After Hardship Comes Relief
These are my notes on a talk given by Brother Abu Muntasir. Any mistakes, typos are my own and not the brother’s.
Sometimes Allah tests the servants with trouble (mihna, sp?), all types of hardship and He saves him from destruction because of it.
And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sâbirin (the patient ones, etc.) [2:155]
And surely, We shall try you till We test those who strive hard (for the Cause of Allâh) and the patient ones, and We shall test your facts (i.e. the one who is a liar, and the one who is truthful). [47:31]
If we were left alone and left to enjoy and if things were just fine all the time, we will become easy going, become lazy and gradually we will reduce our dedication to Allah.
We’ll become less sacrificing and become more used to luxury and we’ll stop understanding why a Muslim needs to strive and spend from his own time, money, effort and so forth.
So sometimes Allah tests His servant with trouble and he saves him from destruction by it, so the hardships becomes a delayed blessing for him.
This is how we seek strength and understanding.
These trials, tests and tribulations are a way to avoid greater problems for us. These are a way for us to gather reward for us, inshaAllah.
In the Qur’an, Allah promises that relief will come after hardship. Allah will not break His promise.
Verily, with the hardship, there is relief (i.e. there is one hardship with two reliefs, so one hardship cannot overcome two reliefs) [94:5-6]
We say it with our mouths but we also need to feel the confidence with our hearts.
In the end we are going to go back to Him, and we are going to stand trial.We have got guidance – we’ve got the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Don’t be hopeless, don’t be panicky. Use it to increase the faith. For us, Allah is enough for us. Read the ayahs. Understand them. Take heed. Repent.
Allâh burdens not a person beyond his scope. He gets reward for that (good) which he has earned, and he is punished for that (evil) which he has earned. “Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us (Jews and Christians); our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant us Forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Maulâ (Patron, Suppor-ter and Protector, etc.) and give us victory over the disbelieving people. [2:286]
Allah will remove the hardships. Do the obligatory duties – leave what is prohibited.
Come close to Allah. Remember Allah during your good times, He will know you during your hardships.
We are not suffering. We may have personal problems, difficulties at home, bills, car etc, these are not suffering. Just look at what’s happening around the world. Suffering is when you have no food to eat. Suffering is when your cattle die, your children die. That is suffering.
Help will come with patience. Help of Allah will come when we have stood our ground and remain constant in learning and practising Islam.
TV and media – what are they trying to grow in your heart – something is happening to your mind, what do you think is the effect? Be frank to yourself, be honest with yourself.
Fondness for materialism – not fondness of Allah. We need to be careful about what to filter out.
Some of the things we can do, inshaAllah, to bring about relief in a quicker way, things that are easy for us, inshaAllah:
1. Sending the salat and salam upon the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam). It brings us tremendous benefit. Affords us protection. It sounds sometimes superstitious but it’s not when we know what’s hapening behind the scenes. What happens when we say: “sallallaahu alaihi wasallam”, Allah (swt) responds, we know that he informed us through His Prophet (saws).
Verily, Allah and His angels send prayers upon the Prophet. O you who believe! Send prayers upon him and peace!
[al-Ahzab 56]
“Whoever prays upon me once, Allah prays over him ten times” [Muslim]
“Whoever sends upon me one prayer, Allah prays over him ten prayers, and deducts from his account ten sins” [Sahih – Ahmad]
“May his nose be covered with dust, one to whom I am mentioned and he does not send prayers over me” [Hasan – al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad]
Allah will suffice you from the sadness of this world. Reliance of Allah. It means we are growing our attachment to the Prophet (saws) – so say these things from the heart, because we are more fond of him. We’re more aware of his life, we are more aware of his sunnah, so we follow it, we study it more. The more hadith we read, the more we say “sallallaahu alaihi wasallam” with faith.
2. Dua.
3. Maintaining good opinion of Allah.
4. Asking for forgiveness – istighfar – Repentence. We have to seek forgiveness from Allah.
“Indeed this Qur’an directs (shows you) you to both your diseases (what are your illnesses that you can suffer from) and your cures” (if you do fall into those illnesses).
As for the diseases – it’s the sins. Think of the sins that we commit -major and minor. As for the cures – it is seeking forgiveness from Allah (swt). We need to look more at ourselves. Look at our own shortcomings. Allah will support us, increase us in children, bestow upon us gardens/rivers.
[2:25]
If we stick to faith – the future is bright.
Recommended book:
The Relief From Distress: An explanation to the Du’a of Yunus, by Shaikh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (Hardback 216 Pages, Daar Us-Sunnah Classical Collection)
Further info (on sabr):
