Failure to consider the perfection of destiny and that there is goodness in everything

In one verse of the Qur'an, Allah tells us, "... It may be that you hate something when it is good for you and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know" (Surat al-Baqara: 216). During their lives, people may encounter unexpected, unwanted and undesirable events. Every one of these is a special situation created to test them, as we are told in the verse, "He Who created death and life to test which of you is best in action..." (Surat al-Mulk: 2). What people need to do, no matter how difficult and negative what happens to them may seem, is to trust in Allah and be aware that our Lord predestines good for them in every event. The security and submission which a faithful person feels in his heart controls his morality. This is the kind of behavior by which a person puts his trust in Allah.

Putting trust in Allah is a blessing and a great consolation for people, provided by Allah. People who understand the truth declared by Allah in the verse, "… What assailed you on the day the two armies met was by Allah's permission..." (Surah Al 'Imran: 166) surrender themselves to Allah's wisdom, so they both see beauties and blessings at every moment of their lives and show their faith and trust in Allah through their morality. In return for this morality, Allah eases their paths, as we are told in the verse, "...Whoever fears Allah—He will make matters easy for him" (Surat at-Talaq: 4). As Allah informs us in the verse, "It is He Who sent down serenity into the hearts of the believers thereby increasing their faith with more faith—the legions of the heavens and the Earth belong to Allah. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise" (Surat al-Fath: 4), in return for the submission which they display, Allah calms the hearts of the faithful and gives them feelings of tranquility and security.

The Qur'an tells us how believers, who know that Allah will transform all events that appear on the surface to be good or bad into something auspicious for His sincere servants, express their submission to Him:

"And why indeed shouldn't we put our trust in Allah when He has guided us to our ways? We will be steadfast however much you harm us. Those who trust put their trust in Allah." (Surah Ibrahim: 12)

A person who trusts in Allah and relies upon Him suffers no pain or grief. This is Allah's promise to His devoted followers. In the Qur'an, we are told this:

Those who say, "Our Lord is Allah," and then go straight will feel no fear and will know no sorrow. (Surat al-Ahqaf: 13)

As we can see, if Allah wills, submitting to Him makes everything easier. In the absence of submission, every detail of one's life turns into an additional difficulty, trouble and sorrow. Every task becomes more complicated, even insoluble. The most ordinary and basic occurrences, and those that are easiest to resolve, grow to problematic proportions in the eyes of those who are not submissive. Even when they claim they believe in Allah, such people may forget how destiny is woven in a wonderful pattern or become trapped in the idea that events occur independently of Him. (Surely Allah is beyond that!) Because of this, they cannot look positively at events that happen to them and see the goodness in events. They live in continual fear and concern. They experience tension brought about by their lack of submission by thinking up negative possibilities, even when these are not at all likely. In the same way, they find something to describe as a drawback, even in affairs that are running perfectly smoothly.

In addition, because they do not consider that every event they experience is from Allah, they get into terrible troubles by believing that they have to solve every difficulty or problem by themselves. In fact, no matter what they do, it is impossible to solve anything without Allah's willing it. For this reason, a submissive person will attempt every solution and make every effort he can. But because he knows that Allah will bring about the outcome, he does all this calmly and comfortably.

The problems suffered by people who lack submissiveness are frequently encountered in everyday life. For example, you will have often run across the rage and the angry words of a person who's missed his bus on the way to work. He cannot pull himself together for several minutes. Even if he finds another way of getting to work on time, he is upset by this incident throughout the day. He will become stressed and torment himself by thinking that everything will go wrong on a day that's begun badly. If instead of this, he considers the possible benefits that Allah may grant through this event, he would not become so troubled. He would go on hoping for Allah's approval because he surrenders himself to Allah even when everything appears to be going wrong.

In the same way, a person injured in an accident cannot be protected from the worry into which he falls when he behaves with a lack of trust in Allah towards what has befallen him. Because he has forgotten that it was Allah Who created this event, he looks for the fault in the driver of the vehicle or in himself and gets angry. In fact, all his worry is entirely groundless. In such a situation, thinking about just one positive aspect of what happened is enough to rescue the person from this irreconcilable concern.

For example, considering that the outcome could have been not injury but death is a reason to be grateful to Allah and a source of calm and cheerfulness. Or the patient should take pleasure in thinking that injury is a means of feeling close to death and the Hereafter, and that this brings him very close to Allah and increases his fear of Allah. Perhaps because of this he will be rescued from pride and vanity, and his submission will make Allah pleased with him. This will bring him great blessings and benefits in the Hereafter. Thus a person who believes with certainty in Allah and the Day of Judgment can understand the benefits and blessings Allah has created in any situation.

People who have only a superficial faith may often behave with lack of submission. And because of this, in contrast with true believers, their lives may be filled with troubles and sorrows. If such people submit to Allah in the way the faithful are instructed to do in the verse, "[Believers are] those to whom people said, 'The people have gathered against you, so fear them.' But that merely increased their faith and they said, 'Allah is enough for us and the Best of Guardians'" (Surah Al 'Imran: 173), the sorrows they suffer will come to an end.