There is an important characteristic of the lower self of a man. When
something good befalls onone; when he receives goodness and kindness
from the people around him; when things go the way he wants them to
go, in a way that would cheer him up and make him happy; he feels
rather complacent. He believes that the beautiful things going on
around him and the benevolence he receives are taking their sources
from him. He thinks the reason why things go well for him andwhy
course of events go the way he hoped them togo, is because he strives
a lot and because he is a good person who makes agreat effort in many
subjects and because he acts reasonable and precautious. In other
words, he is of the idea that he had earned all the good things
befalling on him to the smallest detail.
However when the sameperson faces things that he doesn't want to face;
when goodness and benevolence is not anymore offered to him by people
around him; when things do not givethe results he wants them to give;
when the blessings in his life lessen and some difficulties and
troubles arise; he would not thinkthat "all those, again to the
smallest detail, befallon him because he earned them all himself". On
the contrary, he believes that he did not deserve any of those things
happening to him, he feels hard done-by and wronged. He even thinks
that all these things befall on him because he has been too good
towards everyone and thus he livesin the psychology of a person "being
wronged".
Most of the time, a person living through these things would not stop
to think: "Could there be something wrong with me? Could itbe that I
have some wrong beliefs and a wrong point of view? Dothe things that
befall on me have something to do with such wrong beliefs I have or
with mymorality? Would the goodness and beauties in my life be any
different if I acted somehow different? Could it be that I have been
experiencing all these because I earned them due to the flaws I have
in my morality?"
Had he been thinking like this even for a very short time; and instead
of looking for the problem inother details, had he sincerely censured
himself;he would have realized the truth which in fact is very
evident.
Allah revealed in the Qur'an that: "Any disaster that strikes you is
through what your own hands have earned" (Surat Ash-Shura: 30)
This verse gives a person the true point of view with which he could
evaluate the things he is experiencing in a correct and sound manner.
In another verse Allah informs us that; "Those who do good will have
the best and more" (Surah Yunus: 26). When aperson keeps his heart
pure and sincere; when helooks at every event in his life by searching
the approval of Allah; as long as he thinks by the morality of the
Qur'an andapproach people only through this point of view stemming
from the Qur'an; Allah would definitely "increase the beauties in such
a person'slife".
If he is harboring any evil in himself, if he does not think purely by
the Qur'an and if he is adding a little bit of the moral values of
ignorance in his approach, if he evaluates the incidents taking place
not by the Qur'an but by the rules and value judgmentsof the
ignorance, it is natural for the things that befall on him and the
things he experiences to be just like that. Whateverhe manifests
spiritually would somehow reflect onhis life.
It is very important not to forget this truth, which has been very
explicitly revealed in the Qur'an. Man is very prone to think
continuously well of himself; he adopts a wrong point of view by
thinking that he earned allthe good things that befallon them but that
he neverdeserved (Allah is beyond such claims) the troubles he
experiences. To think on these verses of the Qur'an is in fact
sufficient for him to see that these suggestions of his lower self are
not true.
Allah is All-Compassionate and Most Merciful. His Mercy extends to all
things. Allah is the One Who loves His servants infinitely, Who
continuously bestows goodness and beauty on them through concealed and
overt means. Every moment of a person's life is full of thousands of
details in which he can seethe love of Allah. And Allah is the Owner
of the Infinite Justice. Allah shows His Mercy even on aperson who has
committed the worst evils on earth and shows him the ways to
salvation.