Whisper 23

Sister ummabdurrahman wrote in her blog: "Putting my faith into everyday practice has been difficult. How can I strengthen my faith if I have been lacking it? How did I achieve this once newly found faith that was encouraging and positive? Was it a process I went through? I have reached a very low point in my faith. Yes, there are tests in life and greater than others but what I have yet to figure out is why are these tests an interruption of a person’s personal faith. It is like adding more weight to a scale until it reaches its capacity or like pouring a glass of water and it overflows without any direction. Has there ever been a time when you have doubted your faith?"

Any believer going through such hardship could ask that question if he said "Lo! we are Allah's and Lo! unto Him we are returning", and made invokations to God, and strove as best he could to ward off evil, and outdid all others in endurance, and yet his hardship went on and on as before, if not worse. The fact is that all the above efforts are good, but they may not be sufficient because God does not always answer prayers as quickly as one makes them, except for the case of "the wronged one". "Is not He (best) who answereth the wronged one when he crieth unto Him and removeth the evil" (An-Naml : 62). Then bear in mind that if God did not answer your prayers as soon as you made them, it might be because what you want(ed) was/is not good for you. Time will tell you that the person who was the sunshine of your life at some point, or the job that looked like your dream job, wasn't really good for you. "but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not." (Al-Baqara : 216)

"Naught of disaster befalleth in the earth or in yourselves but it is in a Book before We bring it into being Lo! that is easy for Allah, That ye grieve not for the sake of that which hath escaped you, nor yet exult because of that which hath been given."  (Al-Hadeed : 22-23)

Another fact is that a believer can have quite the same problems as a disbeliever. A believer, too, can fall ill.

"And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women and ye find not water , then go to clean on high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it." (Al-Maidah : 6)

"And whoever among you is sick or hath an ailment of the head must pay a ransom of fasting or alms giving or offering." (Al-Baqara : 196)

"And when I sicken , then He healeth me" (Ash-Shu'araa : 80)

A believer, too, can be poor.

"Let him who hath abundance spend of his abundance, and he whose provision is measured, let him spend of that which Allah hath given him. Allah asketh naught of any soul save that which He hath given it. Allah will vouchsafe, after hardship, ease." (At-Talaq : 7)

"Whoso (of the guardians) is rich, let him abstain generously (from taking of the property of orphans); and whoso is poor let him take thereof in reason (for his guardianship)."(An-Nisaa : 6)

"And marry such of you as are solitary and the pious of your slaves and maid servants. If they be poor; Allah will enrich them of His bounty . Allah is of ample means, Aware." (An-Nur : 32)

A believer, too, can undergo financial difficulties.

"And if the debtor is in straitened circumstances, then (let there be) postponement to (the time of) ease; and that ye remit the debt as alms giving would be better for you if ye did but know." (Al-Baqara : 280)

A believer, too, can have a family problem.

"If a woman feareth ill treatment from her husband, or desertion, it is no sin for them twain if they make terms of peace between themselves. Peace is better. But greed hath been made present in the minds (of men). If ye do good and keep from evil, Lo! Allah is ever Informed of what ye do. Ye will not be able to deal equally between (your) wives, however much ye wish (to do so): But turn not altogether away (from one), leaving her as in suspense. If ye do good and keep from evil, lo! Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful. But if they separate, Allah will compensate each out of His abundance. Allah is ever All Embracing, All Knowing." (An-Nisaa : 128-130)

A believer, too, can have difficulty getting married.

"And let those who cannot find a match keep chaste till Allah give them independence by His grace." (An-Nur : 33)

A believer can suffer a lot of things.

"And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops" (Al-Baqara : 155)

A believer, too, can lose hope.

"And when We cause mankind to taste of mercy they rejoice therein; but if an evil thing befall them as the consequence of their own deeds, lo! they are in despair! See they not that Allah enlargeth the provision for whom He will, and straiteneth (it for whom He will). Lo! herein indeed are portents for folk who believe." (Ar-Rum : 36-37)

So what's the difference between a believer and a disbeliever in this respect? God says:

"If ye are suffering, lo! they suffer even as ye suffer and ye hope from Allah that for which they cannot hope. Allah is ever Knower, Wise." (An-Nisaa : 104)

It's a fact that (some) disbelievers do suffer as (some) believers do, but while a believer is supposed to link the life of the world to the Hereafter, a disbeliever seeks comfort in this world only--without relying on any deity whatsoever, following his own lust and desires, assuming that his success in this life would depend only on his own physical and mental capabilities. While a believer seeks success in both this life and the Hereafter, a disbeliever concentrates all his intellectual efforts and energy on the life of the world, believing that this is the wisest way to deal with one's life. While a disbeliever does not follow any Holy Book, save his own desires, a believer is constantly reminded that there's another life awaiting him and that he should prepare for it.

Disbelievers say: "Doth he promise you that you, when ye are dead and have become dust and bones, will (again) be brought forth? Begone, begone, with that which ye are promised! There is naught but our life of the world; we die and we live, and we shall not be raised (again)." (Al-Muminun : 35-37)

God says: "O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah. And let every soul look to that which it sendeth on before for the morrow. And observe your duty to Allah! Lo! Allah is informed of what ye do." (Al-Hashr : 18)

Our problem is that we -today's Muslims- tend not to recognize these facts, because we have been brought up within a system that dinned into us that "if you work hard, you will succeed". We tend to ignore lessons from the past.

Why don't we remember, for instance, that before this faith -Islam- became so powerful, so widespread, when it was still a naissant faith in the midst of a harsh environment, the first believers who embraced it had suffered so much; they were subjected to torture, blockades, starvation, humiliation, but they resisted and remained stoic, and carried the faith in their hearts and on their shoulders until it became the Faith of great empires that stretched east and westward and has now become the fastest-growing religion in the greatest country on earth, America? Those early believers, too, asked the same questions you asked when they felt too weak to bear any more hardship, and here's the reply they got:

"Or think ye that ye will enter Paradise while yet there hath not come unto you the like of (that which came to) those who passed away before you? Affliction and adversity befell them, they were shaken as with earthquake, till the messenger (of Allah) and those who believed along with him said: When cometh Allah's help? Now surely Allah's help is nigh." (Al-Baqara : 214)

If you had a smooth life -full of joy and bliss, with no sufferings, no worries- you wouldn't probably ask yourself such existentialist questions. But now that you've asked them, you have got closer to meditating about your very existence. You would think of how you came into being out of nothing, of how God -by giving you life- gave you a chance to live in perfect happiness in Paradise--if only you were patient until the ordeal was over! So if you really want to be one of those who will lead an eternal, happy life in Paradise, you have to bear the sufferings that have been afflicted on you in this world (and which will be over, anyway). Paradise has a price, and if you want to go to Paradise you have to pay that price, and the price is patience.

"And We have appointed some of you a test for others: Will ye be steadfast? And thy Lord is ever Seer." (Al-Furqan : 20)

"O mankind! Lo! the promise of Allah is true. So let not the life of the world beguile you, and let not the (avowed) beguiler beguile you with regard to Allah." (Fatir : 5)

"The devil promiseth you destitution and enjoineth on you lewdness. But Allah promiseth you forgiveness from Himself with bounty. Allah is All Embracing, All Knowing." (Al-Baqara : 268)


Innocent Whispers