This Is the Misconception of Our Time
Let’s Fix Our Understanding
Have you ever heard of the story of the young man, the monk, and the king?
Well, it’s an interesting one — full of lessons — you should read about it if you haven’t.
The story starts with a young boy who is summoned by the king to learn magic. On his way to the king, the boy passed by a monk, he listened to what he said and was interested. So every morning from that day, he would meet the monk, and then continue to go learn magic. On his way one day, there happened to be a huge beast and it was blocking his and people’s way.
The young boy said: “I will know today whether the magician or the monk is better.’” He picked up a stone and said: “O Allah if the way of the monk is dearer to You than the way of the magician, bring about death to the animal so that the people be able to move about freely.”
He threw that stone at the animal and killed it then the people began to move about freely.
He then came to the monk and told him the story. The monk said:
“Son, today you are superior to me. You have come to a stage where I feel that you would be soon put to a trial, and in case you are put to a trial, do not reveal me.”
The story continues and many events occur after this, but this is the quote that caught my attention and what I want to talk about in today’s post.
The monk told the young boy that he had reached a higher level of faith than the monk himself and that he would soon face tests and obstacles (which are revealed later in the hadith narrating the story).
The monk saying this made me pause.
Why did he tell the young boy that he will be faced with tests now that his faith became stronger?
I searched around for a bit until I’ve realized the misconception we have about hardships and its correlation with our faith.
We often think that if we’re soaking in blessings and we’re living the best of lives, it’s because Allah is satisfied or happy with us and our deeds.
This is where I’ve learned that our understanding of life is skewed.
In fact, living an easy life with no hardships can be a sign of low imaan (faith) or negligence on our part towards our religion.
If our lives are only full of good things and little to no hardships, this should make us worry, instead of being happy.
Since Allah tests his best worshippers.
When we get closer to Allah, and our faith becomes stronger, we’re bound to face tests — or trials. That’s why the monk warned the young boy about upcoming trials since he’s reached a higher level of faith.
If we think that by becoming better Muslims, we will be free from worldly tests, we have fallen into the misconception of our time.
If we keep this mindset, we will break with the slightest wind coming our way.
Thoughts like, “I’m a good Muslim why is this happening to me?” might take over our heads and can lead to our faith’s destruction.
So, if we’re on our journey to becoming better Muslims, we should keep in mind to remember the Monk’s warning to the young boy and know that becoming better is bound to come with more hurdles; that we are now equipped to face.
We should always remember, and know, that Allah gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers.
So next time we’re faced with a hardship or obstacles, we need to remember that this is a token of our faith and all we need is to brace ourselves and pass this wave.
Note: Hardships erase one’s sins, so who knows, you might enter paradise just because you were patient with this one illness, that one person or this one test. Allah has wisdom for everything, so if becoming better leads to more tests, this is surely in our best interest!
Mus’ab bin Sa’d narrated from his father that a man said:
“O Messenger of Allah(s.a.w)! Which of the people is tried most severely?”
He said:
“The Prophets, then those nearest to them, then those nearest to them. A man is tried according to his religion; if he is firm in his religion, then his trials are more severe, and if he is frail in his religion, then he is tried according to the strength of his religion. The servant shall continue to be tried until he is left walking upon the earth without any sins.”
Thank you for reading!
