You will meet someone at a certain time but he does not show up on time. You accomplish something important but people do not appreciate it. You make a great effort and do something good but the person in question does not even notice it. You say something to a person with good intentions but he misunderstands it. You clean somewhere for hours and put it in a perfect state but someone appears and carelessly turns it into a mess. You need to sleep but someone makes noise. You ask for help for an emergency but he does not come to help. You give something important to someone but he loses it. You study for university exams for years but just on that day you get sick and cannot take the exam. Someone accidentally pours something on your brand new dress. You put a lot of money in your bag but your wallet is stolen. Someone comes and hits your car while driving on highway. Alternatively you are in a hurry but you can even not move because of traffic jam. Someone who is close to you suddenly gets sick and he passes away because the ambulance does not arrive on time. You are hospitalized to undergo a particular treatment but meanwhile you are infected and catch another disease.
You may feel bad and accuse others for all these incidents. Putting the blame on them, you may express your anger to them.
In such situations people grumble and feel distaste towards these people and assume that incidents would have proceeded favorably if those people had not made a mistake or behaved inconsiderately. However this is such a great delusion; indeed if a person grasps this fact, his entire outlook on life changes entirely.
Other than Allah, there is not a single power on earth that can move even a dust-sized object. Anything occurs on earth only because Allah wants it so. We can think of what one experiences throughout his life as a video-cassette. Every time we watch a video-cassette, we come across with the same images. This also holds true for the life of a human being. If this video-cassette is kept for hundreds of years and watched again after this time, the images existing in the cassette will still be the same. What a person experiences throughout his life are likewise a whole; they never change. If a person will be late for an appointment, he will definitely be late. There may be various reasons for that; there may be a traffic jam, a disease or forgetfulness. But the result never changes. Similarly nothing changes the death time of a person. Ambulance may arrive late, a traffic accident may happen or doctors may be neglectful. But the outcome never changes. Therefore a person’s outlook on the events occurring during the day must be very different. For instance, if someone’s wallet is stolen then that person should not possess that money and Allah creates a reason for that end. If he cannot enter the university exam, then Allah wills another profession for that person. If someone cannot meet his friend because he could not show up, it is because Allah wills them not to meet. Unless otherwise willed by Allah, nobody can be late, nobody forgets anything, nobody can be neglectful, nobody misunderstands anything, nobody loses anything or nobody can make an accident… There is a single fact that one needs to be aware of: “It is Allah Who creates everything that a person experiences and Allah definitely creates a reason for what He preordains.” However thisreason nevercomes into being by itself. Nobody has the power to do anything unless otherwise willed by Allah. Our Lord relates this fact in the Qur’an as follows:
But you will not will unless Allah wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (Surat al-Insan, 30)
But you will not will unless Allah wills, the Lord of all the Worlds. (Surat at-Takwir, 29)
"... Allah created both you and what you do " (Surat as-Saffat, 96)
You did not kill them; it was Allah Who killed them; and you did not throw, when you threw; it was Allah Who threw: so He might test the believers with this excellent trial from Him. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Anfal, 17)
“… We test you with both good and evil as a trial. And you will be returned to Us.” (Surat al-Anbiya, 35)
As it is also stated in the verses all these are due to the fact that the life of this world is a place of trial. In order to put people to test, Allah creates particular events that a person will like or dislike and in the face of them He puts him to test about how the person will conduct himself. In all the events that He creates, Allah conceals many secrets, wisdom, blessings and various trials. For instance a person who cannot go somewhere because of someone’s thoughtlessness may thus be protected against very great dangers. By this means, he might be kept safe against a car that will hit him on the highway, a person of ill-will that he will come across, an attack or a robbery he will face, a microbe by which he will become sick.
For this reason aware that countless secrets and wisdom are concealed beyond incidents, a person must submit himself to Allah and trust in Him. In the acknowledgement that good or bad, whatever may befall him Allah creates with goodness, he must give thanks to Allah and be aware that Allah creates the best.
He must never forget that it is Allah Who creates all events and thus never attribute events to people. A person who does good to him as well as who harms him does so only because Allah commands him so. Consequently it is meaningless for a person to get angry with people, to grumble, make a face back at them and so on. When a believer comes across a blessing or trouble, he must know that these only come from Allah.
Surely he must take precautions against evil people and nurture good feelings for good people. However he must always keep in mind that it is Allah Who creates every incident he experiences at every moment of his life.
The morality of Muslims who are aware of this fact is related in the Qur’an as follows:
Say: ‘Nothing can happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us. He is Our Master. It is in Allah that the believers should put their trust.’ (Surat at-Tawba, 51)
