Hardship and struggles in this life Imagine a situation where a person is right in the middle of the ocean.

His ship is sinking. Life boat is not working either. There is no one to help this person. Do you know what human nature does in such situation. No matter what religion he/she follows or even if that person doesnt believe in God, their heart automatically turns to the true tawheed, one creator. Atheist would tell themselves wish there was a superpower to come and rescue me. They are too blind or arrogant to admit that there is a God. But seeking help from a superpower they subconsciously admit Gods existence. It is true that we all experience hardship, struggles, pain in this life. Some experience more than the others. Can you recall any event of your life when you were so helpless that you felt like no one was there for you. You tried to reach out for help from different people, you knocked on one door to another but everything was closed. There was nothing left to depend on. Do you ever wonder why when you are most in need, every door you seek of creation remains closed? Why does that happen? We human are constantly in a state of need. We are made weak. We are hasty and impatient as well. When we are in trouble we are bound to look for help. Our creator knows this very nature of us. When does one seek help? It is when they storm hits. No one seeks help in a nice sunny day. Allah knows this. Hence He sends the storm so that we seek help. But when we seek assistance, we seek it in what is near and easy. We look for shortcuts. We seek it in human/bank/hospital etc. While there is nothing wrong in seeking help in those, but what we totally forget sometimes is we dont ask for help from our creator, we ask from the creation, from duniya. If we only knew well and truly that our Allah is nearer to us more than this duniya, wed turn to Him first. Like Allah says in the Quran: We are nearer to him (mankind) than his own jugular vein. Do you know what jugular vein is? Its the big vein in our neck. Allah is saying He is even nearer to us than this vein. Subhanallah. Allah also reminds us in Quran know that Allah comes in between a man and his heart and that it is He to whom you shall

all return. See how Allah is telling is to depend on him more than anything else, not just in words but in actions too. It is never easy to stand in a storm. And that is the point. By sending the wind, He brings us to our knees: the perfect position to pray. The story of Asiyah always touches my heart. She was king Pharaos (during prophet Moses) wife. She was a queen but the position and palace in this world did not appeal to her. The most important thing to her was akhirah. She was one of few women who had certificate to jannah in this world. Why? Because she had such a strong Iman. Pharao was one of the biggest oppressor and tyrant in human history. He used to torture her brutally and physically. But Allah showed her a home in Jannah. With this power of Iman, she could take any hardship and pain in this world. She could even smile in such a hard life. Our eyes may not see a house in Jannah in this life. But if Allah wills, the vision of our heart can surely see that final home and destination in the presence of Allah. When we have this vision every difficulty will be easy for us. May be we can also smile through any pain. How do we measure how difficult or easy a calamity is? Whatever we face in our life will be easy or difficult to bear not because the problem or task itself is easy. But the ease or difficulty based on the level of Allahs help. Nothing, absolutely nothing is easy except what Allah makes it easier on us. Not a traffic jam, not even a small cut during cooking. And nothing is difficult if Allah makes it easy on us. Not illness, not death of the loved ones, not tortured by a tyrant (in Asiyahs case), not being thrown into fire ( Prophet Abrahams case). One Islamic scholar said it nicely: Nothing is difficult if you seek it through Allah, and nothing is easy if you seek it through yourself, or someone else. Prophet Abraham (AS) was thrown into the biggest fire made during his time. But Allah ordered this fire to become comfortable for him. None of us faces such a big trial in this life. But everyone gets thrown into some sort of emotional, psychological or social fire in their life. And dont think for a moment that Allah cant make those fires cool for us.

