Difficulties in life. Test or punishment?

A central teaching in Islam is that this short worldly life is a test from Allah (Praise be to Him). One’s actions in this life will determine the state of the next and eternal life after death. Allah (Praise be to Him) tells us the following in the Qur’an:

Every soul must taste death. And We test you with evil and good as trials, and then you are brought back to Us. (21:35)

He it is who created death and life to test you, which of you is best in deeds. He is the Mighty, the Forgiving. (67:2) The following is an essay that reflects on these verses. The text is very easy to read and is suitable for children and young people.

Difficulties, in the form of trials in this life, are a type of blessings from Allah in the sense that they give us opportunities to become better in the eyes of Allah. Imagine! If you didn’t have exams and tests in schools, then you couldn’t have shown your skills in the subject you took. If you pass an exam, you go one step further and get the opportunity to immerse yourself in the subject.

I use this analogy to describe bad times as tests from Allah. If one passes a test given to one by Allah in the form of a hardship, one has the opportunity to be patient and then get closer to Allah by passing it. Note that one has to go through a long process from primary school to university to be educated. The more exams one has taken and passed, the more qualified one becomes. In the same way, hardships are considered tests from Allah; as an opportunity to qualify oneself for a higher rank in the afterlife.

Let’s continue with this analogy. Let’s imagine a school exam with all aids allowed. Good use of these aids is a challenge in itself. Of course, one cannot do better if one does not use the aids. An illustrative example of the analogy is if one were to forget to bring a calculator to a math exam.

This worldly life is, as I said, a test in itself. And the Quran and hadith (prophetic traditions) are our tools. Then we must ask ourselves if we are really using the tools we have been given by Allah? Have we ever used all our strength to acquire knowledge about our religion?

Acquiring obligatory knowledge, fard al-’ayn, about what affects us in our lives is our duty. In the old days, Muslims had to travel a lot to acquire knowledge about Islam.

In today’s globalized society, this is much easier. Through Islamic websites on the Internet, fiqh courses organized by local mosques, and books written by scholars, we have unique opportunities to increase our understanding of Islam and subsequently improve our religious practice. The only thing standing between us and knowledge is our interest in knowing about the message of Allah which alone can bring us success both in this life and the next.

What can one do to pass tests from Allah?

Ibn ‘Abbas said that if a person is subjected to a trial, he will find three blessings in it: the first is that the trial could have been more difficult; the second is that the trial was in worldly matters and not in spiritual ones; and the third is that it occurred in this world and not in the eternal. (Purification and the heart by Sh. Hamza Yusuf, p. 71)

As a comfort during times of difficulty, it helps to remember that you are not alone in going through trials. Look at those who are in more difficult situations than you, like our brothers and sisters in Palestine. Could you imagine being in a war situation where your life is in danger 24/7? And think of the people around the world who do not have access to basic goods like clean water and food. These people have just as much right to live happily as anyone else. When you are going through a trial, never look at those who are better off than you. Then you will not be able to thank Allah for many of His gifts that you already have.

Instead, take a look at those who are worse off than you, and thank Allah that you are not in such a situation. Imagine that you are one of the poor in the world who does not have access to food. You have been hungry for two days and still have no food. Since food is a necessary good, you naturally put aside all other desires and pray to Allah to provide you with food. You are sitting at home hoping that your du’a (prayer) will be answered before you die of hunger. Suddenly the doorbell rings and your neighbor is standing with chicken curry and naan bread for you. Think! How you would feel at that very moment and think how you would thank Allah for the food you had received at that very moment. Living especially in Europe, we are in that part of the world where none of us can imagine being in such a situation.

And we must ask ourselves if we have ever thanked Allah for every sip of clean water and food we receive every day; blessings that we have never asked for, but have simply received. Allah meets many of our needs without us ever having asked for or thought about it. Many in the world truly pray to Allah to have these needs met. All this should be kept in mind so that we do not forget to thank Allah for the thousands of gifts He has given, when we experience other difficulties in different arenas of our lives. Something that helps us pass these tests is remembering death. Remembering death makes us content with what we have, while at the same time making us more adept at asking Allah for forgiveness for the sins we have committed.

Don’t let your thoughts be limited to this life; to the present. If you think long-term, you will better understand the purpose behind the various difficulties. By long-term thinking, I mean looking from today and into the next life. This helps one to be content with what one has been given and to better understand what is the meaning behind this eternal life.

