging it. Breaking it apart. And this boat belongs to a group of poor individuals. People who are just getting by and need this boat for their livelihood, to fish and to travel, perhaps even to live in it.
Musa (A.S) asks Khidr – why? How on earth does that make sense? 
Imagine that you are that poor person, with a boat. And it is destroyed. And you wonder to Allah – why? I am in need of this promotion, this grade, this job, this home, this spouse. I am in need of this dua being answered – and I do not have a silver spoon. How can you destroy my boat Allah? MY BOAT.
Why not destroy the boats of the ungrateful, the boats of those out drinking and partying and not once caring about your existence ya Allah. Why did you destroy my boat, my weak little boat, that carried my dreams. Why is it shattered? Did I not take care of it enough? Did I not worship you enough? Did I not wake up for fajr? Did I not do my fasts? 
But the story is that there was an evil King coming – and if the boat was intact, the King would take the boat from these poor people and the people will not have a means of sustenance anymore. But a broken boat – Allah knows that the poor people can fix and once again be okay, and the King would not be interested.
So your boat broke, but Allah knows He will help you fix it. He will help you find a way. But He knows a bigger picture, and something bigger He is protecting you from.
It doesn’t make sense to you right now. You cannot see the evil King, you cannot see what Allah protected you from. All you can see is your hard work in front of you – broken. All you can see is the effort it will take to move forward, to move on from this calamity.
So, if the one you wanted to marry was taken away from you – know that it’s because Allah knows what would have happened years down the line, and it maybe wasn’t the right person or the right time. 
If the grades didn’t happen the way you wished – know that it may be Allah protecting your imaan. That the grade would’ve lead you to a place, a program or a graduate school where your imaan would fall and you wouldn’t have enough support to get back up.
If the job didn’t happen then maybe that job would’ve lead you into a person you weren’t meant to become. Maybe it would’ve deterred you from your family needs and maybe in a month or two, there’s a job literally designed for you that will enable you to pray your sunnahs with ease and give you more barakat. And after that, another job, with more benefits.
Look beyond the destroyed boat.
Remember that you did make dua, that you did put in effort, and that you are loved by Allah and just as a child does not understand why his mother won’t let him have the sugary drink at 6AM – Allah loves you more than that mother. Allah loves, and Allah knows.
Try fixing the boat, or look another way — for another door.
You are capable of passing the broken boat test. 
You have the sabr: the patience is within you. Allah wouldn’t put you through it if you weren’t capable.