Why do we have hardship and problems and trials in life: Non-believers think this life is their paradise their case is different. When Allah sends hardship and difficulty to them, its actually a punishment to them. They get punished in this life and eternally in akhirat because they arrogantly deny the existence of God or share partners with him. But for the believer its a different story. Allah sends hardship not for our punishment but for our own benefits. Youll probably think how can difficulties bring benefits to us? Well, first of all, whats the purpose of life? Why are we here? Whats our real home? We all know the answer that this life is very temporary. This is not our real home. What does Quran say about this purpose of life. Our purpose here is to know our creator and get closer to him. People who dont believe in God see success differently. Their view is solely materialistic. They dont believe that there can be a better place than this life. They become very impatient and angry when their life isnt perfect or they dont get what they want. Because this life is supposed to be their paradise. This life is all they want. Their every effort, every opportunity, every ability and every gift given to them by the creator is used for the sake of this life. Their soul is attached to this world. Hence when the angel of death comes to take their soul, they feel tortured. Why? Because their soul dont want to leave this world. The way this materialistic world define happiness is wealth=happiness. The more money, assets one owns the more successful they are considered to be. But we know this is not true. All we have to do is look at those rich people and people with fame like celebrities. Are they happy? No. Most have clinically diagnosed depression. Some seek happiness from drugs and alcohol which proves that they are not happy within themselves in the first place hence they have to look for other means. Some even commit suicide. We often try to create a jannah, a perfect, storm-free, stress free world here. But this doesnt exist in dunya. For a believer this life is a time to earn for the hereafter. No matter how wonderful this life is, we are

aware that we can never make paradise in this life. Because this life is never going to be perfect. The only perfect world is Jannah. Thats why it doesnt upset them when their life and world around them is not perfect. Their soul is attached to their real home, Jannah. The moment we shift our focus from this world to akhirat, a calm, peaceful worldcan exist inside even when we are in this world full of chaos. Our happiness is inside ourselves. No one can take that sanctuary away from us. No storm can affect it. No rain can reach it. This is another blessing of Iman. Only people with true iman is happy in this world regardless their situation because they have this inner peace within themselves which comes from submitting to the will of Allah. Thats why the other meaning of islam is peace. As a believer, our criteria of success are not gain or loss in a material sense in this world. Allah teaches us that our criterion is something higher. What we have or dont have is only relevant in as much as it brings us closer or farther from our main goal: Allah. This duniya is nothing more than a dream that we experience and then awaken from. Whether that dream was good or bad for us depends only on our state once we wake up (in the life hereafter). At times a dream may look, feel, sound real. At times dream scares us or even make us cry. This is what Allah is telling us about this life. It is as short as a dream. Allah says in the Quran: The present world is only a false. You are sure to be tested through your possessions and persons... Who does Allah test? Only the believer who have faith in him. In deed Allah does test those whom He loves but He tests in proportion to their Iman. Which means Allah sends bigger trial to those who have stronger Iman. Think about all the prophets. Some prophets were even murdered by their people. Think about prophet Ibrahims life. His life was full of test. Even prophet Muhammads life. Hardships were sent to him since he was born. From emotional stress to physical and financial difficulties he went through everything. It means Allah does test those who He loves.

Why does Allah tests us. Allah sends trials so that: 1) We may be purified. When we beat a carpet with a stick or something, is our purpose to hurt the carpet. No, although it looks that way. Our purpose is to get rid of dust and purify it. Thats how Allah purifies mumin with trials. How is gold purified? It is burnt with fire . Same thing applies to human too. Hardship purifies our soul. 2) Grow. For physical growth we need food and nutrition. But for spiritual growth hardship is a must. Why? Because it strengthen our iman. Adversity strips away our masks, revealing the truth behind declaration of kalima. 3) All muslim can recite La ilaha Illallah but not all work on it. Hardship separates those whose kalima is true from those who are false. As Quran says Do the people think that they will be left to say We believe and they will not be tested? But we have certainly tested those before them. In another part of Quran, Allah says: Do you think that you will enter the garden without experiencing what those before you experienced? They are afflicted by misfortune and hardship and they were shaken so much so that even their messenger and the believers with him cried When will Allahs help arrive? Truly Allahs help is near. This is such a strong passage and theres so much to learn from it. People were tested so intensely that even the prophets cried saying When will Allahs help arrive? Then Allah reassures us in next aya saying His help is near. Look at our life. Some of us never had to go through such strong test. Look at muslims in Palestine, Egypt. Syria, Burma and so many other parts of the world. They have been tortured for decades and decades. But their iman is stronger than ever. On the other hand, Allah has given us so much safety and security and blessings. We are still ungrateful! Once we realise this fundamental fact that life is a test, something amazing happens. Our attitude changes. Instead of asking How could this be happening to me? our question becomes How

