Are hardships my fault, or a test from Allah? - Digital Islamic Reminder

Podcast Summary: Digital Islamic Reminder
Episode: Are Hardships My Fault, or a Test from Allah?
Release Date: February 18, 2025

Introduction

In this enlightening episode of Digital Islamic Reminder, the host delves deep into the profound question: Are hardships my fault, or a test from Allah? Through thoughtful discussions and insightful reflections, the episode explores the interplay between personal actions, divine will, and the essence of faith in navigating life's challenges.

Understanding the Nature of Hardships

Speaker A begins by addressing common misconceptions about the origins of personal hardships. Using relatable examples, such as missing a prayer (salah) leading to a failed job interview, A highlights the uncertainty in attributing specific events directly to one's actions:

"The answer to that is it may be and it may not be, and there's no way you will ever know."
— Speaker A [00:30]

A emphasizes that while personal actions can influence certain outcomes, it's impossible to definitively link every hardship to individual faults or sins.

The Role of Faith (Iman) in Facing Calamities

A pivotal segment focuses on the role of iman (faith) in dealing with adversities. A discusses how believers are expected to respond to calamities, stressing the importance of understanding one's relationship with Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala):

"The Quran in everything gives us balance... It gives another meaning to Allah. Bi dhikril lahi tatma'inal khloob."
— Speaker A [04:15]

This balance ensures that believers neither attribute all hardships solely to divine will nor entirely to personal shortcomings.

Quranic Perspectives on Calamities

A elucidates the Quranic distinction between two types of adverse situations:

Uncontrollable Events: Natural disasters or unforeseen incidents beyond one's control are entirely planned by Allah and are not linked to personal faults.
Consequences of Personal Actions: Events that result from one's deliberate actions or negligence, such as ignoring safety measures leading to accidents, are viewed as direct outcomes of those actions.

"There is no calamity that strikes you... because of what you earned with your own hands."
— Speaker A [07:45]

A cautions against extreme interpretations, either viewing Allah as solely punitive or entirely disengaged, advocating for a balanced understanding rooted in Quranic teachings.

Misconceptions from Upbringing: The Image of an Angry Allah

A critical discussion explores how upbringing can distort one's perception of Allah's nature. A shares that being constantly told by loved ones that Allah is wrathful can lead to a distancing from faith, especially during personal trials:

"They have become far away from Allah himself. They heard from their loved ones... Allah is angry."
— Speaker A [12:20]

This segment underscores the detrimental impact of negative portrayals of Allah, emphasizing that Allah is fundamentally merciful and forgiving.

Personal Anecdote: Trusting Allah Amidst Adversity

To illustrate the profound concept of trust in Allah, A narrates a personal experience involving a severe illness during travel. Faced with unexpected medical emergencies, A reflects on the importance of recognizing divine wisdom and maintaining faith:

"This is entirely planned by Allah. We have to have a closeness to Allah... Allah loves his Ibaad."
— Speaker A [14:10]

This anecdote exemplifies how embracing Allah's plan, even in dire circumstances, can lead to inner peace and unwavering faith.

The Gift of Divine Guidance in Difficulties

Concluding the episode, A highlights that true solace lies not in the absence of problems but in the guidance and strength provided by unwavering trust in Allah:

"What does Allah give you when you can trust him? He doesn't end your problems... if you can have Imani in Ar Rahman at that time... then what gift will Allah give you? He guides your heart."
— Speaker A [15:50]

A reinforces that maintaining a strong bond with Allah during hardships fosters resilience and spiritual growth, which are invaluable compared to the fleeting relief from temporary solutions.

Conclusion

This episode of Digital Islamic Reminder offers a nuanced exploration of the origins of hardships, balancing personal responsibility with divine decree. By emphasizing the significance of iman and a balanced understanding of Quranic teachings, the host provides listeners with a framework to navigate life's challenges with faith and resilience.

