In 2016 I went through some difficulties – financial, emotional and relationship problems – that rocked me to my core and brought me to my knees and bouts of tears. The only thing that kept me going was faith: the belief that there are so much good happening to me at the same time as the hardships and also that there are better days ahead. I would repeat the words of God as I struggled to keep myself from breaking down between tears and sniffles:إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرٗا… With hardship comes ease…

I write this not to say, “Yay, difficult times have passed. I’m fine now.” No, not at all. The reality is life is a continuum, and each and every year brings with it its own series of experiences – good and bad.

With the ravaging effects of COVID-19, it seems important that we address a critical question many woud have tugging at their minds. That you’re a believer doesn’t mean you’ll be immune from life’s hardships. Do not give in to prosperity doctrine that seems to paint living in ease and plenty as manifestations of God’s blessings. They’re not. Just as living in penury or hardship doesn’t mean God’s displeasure.

So, please don’t lose your most precious possession in the difficult times that perhaps lie ahead. Don’t lose your faith in God. He is Merciful and makes people smile. He is also the One that makes people cry. He does what He wills. You have to come to Him as a humbling servant because in reality you owe everything to Him. This is the essence of saying: innaliLlahi wa inna ilehi rojihun. We belong to God and unto Him is the return…

If he strikes us with a corrective punishment or a painful diversion in the form of calamity, there’s nothing we can do but surrender and beg Him to lift it. This is perhaps hard for some people to swallow, hence why some opt out of Islam in trying times and others sadly out of anger stop believing in God’s existence because they couldn’t fathom how God could do that to them. They become angry (disappointed) at God – we seek refuge from that! Reacting in such a way leads to double loss: of the comfort of hope, and of God’s pleasure in the Hereafter.

It is precisely because of this we’re encouraged to know God before we become totally preoccupied in His worship so that we don’t lose Him when the realities of submission come staring at us.

I close out with this:

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَعۡبُدُ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ حَرۡفٖۖ فَإِنۡ أَصَابَهُۥ خَيۡرٌ ٱطۡمَأَنَّ بِهِۦۖ وَإِنۡ أَصَابَتۡهُ فِتۡنَةٌ ٱنقَلَبَ عَلَىٰ وَجۡهِهِۦ خَسِرَ ٱلدُّنۡيَا وَٱلۡأٓخِرَةَۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلۡخُسۡرَانُ ٱلۡمُبِينُ

And among men there is one who worships Allah (standing) on the verge: so if some good thing happens to him, he is satisfied with it, and if a trial befalls him, he turns his face back. He loses both this world and the Hereafter. That is the manifest loss.

-Surah Al-Hajj, Ayah 11

We beg Allah to make our feet firm and grant us beautiful patience to withstand the good and bad sides of life as we know He wouldn’t burden us beyond our level. ❤️