should I pass this test? What am I meant to learn from this test? How can I use this test to get closer to Allah? The beauty of the tests of Allah is not only He notified us in advance (in the Quran) that those test are coming but also gives us the exact recipe to pass. The most important ingredients are: sabr (patience) and taqwa (mindfulness of Allah). He assures us many times in the Quran that He is the best protector, the best helper. For Muslims only Allah is enough. 4) Achieve certain qualities. For an example if there wasnt any suffering we would never be able to achieve certain qualities that Allah wants us to achieve. If parents wouldnt suffer for their baby this strong special bond between them would never develop. Qualities like love, mercy, compassion only come out when we come across people or even animal who are suffering. We see tragedy, natural calamities, tornadoes or earthquakes on a regular basis. Some people may ask why God permits sufferings to those innocent children, animal etc etc. Well, the answer is multi-dimensional. Those natural calamities are meant to remind us how hopeless and weak we are. The other reason is God is not happy with widespread sins in our society. So he is reminding us to come on the right path. But there is another very important purpose behind those calamities. Allah wants to test us if we go forward to help those people. In Islam, Zakat and sadaqa are such an important pillar. Like our prophet said Muslim ummah is like a body. When one part of human body experiences pain the whole body feels discomfort. Likewise when one part of muslim nation experiences any difficulties, the whole muslim ummah feel the pain. 5) Another purpose of hardship is it wipes out our sins. This is actually a major issue. We often dont even acknowledge that we are disobeying Allah knowingly and unknowingly. We think we havent done anything bad etc. This is actually a trick of iblis. He makes us think that way so we dont ask for forgiveness from Allah. We human are constantly disobeying

Allah. Our mouth is uttering things that can be considered as kufr and shirk. For an example sometimes we say things like Because of such and such person only this good thing happened to me or Because of Allah and this person..... Or that medicine cured my problem, That doctor fixed my problem. See how we are denying that Allah cures us or fixes our problem and considering someone else as a source of blessing, cure. We often think our money comes from our hard work only. Not really. Its a gift given from Allah. If He didnt wish we wouldnt have been healthy enough to get out of bed, let alone working hard to earn money. We also say thing like why did this (bad thing) happen to me? Why is Allah doing such and such to me? We also compare our situation with other people and say things like how come this person got this, or this (good thing) happened to their family. Why cant I/my family have this? By saying things like these, we are actually questioning Allahs wisdom there. Allah is Al hakim, Al Alim (most wise, most knowledgeable). This is a form of kufr. If Allah lets someone have some assets or possessions or some special gift, who are we to question him? Allah gives to whoever He wills. This person with extra gift will have extra questions from Allah though if they used that blessing in the path of Allah or in disobeying Allah. Grave worshipping, Astrology, believing in star signs, palm reading, fortune telling are all different types of shirk. Another major sin we often do is neglecting our compulsory prayer. Allah sent all commandments to prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by angel Jibreel. But there was an exception where Allah himself gave that commandment to our prophet. During Miraaj Allah raised prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to the seventh heaven, a place not even angel Jibreel could enter. Do you know what gift did our prophet bring to us from that divine journey? Prayer. It shows how important prayer is. First it was given as 50 times a day and then it was reduced to five times to make it easier for us.

The process of reducing from 50 to 5 was a deliberate one. The purpose was to teach us the true place of prayer in our life. If we had to pray 50 times a day, this would be our main focus and take most part of our time. That is the whole point here. Our life should revolve around our prayer which must be our main focus. But the way we live our life is completely opposite. See how we constantly disobey Allah and still shaytan makes us think we are not doing any major sins. We all know the story how the most pious jinn (iblis) became shaytan. Because of his ibadat he was elevated to the level of angel. He believes in Allah. He knows Allah is our lord. He believes in akhirat, he believes in prophets and all other things that a most muslim believe. But Quran still said he is a kafir (disbeliever). Consider for a moment what he did wrong. He refused to make one order, one sajda. That was it. Now think about us? How many sajdas have we been missing and we still think Allah should have mercy upon us. We are constantly worried about succeeding in this life so much so that we forget about akhirat. Prayer will be the first thing that will be asked on the day of judgement. Prophet said The first thing which will be judged among a persons deeds on the day of judgement is the prayer. If ones prayer is in order, he will succeed but if it is defective then he will fail and be a loser. The people of jannah will ask the people of hellfire what made them enter hellfire. The Quran tells us what exactly their first response will be. They will reply we were not of those who prayed. 6) Hardship elevates our status. This applies to all prophets. All of their sins were forgiven by Allah. But they still went through the most difficulties a human could imagine. Why? Is Allah punishing them for their sins? No. Allah is elevating their status. Prophet Muhammad sometimes used to stay up all night praying so much so that his legs got swollen. One day he was in

