The early afternoon of Monday, April 28, seemed at first like just another ordinary afternoon. Around quarter of 1, I wrapped up an important task that had taken me about an hour. Then I looked at my phone. The WiFi and cell signals were both out, as was the rest of the power in the apartment. This happens occasionally, and usually it takes no more than 30 minutes or so for power to resume. 30 minutes passed, and the clock ticked on. No power, and no cell signal either. After a while, I ventured outside and saw little groups of people clustered in the streets, which was unusual. I made my way down to the town library, where I found out that not only was the power out all over town, but also all over Spain and much of Portugal. (Some people still have old-fashioned transistor radios, and that's apparently how they found out.) It was as if Someone had pulled the plug on the whole Iberian peninsula. The apagón, as it's known here, lasted about 16 hours in my area. What was delightful: people out and about, strolling, enjoying each other's company the way humans used to do before smartphones, before TV, before radio. And the starry night sky, without the interference of hundreds of artificial lights, was a joy to behold. When the power clicked back on around 4:30 am that morning, I have to admit l was a little disappointed: I would have liked another phone-free day and another starry night. What was sobering: the outage came with no warning. Had it lasted longer, people would have started running out of cash and foods that require refrigeration. (Banks, these days, depend on online interfaces, as do credit card payment devices.) Alhamdulillah that the outage did not last longer. But it DID last just long enough to remind us that we are utterly dependent on a universe over which we have no real control. Nothing happens except by the will and command of Allah SWT. And Judgment Day will come the same way: without warning to anyone. The complete cessation of an entire nation's power supply, which I and so many others take for granted, was a potent reminder of powerlessness and mortality for this Muslim. No human power grid, no human-designed system, no set of laws provides for us. Allah SWT does. And we live and die at His will and command.