Tribulation and Ease

Tribulation and Ease

Introduction and Opening Praise

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, wa sallallahu ala sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam, tasliman kathira, alhamdulillah.

One of the great books of our civilization is known as al-Maktubat. It was written over 400 years ago by a man who was Sheikh Ahmed al-Farooqi al-Sarhindi, who is also known as Mujaddid al-Alf ath-Thani, the renewer of the second millennium. So he came at the outset of the second millennium of Islam. We're now in 1436. And basically he wrote this extraordinary work.

The Book and Its Author

And I recently received, I had a copy of it, but I recently received a copy that came to me. It was published in Turkey from Sibghatullah al-Mujaddidi, the great scholar and Mujahid that fought against the Russians when they occupied his country. It's his great-grandfather. And Ahmed al-Sarhindi was also a Farooqi. He's from Sayyidina Omar's offspring. Really, truly extraordinary scholar.

The 19th Letter: On Patience and Contentment

But one of his Maktubat is the 19th Maktub, and it was to Sayyid al-Mir Muhammad al-Numan. And it was about patience and also being content with the decree of Allah. And in it he says:

"Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, in times of difficulty and times of ease, and in well-being and tribulation. The action of the Wise One, majestic is His authority, is never devoid of wisdom."

He begins praising Allah, the Lord of the worlds, in sorrow, times of difficulty and times of ease. And then (في العافية والبلاء - fi al-aafiyati wa al-balaa) when one is in well-being and when one is in tribulation.

Understanding 'Aafiyah and Balaa

(العافية - al-aafiyah) is one of the comprehensive Arabic words for simply well-being. When somebody has the (عافية - aafiyah) they're healthy. But it's also a psychological well-being, a spiritual well-being. It's a really beautiful word.

(البلاء - al-balaa) is the tribulation that Allah says in many verses in the Quran about (بلاء - balaa) that the world is a tribulation, Allah will try us in the world. And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"The people who are most severely tested are the prophets, then those closest to them in righteousness." (Sahih al-Bukhari 5645, Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2398)

And there's a hadith also:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2396, Musnad Ahmad)

"When Allah loves a people, He tests them."

The Wisdom Behind Tribulation

And part of the wisdom of that is that He makes the world uncomfortable for the people He loves because the world is not their natural resting place. It's not a place where He wants them to feel comfortable. So Allah will throw difficulties into your life. In fact, Sayyid Nursi actually says that sometimes He'll give you physical tribulations just so that you're uncomfortable in order to want to get out of this world and meet your Lord and be with your Lord.

So it says: (لا يخلو فعل الحكيم جل سلطانه عن حكمة - laa yakhlu fi'l-hakeemi jalla sultanuhu 'an hikmah) - The actions of the wise (الحكيم - al-hakeem) is one of the names of Allah and it comes from (حكمة يحكمها - hikmah yahkumha) which is to judge a thing and you need wisdom to judge things. So whatever He decrees is out of His wisdom. So He says no action of the (hakeem - hakeem) is out of foolishness. It's always a wise thing.

And then (لعل الله يريد به الصلاح - la'alla Allaha yureedu bihi al-salaah) - that God can do something that you think is not a good thing for you but He's actually doing it to rectify you or to bring about some rectification.

The Quranic Verse on Love and Hate

And then He quotes the Quran:

"But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not."

So He says that maybe, and this is from the Quran, maybe you hate a thing and in it is good for you and maybe you love a thing and in it is harm for you. And God knows, Allah knows, and you don't know. So that's the operative meaning to take from that, is that you have to trust in Allah that what's happening to you is happening for a wisdom because He is (الحكيم - al-hakeem)

Practical Advice: Patience and Contentment

So then He says, and this is the advice of Sayyid Ahmed Sirhindi:

فاصبروا على بلائه وارضوا بقضائه

"So be patient with the tribulations He gives you, but also be content with His decree."

Because the (سخط - sakhat), being angry at the decree of Allah is one of the deepest sicknesses of the heart.

واثبتوا على طاعاته واجتنبوا معاصي الله

"And also be firmly resolute in your obediences to Allah and avoid any disobediences."