sajda and was taking so long. Ayesha (RA) was in bed. Seeing no movement in prophet, she thought may be he was dead. So she poked him to check if he was alive. In another narration Ayesha (RA) asked him Why do you pray so much especially when all your past and present sins are forgiven?. Prophet replied Wouldnt I be grateful to my lords mercy? Subhanallah. Allah still tested him with hardships one after another. Why? To elevate his status. 7) Hardship can bring Allahs worshipper return to Him. It may fix our broken relationship with our creator. Allah sends us difficulty so that we may go back to him. Sometimes when we are happy and healthy what do we do? We dont remember Allah that much. But what happens to us when we get sick or something serious happens to our loved ones? We start making special dua, pay extra sadaqa, do voluntary salah and zikr and all. We keep reciting: La ilaha illa anta subhana inni kuntu minaz zalimin (None has the right to be worshipped except for you, glory be to you. Certainly I have been of the wrong doers). We do so many other zikr. See how we return to Allah. This is how Allah takes us back to Him for our own benefit. This is beautifully said in the Quran We tested them in the good times and bad that perhaps they would return (to Allahs obedience). If we look at those points mentioned above, we will come to realisation that hardships are actually blessings and signs of Allahs love. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mentioned this fact beautifully in one hadith: Whenever Allah wants well for a person, He subjects him to difficulty. Hardship can only be a punishment to us if you respond negatively. For an example if we say things like why is this happening to me when Ive done nothing wrong? What did I do to Allah? (Nauzubillah). On the other hand if we respond positively with sabr (patience), it becomes a blessing to us by wiping out our sins, bringing us back to Allah, strengthen our iman, helping us grow spiritually.

Quran talks about those people who were tested before us so we can learn from them. One passage of surah Baqara translates Many people have fought...in the face of sufferings for Allahs cause, did not lose heart or weaken or surrender. Allah loves those who are steadfast (and have sabr). All they said Our lord, forgive our sins and our excesses, make our feet firm and give us help against the disbelievers. So Allah gave them reward in this life and akhirat. See how beautiful their prayer was. They werent complaining that they were being tested. Instead they were asking help form Allah. Some people ask why does Allah have to test us when He already knows who will pass or fail? The test is there to benefit us and our soul so we can get closer to Allah. The other reason is sometimes test is there to make it evident to other people that you are qualified. Think about exams students have to take. Some students are so good that their teachers already know they will pass. But they still have to go through the test to prove themselves to other people that they are really qualified and competent. This point is mentioned in the Quran We have certainly tested those before them and Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful and He will surely evident the liars. Our problem is sometimes we take Allah as a teacher at exam hall. Like Allah has given us the exam paper and watching us. Do you know one of the major differences between Allahs test and exam we take for a degree or qualification? In an exam, are we expected to raise our hand and ask teacher to help us? No, it would be considered cheating. But think about Allahs test. He actually expects us to raise our hand and make dua to him. Subhanallah. This is another purpose of His test. We are told in a hadith qudsi: Our lord descends during the last third of each night to the lower heaven and says: Is there anyone who calls on me that I may respond to him? Is there anyone who asks me that I may give unto him? Is there anyone who requests my forgiveness that I may forgive him? See how kind is our Allah? And what do we do? We may say yes to every other call in this world but ignore our creators call. If a king were to come to our door offering to give us anything we want, what would we do? Wed be so prepared and would never want miss

