How to Maintain Beauty at Times of Adversity
As humans, we all have emotions; positive and negative ones. Anger is a negative emotion which is often triggered by an action. Happiness, on the other hand, is positive which is also induced by a good feeling. At times, Allah SWT puts you through trial as His beloved in order to see your reaction. The trial comes in different forms: loss of wealth or loved ones, annoyance from friends, illness etcetera. This He has mentioned in the Holy Book and gave an antidote to it:
And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.). Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: “Truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him, we shall return.” They are those on whom are the Salawat (i.e. blessings, etc.) (i.e. who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided-ones. — Qur’an 2[Al-Baqarah]:155–157
Ash-Shaykul Islam, Ibnul Taymiyyah may Allah have mercy on him gave us three solutions on how to react in times of difficulty and we discuss them in bits.
- Leaving without harming: There are times when we are wronged by others and we feel like taking an act of revenge. In situations like this, we’re often not at fault so there exists a right to retaliation. Yet we choose to let go without causing any harm to the individual. A good instance was when the people of Ta’if maltreated the messenger of Allah PBUH. Yet he left them from incurring Allah’s wrath and made supplication for their guidance. Today, Ta’if is a land of Islam. This is what he called beautiful leaving — al hajr.
- Pardoning without rebuking: In a similar scenario where you get offended and you chose to forgive, do not follow your forgiveness with an injury. It’s not ideal to go about telling others of the ills meted upon you by an individual, or blaming and reminding them of their fault after you claimed to have let go. Forgiving and forgetting causes no harm, it makes you a better person and this is what the Shayk called beautiful pardoning.
- Being patient without complaining: When you find yourself in the state of trial, be patient with what Allah has decreed for you. Do not say “had I known” or “What If” as these statements are insinuations from shaytan and they change nothing. Remember the story of prophet Ayub, his affliction and how Allah cured him through his resilience. Accepting Allah’s decree is the beginning of wisdom and the sooner you realize this the better it gets. This is called beautiful patience.
“Great reward comes with great trials. When Allah loves a people, He tests them, and whoever accepts it attains His pleasure, whereas whoever shows discontent with it incurs His wrath.” — at-Tirmidhi
I hope these few lines are beneficial in sha Allah. And success comes only with the help of Allah.
Yaumul Khams, 4th Ramadan 1440H / Thursday 9th May 2019.
