It started, innocently enough, with burnt toast.
One of those mornings. The kind where nothing cooperates. The toaster had a meltdown, my ride bailed, and the meeting I was rushing to? Missed entirely. I sank into a chair, sighed, and thought, Maybe life is just burning the toast to save me from the fire.
Later, the news came.
An Air India flight had crashed. No survivors.
One woman, it turned out, had missed the flight—because of traffic. A minor frustration saved her life.
That’s when the toast began to feel sacred.
Islam teaches us about qadr—divine decree. But let’s be honest. Most of us have replaced surrender with scheduling. We trust Google Maps more than God. We get irritated when plans shift, assuming life owes us perfect timing.
We worship punctuality. But maybe the Divine prefers poetry over precision.
Think of the little things—burnt toast, missed cabs, delayed trains. What if these aren’t inconveniences, but interventions? A subtle course correction. A whisper from the cosmos: Not this road, dear soul. Not today.
Mulla Nasruddin knew this kind of wisdom long before we needed TED Talks to explain it. One day, he was seen tearing through town on his donkey.
“Where are you going in such a hurry, Mulla?” someone called out.
“I don’t know!” he shouted. “Ask the donkey!”
Funny? Yes. Ridiculous? A little. But oddly profound. Like most of us, Mulla was in motion without clarity. Plans made, but no idea where they’d actually lead. Maybe, like him, we just need to trust the donkey sometimes.
We’re trained to see delays as failures. Late = irresponsible. Missed flight = disaster.
Cancelled meeting = unprofessional.
But what if… missing the flight is the miracle?
The “Burnt Toast Theory” suggests small mishaps save us from bigger ones. You forget your wallet, and end up not being on the road during a crash. You oversleep, and avoid a situation that would’ve spiraled. It sounds like superstition—until it doesn’t.
It’s not about romanticizing chaos. It’s about recognizing grace when it shows up dressed in inconvenience.
That woman missed her flight. But gained her life. I missed a meeting. But gained a message.
Sometimes, we’re not meant to arrive. At least not on time. Sometimes, we’re meant to arrive changed.
So the next time things go “wrong,” take a breath. Smile. And maybe even thank the donkey.
After all, you never know what kind of fire your burnt toast just saved you from.
💡 Want more?
Hit Subscribe to get future reflections on faith, fate, and the peculiar ways the universe keeps us humble. And if you've ever had a Mulla Nasruddin moment—share it. I’m all ears.