“May you be shown your Home in Jannah so that any hardship is made easy on you.” I read it and it hit. It really hit. And then I remembered the story of Asiyah, and suddenly realized something amazing. Asiyah was undergoing the most severe torture any person could imagine. Pharoah was the greatest tyrant ever to walk the earth. He wasn’t just a ruler over her. He was her husband. And in her final moments, Pharoah began to brutally torture her. But something strange happened. Asiyah smiled. She was going through one of the most severe hardships any human being could experience, and yet she smiled.How is that? How it is that she could be tortured and smile, and when we face a traffic jam, or someone looks at us the wrong way, we can’t handle it? How is it that Prophet Ibrahim `aliyhi sallatu wa sallam (may Allah send His peace and blessings on him) was faced with one of the greatest calamities, and yet the fire felt cool for him? Why do some people who have nothing find no reason to complain, while others who have ‘everything’ find nothing but reasons to complain? How is it that sometimes we have more patience with the big challenges in life than we do with the everyday small ones? I used to think calamites were hard because certain things are just objectively difficult to bear. I thought there was a master list, a standard hierarchy of difficulty. The death of a loved one, for example, is always harder to bear than getting a traffic ticket. It seems obvious enough. It seems obvious. But, it’s also wrong. A calamity of any type is not hard to bear because the calamity itself is difficult. The measure of ease or difficulty in hardship is on a different scale—an unseen scale. Whatever I face in life will be easy or difficult, not because it is easy or difficult. The ease or difficulty is based only on the level of Divine help. Nothing, nothing is easy, unless Allah SWT makes it easy on me. Not a traffic jam. Not a paper cut. And nothing is hard if Allah makes it easy on me. Not illness, not death, not being thrown into fire, or tortured by a tyrant. Ibn Attaillah al-Sakandari said it beautifully: “Nothing is difficult if you seek it through your Lord, and nothing is easy if you seek it through yourself”. Ibrahim A.S was thrown into fire. By the will of Allah none of us will ever face such a trial in this life. But there is not a person who won’t get thrown into some sort of emotional, psychological or social fires in their life. Don’t think for a moment that Allah SWT cannot make those fires cool for us. Asiyah was being physically tortured, but Allah showed her a home in Jannah. So she smiled. Our physical eyes will not see Jannah in this life. But, if Allah wills, the vision of our heart can be shown the home with Him, so that every difficulty is made easy.. and maybe we too can smile, even in those times. So the problem is not the trial itself. The problem is not the hunger or the cold. The problem is whether we have the provision needed when that hunger and cold come. If we do, neither hunger nor cold will touch us. It won’t hurt. The problem is only when the hunger comes and we don’t have food. The problem is when the storm hits and we have no shelter. Indeed Allah sends the trials, whereby we may be purified, strengthened and returned to Him. But, know for sure that with that hunger, thirst and cold, Allah also sends the food, the water and the shelter. Allah sends the test, but with it He can send the sabr (patience), and even the rida (contentment) to withstand it. Yes, Allah SWT sent Adam A.S down to this world where he would have to struggle and face trials. But he also promised His Divine help. The Qur’an tells us: “He said: “[ Allah ] said, “Descend from Paradise – all, [your descendants] being enemies to one another. And if there should come to you guidance from Me – then whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray [in the world] nor suffer [in the Hereafter].” (20: 123) One of my favorite Du`as is that of the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) at Taif. Bloody and covered with wounds, he called out to His Lord: “ I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right.“ Indeed Allah does test those whom He loves and He tests in proportion to the level of faith. But so too does Allah send His Divine assistance whereby any test can be made easy and any fire can be made cool. So too can Allah send His Divine assistance whereby a single glimpse of His light and the home with Him can make us smile—even in the midst of the flames of trial.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:29:22 +0000
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