Remembering Allah in times of trials
Harun Yahya
Every person has moments in life that may be called difficult. Most people, who live away from the moral values of the Qur’an, experience these moments with feelings like discomfort, sadness and boredom. In such environments, they display traits of aggressiveness, tension and a disputatious attitude. The reason for these reactions is that they do not have faith in Allah and the perfection of the destiny He created. The reasons, which prevent these people seeing the goodness behind these events, can be summed up as follows:
Some people think that most of their lives develop as a result of coincidences in a flow. Everything from big incidents like having cancer or losing a close one in a traffic accident, to the food he eats or the clothes he wears are special events preordained in that person’s destiny. Allah creates all these incidents down to the finest detail for that person’s trial.
A person is subject to a continuous trial throughout his life; nothing happens by coincidence. If a person cannot grasp this fact and thinks that events take place independent of Allah, then he is greatly mistaken. This is because all things that happen through the course of life are a test Allah created especially for this person, and this person is held responsible for his reactions and behaviors.
Allah has infinite power and He is very merciful (Al-Halim) to His servants; He does not give His servants a trial that is beyond their power. This is a promise made by Allah: “We do not impose on any self any more than it can stand. With Us there is a Book which speaks the truth. They will not be wronged.” (Qur’an, 23:62)
Every difficult trial, diseases, accidents, financial and spiritual troubles a person may face in the life of this world are trials within the boundaries that he can handle.
A person may think that he has no way out, everything is over or that this is a difficulty he cannot overcome. He may display a rebellious attitude by forgetting that there may be a goodness in that incident. But all of these are actually empty illusions given by satan. A believer should never fall into despair, as Allah commands us, and should deeply think about every situation he faces.
“Or did you imagine that you were going to enter the Garden without Allah knowing those among you who had struggled and knowing the steadfast?” (Qur’an, 4:142)
People make many plans for their future, the next day or an hour from now. These plans are sometimes realized according to plan, but sometimes they are hindered due to unexpected developments. People who are astray from the moral values of religion think that these disruptions happen by coincidence. Whether or not a plan is carried out or not, all incidents a person faces are in that person’s destiny and are events preordained by Allah. “He directs the whole affair from heaven to earth...” (Qur’an, 32:5) “We have created all things in due measure.” (Qur’an, 54:49)
A person may think that he lives what he plans, but actually he only lives the destiny Allah creates for him. Not even a single moment is outside destiny.
A person who could not understand faith would think that all incidents are a result of random developments and coincidences. When something bad happens to him because of that, he would name such things with meaningless words like “luck.”
A person is a being limited to time and place. Everything that happens in a person’s life is created by Allah Who is not bound by time and place and Who has “infinite wisdom.”
“Nothing occurs, either in the earth or in yourselves, without its being in a Book before We make it happen. That is something easy for Allah.”(Qur’an, 57:22)
People who have sincere faith live their lives knowing that everything in their lives is subject to the destiny Allah creates and they are all created for a reason. As a result of this they always reach goodness.
“Say: ‘Nothing can happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us. He is Our Master. It is in Allah that the faithful should put their trust.’”(Qur’an, 9:51)
It is revealed to us in the Qur’an that satan is thankless and rebellious. We understand from the verses that he will approach people from the right, left, front and back and try everything to divert people from the true path. One of the most important methods satan uses to reach this evil goal is the prevent people from seeing the best in everything that happens, and thus make them rebellious and unthankful towards Allah. Satan tries whisper suggestions into people’s hearts by finding their sensitive areas.
Satan influences people in two ways to prevent the good. The first is that he does everything he can to prevent good deeds and tries to guide people to cling to the life of this world. The second, he tries to prevent people from seeing the good and wisdom behind incidents.
However, Allah has granted people countless blessings. He shows His kindness to people with blessings from birth till death. Therefore believers take Allah as a friend and guide, trust and submit to Allah even if they do not understand the wisdom of something they are faced with and endure in knowing that a good result will surely come out of it. As revealed in the verse “...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. (Qur’an, 2: 216)
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