My hardship.
“And when an affliction touches a man, he calls Us (while reclining) on his side, or sitting, or standing. But when We remove from him his affliction, he passes on, as if he never called Us to an affliction that touched him. Thus is made fair seeming to the extravagant that which they have been doing.” (Qur'an 10:12)
When everything is going well and we are getting everything we need, we tend to forget about Allah. It may not necessarily be on purpose, but because we are so consumed with the things from the dunya, we forget that Allah is the One who gives us everything that we need in the first place. Sometimes we forget to be thankful and grateful, until when calamity strikes....
It is usually the case that when something happens in our lives, something that happens out of our comfort zone then we turn to Allah asking Him for Help. We do not realize the blessings we have until Allah afflicts us with hardship and trials.
Lately, I have been writing a lot about trials and hardships because I am going through them right now. Alhamdulillah for these tests that really help me see just how weak I am physically and mentally. I thought that my emaan was strong and my tawakkul was firm. I thought my worship was fine until Allah inflicted me with this difficulty. It made me realise that my emaan is not so strong, my tawakkul is weak and my worship is lax. Things that I used to take for granted have now become so difficult for me to do. Things that I thought would always be easy for me, are now a struggle. Every day has become a struggle and this trial is something that has really opened my eyes. I realise that I am not doing enough. I realise that I have become complacent with my worship and that I am just doing things based on routine. I had been so busy with worrying and stressing over "what if this or that happened" that I slowly started losing tawakkul in my Lord.
I remember when I first became Muslim and how I was so excited about the deen and I was so passionate about connecting with my Creator and my trust in Him was so strong and my emaan was high. As time passed, I began to feel less connected with Allah and I was wondering what happened to those feelings I once had. It is truly a blessing that I am experiencing these trials and I know that there is a lot of kheyr in this and it is Allah's Way of bringing me closer to Him.
I feel that I have become heedless all this time and this is my chance to reconnect and strengthen that feeling I had lost. Though these trials are extremely hard to mentally overcome, I feel that it is Allah's Way of helping me get through the barrier of complacency. I am realising that every day is a blessing. I am also saddened for letting my worship become a routine and letting my fear for Allah become more than my love for Him. I realise that my Hope in Allah is not where it should be and I realise just how ungrateful I truly am. Please keep me in your duaas if you are reading this, that Allah helps me overcome this hardship and grants me shifaa and ease and may I never be heedless again. ameen)
I hope this lesson will always be a reminder to myself and a reminder to you. We often strive to chase this dunya and we always ask Allah to help us get whatever it is we want. We worry so much about the things in this dunya that we often forget that the purpose of this life is to strive for the Akhirah. We ask Allah for more than we deserve and yet He still Gives! We become heedless and forgetful about the smallest of blessings (like our health). I never realised how important health is until I was afflicted with hardship. It made me realise that we really take everything for granted from being able to wake up in the morning and look out your window from being able to make wudhu and feel the water on your skin. Subhana'Allah, the Mercy of Allah is ENDLESS! I just wanted to write post because I want to share my experience and what I have learnt through this hardship.
Always.be.grateful.
Always be grateful for the Blessings of your Lord! Even though they may not seem much to you (because by default we just love to compare ourselves to others astughfurAllah) the blessings we have are too many! Be thankful and grateful and you will never be sad or depressed. What I have learnt through all this is that as long as you have your deen and your health then nothing else in this temporary world should matter. Subhana'Allah ...if you don't have sound health and a clear mind, nothing else matters at ALL!!! So be thankful Allah has blessed us with the guidance of Islam for others look for guidance and happiness their whole life but some never find it and die as a disbeliever (may Allah protect us all from such a calamity). Be thankful you have your youth and your health and that Allah can take away this at any given moment. What a big lesson for me. I was taking advantage of my health and every little thing I used to do on a daily basis has now become a struggle! Allah is the Greatest. It just shows how weak we are and how we should never take advantage of this huge blessing and we should never EVER complain about anything!
“. . . then when (Sulaiman (Solomon)) saw it placed before him, he said: “This is by the Grace of my Lord to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful! And whoever is grateful, truly, his gratitude is for (the good of) his own self, and whoever is ungrateful, (he is ungrateful only for the loss of his own self). Certainly! My Lord is Rich (Free of all wants), Bountiful”
[Qur'an 27: 40]
We should always be hastening to repent to Allah for our countless sins that we commit knowingly and unknowingly every single day! Our sins pile up and then our hearts darken with heedlessness and disease and then we forget our Lord. This is truly the greatest calamity we can go through. We should repent before its too late...and I know it is cliche and we always hear "submit to Allah before its too late" ...I want to tell you sincerely from my heart, repenting and obeying Allah will only benefit you in the long run and we really need to do it before our health runs out. Be thankful for everything and remember Allah can so easily take it away anything and everything from you! Be thankful when in times of ease and be thankful when in the times of hardship.
It was narrated that ‘Aishah said: When the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) prayed, he would stand for so long that his feet became swollen. ‘Aishah said: O Messenger of Allah, are you doing this when Allah has forgiven your past and future sins? He said: “O ‘Aishah, should I not be a thankful slave?”
Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Always remember that everything happens by the Will and Mercy of Allah the Almighty. He says BE and it IS ! So just remember that the tests and trials that come our way are only to help purify us and to help build us into someone better and more obedient. Allah loves us otherwise He would just leave us to the shaitan ad destroy us like He has with those mentioned in the Qur'an ! Never think for a second Allah does not love us because it is only that He does that He truly tests us to see which one of us is true to Him !!! Subhana'Allah !
May Allah help us all through these times of difficulty and may we never become heedless during times of ease and comfort! Alhamdulillah for everything and may Allah protect us all from trials and calamities which we can not handle! ameen.
Always remember that everything happens by the Will and Mercy of Allah the Almighty. He says BE and it IS ! So just remember that the tests and trials that come our way are only to help purify us and to help build us into someone better and more obedient. Allah loves us otherwise He would just leave us to the shaitan ad destroy us like He has with those mentioned in the Qur'an ! Never think for a second Allah does not love us because it is only that He does that He truly tests us to see which one of us is true to Him !!! Subhana'Allah !
May Allah help us all through these times of difficulty and may we never become heedless during times of ease and comfort! Alhamdulillah for everything and may Allah protect us all from trials and calamities which we can not handle! ameen.
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9 comments
Jazakillahu khairan dear sis. You'll do just fine in sha Allah.
ReplyDeletePlease don't be mistaken, I'm a sister, lol, my name's Jameelah, Sulayman's my surname :)
ReplyDeletelol thank you sister for clarifying! I would not have known had you not told me ! jazakiAllah kheyr !
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell I wrote something but I thought you would read it first so when I saw it published I deleted it :)
Deletei didnt get a chance to read it lol.. i think we are on different time zone so i was not able to see what you wrote! what did you say?!
Deleteso true of far to many of us. May Allah make us better Aameen
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ReplyDeleteI pray Allah will bring you closer to him and bring you much healing and rest.
Salam Alaykum Sister
ReplyDeleteMay Allah bring you closer to him and may you find healing and rest. I can sympathize because I have had some trials with my health and some recent things as well-alhamdulallah. It is Allah's way of bringing us closer to him and cleansing our hearts but it is very hard. May you find healing and rest dear sister.
Assalamualaikum, please be mindful about what you are about to write. Think about it before writing and make sure it is something positive and beneficial, otherwise it will be deleted and ignored. JazakiAllah kheyr ! Sisters ONLY! xo