Guitar Hero to the Rescue!

“SubhanAllah” moment of the week occurred yesterday. I was playing Rock Band with some friends after I was done with a loooong week of class/midterm study - note: this game is $150 and we don’t spend that kind of money on games in my house (but we do on jeans...if that means anything). For awhile I stuck with vocals because singing is easy and fuuunnn but after awhile someone else wanted to try, so I tried out the guitar. I’m sure everyone knows what a Rock Band guitar looks like - just like a Guitar Hero one - six colored buttons on the neck and while you play you watch the screen to know which buttons to press while you “strum” the bar. When you’re new it takes a lot of concentration because your brain is still learning which fingers go with which colors, the more you concentrate, the faster you learn.


I was doing horribly, on EASY, while everyone else was playing on hard or expert. But even as I saw myself getting low percentages every time, I didn’t make an effort to pay more attention to the finger-color pattern. It as as if I had internally labelled myself as a “n00b” and therefore it was acceptable for me to be performing badly. This seemed like a mechanism to keep myself from feeling bad about performing poorly as well as to prevent myself from the “oh no” feeling of treading outside of the waters of my comfort zone.

At the time, I didn’t care. But the “subhanAllah” kicked in this morning when the connection between my incoherent playing was made with the way I’ve been living my life - Ya-Allah, you work in such beautiful ways.

Basically, I’ve been “half-assing” (for lack of a more fitting word) my way through LIFE. Whether it’s preparing for tests, participating in class, running races, concentrating in prayer, being a good Muslim. EVERY SINGLE one of these things could be done SO MUCH better, but I choose to stay in my little bubble and not move forward...just get by. If I was somehow able to get out of my body and look down at the person that I have grown into, I would be quite disappointed. I’d flip them the bird. I have like sixty more years to live tops...and if I’m going to merely “get by” for the next years, I doubt I’ll have much to show for it on the Day of Judgment.

“Verily, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (al-Qur’an, 13:11)

Allah (swt) is always there to help us, but we need to provide an outlet for this help! This is for anyone who feels like they aren’t getting the most out of their life - and I’m sure everyone feels like this at time. But, hey, the answer is lies in the Qur’an. At last Friday’s khutba the speaker said “If you want to talk to Allah (swt), pray. If you want Allah (swt) to talk to you, read the Qur’an.” So let’s make two nafl of prayer today and ask Allah for aid in re-connecting with him and in turn i’A becoming a better human being. Ameen.