When they're afflicted by any calamity, they say:

"Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return."

We belong to Allah and to Him we're returning. So these calamities are from Him to remind us and to bring us back to Him.

Our Tribulations Come From Our Own Actions

Allah says:

"And whatever strikes you of disaster - it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much."

That no calamity afflicts you except is from what your own hands have wrought. In other words, any tribulation that comes to humanity in general and us as individuals, we actually deserve it. (ويعفو عن كثير - wa ya'fu 'an katheer) - And He forgives much. He forgives much that He's doing. And so that's another really important thing to remember is that everything that afflicts us comes from our own selves. And yet He forgives many, many things.

A Foundational Principle: Taking Responsibility

So this is one of the foundational metaphysical principles that the Quran has. And it's very important for Muslims to remember that because a lot of Muslims now tend to want to blame things outside of themselves and always look that it's somewhere else. If you read the Quran, what you'll find is that the person that blames in the Quran is Iblis. And the person that takes responsibility is Adam. And this is why Adam was given the khilafah, the caliphate, over Iblis. Because Iblis blames, he even blames Allah:

"Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful."

This is what Iblis says to God. Because you led me astray, I'm going to lead all of them astray. This is a sickness. It's a disease of blaming the other for what happens.

Balancing Political and Metaphysical Perspectives

This doesn't mean that there is not wrongs and rights in the world. And a lot of people confuse this because you can look at things at the political level then you can look at them at the metaphysical level. If you look at them at the political level you have to deal with them as political problems. So there are oppressors and there are oppressed. There's right and there's wrong.

But if you look at things at the deeper level which is the metaphysical level it enables you then to grapple with right and wrong in a way that doesn't destroy your heart. But if you forget that balance, it's having bifocal vision, it's having, when you have glasses, some people need bifocals so you can see far and then you can see close. The political is looking close but the metaphysical is looking far.

And so this is not denying that there are egregious wrongs being done by some people against others. But spiritually, how do we understand those wrongs? That's the metaphysical question and that's really what he's addressing here at the level. And this was the level that the Muslims were operating on in the past.

The Loss of Metaphysical Understanding

And it's something that we've lost because we've become a political community instead of a metaphysical community. And by metaphysics here, I'm really talking about the spiritual and the deep understanding of the reason for existence, the reason for tribulation. These are the things, the Quran in essence is explaining these things and it takes a great deal of effort to really understand them at a deep level.

So he says that no calamity comes except it's what your own hands have wrought. And this is also reiterated in several verses in the Quran.

Corruption Manifested on Land and Sea

In Surah Ar-Rum, Allah says:

"Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of what they have done that perhaps they will return."

That corruption or pollution - (فساد - fasaad) has a lot of meanings in Arabic - has manifested on the land and in the sea because of what humanity's own hands have earned, because of what they were doing. So this (فساد - fasaad) that appears in the world is from what people were doing.

(ليذيقهم بعض الذي عملوا - li yudheeqahum ba'da allathee 'amiloo) - In order to let them taste some of what they were doing. So the corruption that ensues from wrong action is in order for us to taste some of what we were doing. (لعلهم يرجعون - la'allahum yarji'oon) - That perhaps they might go back to God, might make tawbah, might ask for forgiveness.

So the things that happen to us are to bring us back to Allah. And this is very difficult for people to understand but this is a reality.

Turning Back to Allah and Seeking Forgiveness

And then he says:

فتوبوا إلى الله سبحانه وتعالى واستغفروا عما كسبت أيديكم

"So turn back to Allah and ask forgiveness of what our own hands have earned."

واسألوا العفو والعافية

"And ask God for pardon and well-being because those come from Allah."

فإنه يحب العافية واجتنبوا عن البلاء ما استطعتم

"For indeed He loves well-being, and avoid calamity as much as you are able."

And also avoid calamities because we can actually bring these things upon ourselves. So we bring calamities upon ourselves and then we blame others for it.

