Thursday, September 12, 2013

Looking at events from the future

A believer's awareness that he is being tested leads him to look at
events from the future. But what does "looking at events from the
future" actually mean?
However great the troubles and difficulties confronting a person may
be, the situation is definitely only temporary. Someone may be falsely
accused of a crime and subjected to injustice, for example. Yet there
will definitely come a time when the truth emerges. Even if the
suffering of a person does not come to an end in this world, those
responsible for that injustice will receive due retribution on the Day
of Judgement. In the same way, the person who suffered injustice can
hope for a splendid reward for his patience on that day. Time passes
very quickly and, like everything else, this state of affairs will
come to an end in the mere blink of an eye. In addition, the Qur'an
reveals that hardship comes with ease for Muslims:
For truly with hardship comes ease; truly with hardship comes ease.
(Surat Al-Inshirah, 5-6)
A believer trusts in our Lord's infinite justice, expects the ease
that will follow hardship, and never falls into despair in the face of
any situation. He remembers that the difficulties he experiences will
re-appear before him as delights in this world and in the next.
A Muslim knows that he is watching the destiny. One delightful
aspect of this secret is that he watches everything in spirit of
trusting Allah, submission and resignation.
We must not forget that this is a state of mind unique to true
believers in God, one that only those who are completely submitted to
destiny can fully experience. People who are heedless of religion, on
the other hand, fall prey to despair, fear and stress because of their
failure to submit to destiny, and imagine that there is no way out for
them. Since they have no hopes or expectation for the Hereafter, they
are always restless and troubled. The state of mind of such people is
described as follows in another verse:
When Allah desires to guide someone, He expands his breast to Islam.
When He desires to misguide someone, He makes his breast narrow and
constricted as if he were climbing up into the sky. That is how Allah
defiles those who do not believe. (Surat al-An'am, 125)
This troubled state of mind described in the verse is a self-inflicted
wound that stems from these people's failure to submit to the destiny
created by God. The fact that God, the Omniscient and Almighty,
directs a person's destiny and rules all things is a great blessing
for a believer. However, people whose faith is weak or who have no
faith at all are unable to comprehend the value of that blessing. They
are therefore unable to resign themselves to destiny and are troubled
at every moment of their lives. This condition is actually a spiritual
reward for lack of trust in Allah imposed in the life of this world.
These people merely wrong themselves.
Allah does not wrong people in any way; rather it is people who wrong
themselves. (Surah Yunus, 44)

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