Light Of Trials

At the beginning of a new year, it is common for us to hear something like the New Year anxiety. Being overwhelmed with planning, evaluating alternatives, strategizing goals, and anticipating results for the year could knock us off our balance. We will often get disappointed when things don’t turn out the way we wanted or expected.

However, the following hadith reminded us; ‘A’isha reported: I heard Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: There is nothing (in the form of trouble) that comes to a believer even if it is the pricking of a thorn that there is decreed for him by Allah good or his sins are obliterated.

Islam does not teach us to view life as a place where only good things happen to good people, and where bad things happen only to bad people (if at all).

Rasulullah ﷺ teaches us that it is often otherwise: Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “If Allah wants to do good to somebody, He afflicts him with trials.”

In fact, Rasulullah ﷺ also explained that Prophets are the people who are being tried the most severely even though they are the closest to Allah. Therefore, we are always being urged to take these tests as an opportunity that could help shape us to be a better servant and person.

Narrated by Mus’ab bin Sa’d, according to Rasulullah ﷺ ; “The servant shall continue to be tried until he is left walking upon the earth without any sins.”

When faced with the pains and difficulties of this life, we should remember that Allah will never misguide us and that we are in a safe place where help is near. Today’s tragedy might be a blessing in disguise that we will never trade it for anything else in future.