There is no better source to learn from when it comes to dealing with difficulties than from our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him). It is important to know about the difficulties our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) went through in his life. Consider that he (peace be upon him) experienced the death of four of his children in his life. His father left the world before his birth, while he lost his mother when he was just a young boy. Then he lost his grandfather as well. It is not hidden from anyone how difficult times the Prophet fell into after he received his first revelation. Friends became enemies. People called our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) a madman and a liar. They tricked him (peace be upon him) and threw stones at him until he started bleeding. During his life, he lost many friends and relatives killed in wars.

His beloved wife Khadija (may Allah be pleased with her) died after 25 years of exemplary marriage at a time when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was going through a very difficult time. Among other things, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was in danger of death from his enemies who had great plans to kill our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him). If you study the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him), you will notice that his life was full of such difficulties. Have you heard of anyone who has experienced all such difficulties together in one’s life? Think about it, have you ever read about the Prophet (peace be upon him) complaining about any of the difficulties?

Everyone experiences fluctuations in one’s faith (imaan) during difficult times. Symptoms of weakening imaan are laziness in one’s worship of Allah, spiritual depression, apathy and lack of self-confidence. We have been warned against Satan, who tries to mislead us in various ways. Then it is our duty to seek help from Allah so that we develop strong faith in Him and engage in activities as a means of regaining the same energy in our worship that one has when one is at one’s best imaan. It is not that once one is at one’s best imaan, one has achieved the goal forever. Keeping one’s imaan constantly at its best level is a challenge. To achieve the goal, one must always be aware of avoiding things that can cause one to fall into something haram.

Remember that Allah does not need to test us. Whether we do well or badly has no effect on Allah. The only thing that is affected by what we do in those tests is ourselves. If we are patient in difficult times, we have been promised a great reward. If we fail to be patient and instead become disappointed and hopeless, the only one who will lose is us.

Allah clearly states that He is with those who are patient in the following verse of the Quran.

So remember Me, and I will remember you. And be grateful to Me, and do not disbelieve. O you who believe, seek help in patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient. (2:152-153)

Furthermore, we see from the following hadith that Allah the Just will give reward for every deficiency and every difficulty one encounters in this life.

It was narrated from Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri and Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “No fatigue, illness, sorrow, sadness, harm or hardship befalls a Muslim, even if it were the pricking of a thorn, but Allah expiates some of his sins for it.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 7/545)

It is worth noting that we remember Allah better in bad times when we are in need than in good times. In the following verse, Allah Ta’ala Himself has described the nature of man:

When distress and hardship befall man, he calls upon his Lord in repentance. Then, when He sends him one of His favors, he forgets what he prayed for before, and sets up equals with Allah to lead astray from His path. Say: “Enjoy life in disbelief for a little while! You are of the people of the Fire.” (39:8)

This tendency in our nature to forget Allah Ta’ala when one is relieved of one’s difficulties is part of the test. Given this characteristic, we humans should try our best to remember Allah even in good times. To achieve this, of course, we have to ask Allah for help. The following du’a can be recited after every prayer.

Rabbi a ’inni ’ala dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni ’ibaadatik.

(My Lord, help me to remember You, thank You, and worship You properly.)

If you are in a difficult time, it is either a punishment or a trial. Many of the difficulties we face are consequences of our own actions when we do not practice religion in a proper way. Then we should hurry to ask for forgiveness for the sins we have committed in the past. Think! The worst punishment is that one never receives any punishment because then one does not get the opportunity to ask Allah for forgiveness for sins committed in the past. It is our duty to acquire knowledge of religion to protect ourselves from bad times that appear in the form of punishment from Allah.

“Fighting is prescribed for you, even though you may dislike it. It may be that you dislike something that is good for you. It may be that you like something that is harmful to you. Allah knows, but you do not know.” (2:216)

When we are in a difficult period, we should first hasten to ask for forgiveness for sins committed in the past and then ask Allah to help us be patient. This very trial can be a chance for you to become a better person through patience, sabr, and get a good place in the next life. So trust in Allah. Satan does his best to lead us astray from the right path, but through the proper use of aids such as the Quran and hadith, and through du’a to Allah, one can achieve success both in this worldly life and in the afterlife. And what else can one worry about in this life when one considers one’s problems as blessings and an opportunity to become better in the eyes of Allah?

We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth, lives, and crops. But give good tidings to the patient, who, when afflicted with adversity, say: “Indeed, we belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return.” (2:155-156)

Aisha Iqbal