(016) Understanding This Concept Will Help You Cope With Every Difficulty

Neither Bliss & Bounty Nor Difficulty & Hardship Last Forever...

Author

Adnaan Menk
September 15, 2024

(read time : 5 minutes)

Today At A Glance

  • You Belong To Allah

  • Being Resourceful In Business

  • The House Of Arqam

You Belong To Allah

Allah says:

“We Will Most Definitely Test You With A Bit Of Fear, Hunger, Decrease In Wealth, Loss Of Life, Loss Of Crop, So Give Glad Tidings To Those Who Are Patient. When Calamity Afflicts Them. They Say, ‘Indeed We Belong To Allah, And Indeed We Will Return To Him”

[Al-Baqarah 2:155-156]

Last week, we took the first half of the verse, establishing that every human will be tested in some way or another. Therafter, Allah says: “Give Glad Tidings To Those Who Are Patient.”

As you go through difficulty and hardship, try your best to be patient. Try to prevent bad thoughts as well as speech and action that displeases Allah. Its difficult, however that is part of the patience. Understand that you reward is with Allah.

In the next verse, He says: “When Calamity Afflicts Them. They Say, ‘Indeed We Belong To Allah, And Indeed We Will Return To Him.”

Truly pondering over this verse makes you realise that, Allah is in control. We belong to him. He does as he pleases. Understanding this and submitting to his decree makes it easier to handle difficulty and hardship and knowing that ultimately we will return to him, makes us realise that no hardship will last forever.

Summary

Neither Bliss & Bounty Nor Difficulty & Hardship Last Forever. It’s All A Test That Will Come To An End. You Will Be Asked About How You Performed In The Test.

Ponder Over The Verse

'‘You alone we worship, You alone we ask for help” (1:4)

Reflection

Sometimes we rush through our salah without concentration forgetting that we are in front of Allah. If we truly practised upon the meaning of this verse we would make an effort to perform our salah with full concentration understanding that there can be nothing else more important occupying my thoughts besides Allah.

Being Resourceful In Business

Ali Ibn Abi Talib R.A says:

"I had an old camel and The Messenger ﷺ gave me another. When I wanted to get married to Fatima R.A, daughter of The Messenger ﷺ, I agreed with a jeweller from Banu Qaynuqa to come with me and collect lemon grass. i wanted to sell it to the jewellers to help with my wedding” [Bukhari]

This hadith contains many benefits

  • Imam Al Bukhari R.A puts this hadith under the “chapter of what is said of a jeweller” to show this is a permissible occupation.

  • The permissibility of going to source goods/products from a place and sell them for a profit.

  • The resourcefulness of Ali ibn Abi Taalib R.A. Even though his camel was old, he still managed to use it in order to earn.

  • The concern of Ali ibn Abi Talib R.A with regards to being able to provide for his family after marriage.

  • There is no shame upon a scholar/person of knowledge to go out to seek provision as practised upon by the companions of The Messenger ﷺ

Summary

Everybody starts their business journey at some point. Be resourceful, plan and put in the effort.

Practise Upon A Sunnah

Upon Waking Up, The Messenger ﷺ Would Clean His Mouth With Siwak (Agreed Upon)

The Messenger ﷺ loved siwak and keeping his mouth clean at all times.

The House Of Arqam

Due to the severe persecution the muslims faced from Quraysh, a lot of the early companions kept their Islam hidden. As the numbers grew, The Messenger ﷺ chose the house of Arqam Ibn Abil Arqam as a secret meeting place for the early muslims.

Here, he would meet with them, teach them and discuss matters pertaining to the affairs of the believers.

What’s interesting is this small, humble dwelling served as one of the very first meeting points as well as educational centres for the early muslims and from it came some of the most knowledgeable companions.

Lesson

Plant a good seed with a good intention regardless of the circumstances surrounding you. The flower will eventually blossom.

My Thought

I remember listening to somebody a while back speaking about tawba and one of the things they mentioned was, ‘After your tawba, Allah may test you again with the same sin in order to see how genuine you are.’

I think this may also apply to the promises we make ourselves both religious and permissible. A person may say, I will never miss a salah, or I will never swear, I will sleep early etc, and eventually they able to maintain this promise for a period of time and then something happens which tests their discipline and resolve.

When this happens, people generally make one of three choices.

1) Either they able to overcome this obstacle without breaking their initial promise

2) They break their promise but manage to pick themselves up again

3) They break their promise, give up and revert back to their old ways

If it’s anything worth pursuing, try to be the first person. If not, be the second person, but don’t give up and revert back to your ways.

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See You Next Week إن شاء الله

Wassalamualaykum

Adnaan

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