Personal Responsibility for Health and Well-being

It's like somebody who they eat poorly and they don't exercise and they do horrible things, they don't rest enough and then they get sick and they say, Oh, Allah has tried me with illness. The reality of it is is you made yourself ill. So if you were exercising, if you were eating well, if you were getting good sleep, if you were doing all the right things and then you get sick, that's ibtilaa from Allah. But if you aren't doing any of those things and then you get sick, you have no one to blame but yourself.

And that's why the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim 2999, Musnad Ahmad)

"Whoever finds good, let him praise Allah. But whoever finds other than good, let him only blame himself."

The Prophet ﷺ said, whoever finds good, let him praise Allah because all good is from Allah. But whoever finds other than good, let him only blame himself. This is a sahih hadith.

Fleeing From Unbearable Tribulation

So then he says, don't take on tribulation more than you can bear:

فإن الفرار مما لا يُطاق من سنن المرسلين عليهم الصلوات والتسليمات

"Because fleeing from what one is unable to bear is from the way of the prophets and the messengers."

In other words, the Prophet ﷺ, he made hijrah because it was becoming impossible for them to live in Mecca because of the tribulations that were there. The Prophet left. I mean he was told by Allah to make hijrah to Medina. But this is a teaching for us.

"There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern."

You have in the messenger of Allah the best example. So this is a teaching for us to understand that the Prophet fled tribulations that he couldn't bear.

Strategic Retreat is Not Cowardice

And he taught people to do this. And this is why when some of his soldiers fled a situation where they were overwhelmed, the odds were against them. Some of the sahaba, when they got back to Medina, they blamed them and said, oh, you fled the battlefield. He said, no. What they did was that was the right thing to do. He said they weren't farreen, they were karreen. They were people going to fight another day. And so that's important for people not to take on tribulations that they can't bear and to flee from situations that will overwhelm them and test them. And a lot of our young people need to learn this.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2254, Musnad Ahmad)

"The believer does not humiliate himself."

And Sidi Ahmed Zarruq and others have said that it's when you actually go up against odds that are overwhelmingly against you. And for instance, if you go into a combative situation where the odds are overwhelmingly against you, and then you're humiliated by it.

The Parable of the Whip and the Hornet's Nest

The people that you have, there's a story about a man, he used to be able to crack a whip. And he was on a carriage and he was sitting with another man. And they passed by a little gopher and he cracked his whip and killed the gopher. And then they passed by, there was a bird, he cracked the whip and he killed the bird. And

then they saw a hornet's nest and the man sitting with him, he said, let's see you get that. And he said, no, no, no, they're organized.

So you can take out these single individuals, but if you go up against hornets, like wasps, called wasps, people should know what a wasp is. Because a wasp is the natural enemy of a bee.

The Lesson of Bees and Wasps

Bees are beautiful creatures because they produce two things, honey and wax. Honey, which is nourishment for the bodies and a healing, a medicine, so it's medicinal. And then wax is what candles are made of that light up houses, they illumine houses. This is what bees do.

But wasps are the natural enemy of bees. A bee will only sting you in self-defense. And because a bee is such an extraordinary creature, it gives its life in self-defense for other bees. So it will literally embed its stinger, it will embed its stinger in the one that it's defending itself against and die because of that. Whereas a wasp will sting you multiple times. It doesn't give up its stinger.

Intelligence and Reason in Islam

So that's something to think about for Muslims that Muslims are intelligent people, historically. It doesn't mean they're always intelligent, but a Muslim by definition should be (عاقل - 'aaqil)

أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ

"Then will you not reason?" (Quran multiple verses including 2:44, 2:76, 6:32)

Don't you use your intellects.

We Live in the Source of Tribulation

ونحن في عين البلاء

And then he says, we are in the (عين البلاء - 'ayn al-balaa) in the world. We're in the source of tribulation. The very nature of the world is tribulation.

"That He may test you which of you is best in deed."

So the world is tribulation (ومع العافية - wa ma'a al-'aafiyah) - And yet we are in it in well-being. And this is a great gift from Allah, is to ask Allah for well-being.

The Prophet's Du'a for Well-being and Protection

The Prophet asked Allah:

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