that opportunity? Allah, the greatest king, tells us that the last hour of the night He will come to his servants. He waits for us to come speaks with him and asks him. Yet many of us leave Him waiting while sleeping. Im sure we wouldnt do that to our king in this world. This is how we treat our creator and yet expect that our dua should be accepted. Allah tells us in the Quran that for all things, He has created an appointed term. This includes our hardships and struggles. They all have a birth and a death. They all have a predetermined term. Every situation in our life has an appointed term, after which they come to an end and/or change. There have been a few periods of my life when this particular ayah has comforted me so much. Allah comforts us so beautifully: And be patient for the decision of your Lord, for indeed you are in Our eyes . See how our creator is saying He has our situation covered. Just be patient. Even during the appointed time of the hardship, we are in His eyes. He is taking care of you during it. What a comfort! When you know Allah is there for you, you dont really need anyone or anything else. If Allah wants to give someone something good, even if the whole world went against it, no one could take it away from that person. Have you noticed one of interesting facts about our life. When things go wrong and we go through difficulties, there is always one or more positive thing or person in our life who is there to support us. Sometimes we are so stressed that we dont see or appreciate that light in that period of darkness. But Allah always keeps something positive there for us. There is a beautiful story mentioned in Quran in surah Al kahf. It was a story of Prophet Mosa (AS) and Hazrat Khizr. Most Islamic scholar agrees that Khizr was an angel. Anyway the story was mentioned so that we can benefit from it. The story goes: Once prophet Moses was on a journey and he met a knowledgeable person Khizr. Prophet Moses (AS) wanted to go with Khizr so that he can teach him wisdom. Khizr was reluctant to take Moses with him saying you can not bear with me, you can not have the patience. But Moses (AS) insisted so Khizr agreed

to take him but gave him a condition you should ask me no questions about anything until I myself mention it to you." They started their journey until they saw some boats on the shore. Khizr made hole in the boat. Moses (AS) broke his promise and couldnt help but asking him What! have you bored a hole in it so that all the passengers may be drowned? This is a grievous thing that you have done". Khizr replied "Didn't I tell you that you would not be able to bear with me patiently"? Anyway, they continued their journey until they met a boy and Khizr killed him. Moses (AS) lost his patience again and cried out Have you killed an innocent person, though he had killed nobody? Surely this is a horrible deed that you have committed ". Khizr answered "Didn't I tell you that you would not be able to bear with me patiently"? Moses (AS) made a promise again then hed keep quiet. Then they continued their journey until they reached an area and request its people to give them some food but the people declined. There they saw a wall which was about to fall down. Khizr set the wall up again. Moses (AS) said to him you should have asked for some payment for your labour. Then Khizr replied This will do. You couldnt keep patient. You must leave. But in the end Khizr explained to Moses (AS) why he did those things which didnt make any sense. He explained As regards the boat, it belonged to a few poor persons who toiled on the river. I intended to damage it because further on there was the territory of a king who forcibly seized every good boat. As for the boy, his parents were true mumin and we feared that he should trouble them with his rebellion and unbelief in the future. Therefore we wished that instead of this boy, their Lord may grant them another child who may be more righteous. As regards the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys, who lives in this city. A treasure for them lies buried under this wall. As their father was a righteous man, your Lord willed that when these children attain their maturity, they should dig out their treasure. All this has been done as a mercy from your Lord...This is the interpretation of those things about which you could not keep patience This story is full of lesson. When certain things happen or do not happen to us, we often take it superficially without realising that there may be benefits behind that. Human knowledge is very limited. We dont even

know whats going to happen tomorrow, let alone years later. So when things dont go according to our plan we get impatient. Our iman demands us that we should be patient and realise that whatever happens happens by Allahs wish. Include these dua in your everyday zikr: La haola wala kuwwata illla billahil ali il azim ('There is no power nor
might except

Hasbunallah wanimal wakil, nimal maola waniman naseer

Allah alone is sufficient for us. What an excellent/perfect/wonderful guardian/protector he is and What a great helper. Anta walee fiddunya wal akhira, tawaffani muslimao wal hikni bis swaliheen (You are my guardian in this life and hereafter. Make me die as a muslim and make me righteous.