Notable Quotes

"I will be as you assume me to be."
— Speaker A [02:10]
"Bi dhikril lahi tatma'inal khloob."
— Speaker A [04:15]
"There is no calamity that strikes you... because of what you earned with your own hands."
— Speaker A [07:45]
"They have become far away from Allah himself... Allah is angry."
— Speaker A [12:20]
"This is entirely planned by Allah. We have to have a closeness to Allah... Allah loves his Ibaad."
— Speaker A [14:10]
"What does Allah give you when you can trust him? He doesn't end your problems... He guides your heart."
— Speaker A [15:50]

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of the podcast episode, providing readers with a clear understanding of the discussions and lessons shared, even if they haven't listened to the episode themselves.

Transcript

A (0:00)

In the moral world, you missed a salah. You woke up late, you didn't pray Fajr, and now you're praying it late. And then that day you had a job interview and the job interview didn't go well. And you're like, this is because I miss salah. Now, the answer to that is it may be and it may not be, and there's no way you will ever know. There is no way you or anyone else will ever know. But the thing that will help you is. The thing that will help me is that Allah says, I will be as you assume me to be. If you're assuming Allah took revenge from you and put this on you because you missed fajr, then that's who Allah is to you now. But the thing here that I wanted to highlight, what is the role of our iman? The fact that we're believers that we believe in Allah and our ability to deal with calamity, and how are we supposed to respond to calamity as believers? You know, for a lot of people who's. And this actually depends on our level of understanding of what it means to have a relationship with Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. On the one hand, the first thing I'd like to explain to you that the Quran is very wise about is to make a separation between two different kinds of bad situations. There's a bad situation that looks like a bad situation that was completely out of your control. You could do nothing about it. You got stuck in a flood. You didn't cause the flood. You just happened to be living there. There was no way for you to escape, or you happened to be traveling. You had no idea it was coming. It wasn't on any reports or anything else. That's not you. That's entirely planned by Allah. You had nothing to do with it. There was no way you could have gotten out of it. This is not the same as someone who reads the news report and says, hey, there's a major storm coming. Please evacuate the city, and there's a tsunami heading our way, and somebody says, you know, this is a good time to check out the beach. And they head towards the beach, and then something bad happens to them. They don't get to say, qadr Allah, what can I say? Allah had decided that I was gonna run into this. You don't get to say that. And Allah is very clear about that. He subhanahu wa ta'ala says, there's not a calamity that strikes you and there's any manner of calamities that strike you or something that hits you is because of what you earned with your own hands. You brought this on yourself. Now that's. If you only thought of it that way, that would also be a problem. Because if you're going down the stairs and you slipped and you fell, then you start thinking to yourself, I must have done some sin and that's why Allah made me fall down the stairs. This is a sign from Allah that I have committed some evil and Allah is teaching me a lesson by breaking my arm on this in the hotel lobby or something. You start reading into things that happen to you and you start thinking there's some Ghayb cause and effect. And that can go into an extreme. So the thing that I'd like to highlight here, human beings, believers in Allah can go into two extremes. One extreme is everything happened because of Allah. I have nothing to do with it. Whatever happened, you can't blame me. This is Qadr of Allah. Whatever calamity strikes to you, it comes to you because of Allah's. He said that in Surat al Tagabun. He said it directly. It happens by Allah's permission. This was Allah's plan. What are you gonna do? So some student can not study for their exams and not do any of the assignments and get fail and fail and be kicked out of the school and then say, what do you want me to do, Qadr of Allah? They get to blame Allah. On the other extreme, there is the believer who blames everything on himself. Allah is doing this to me because I'm a terrible person. This happened to me because I'm a horrible human being. And then it doesn't help when other ignorant people around you and sometimes a lot of ignorance comes from your own family. They come and tell you, you know why this happened to you? Because you're a bad daughter. You know why this happened to you? Because you're a bad son. You know why this happened to you? Because you're not good to your in laws or whatever. No, I just got in a car accident because a truck came and hit me and he crossed a red light that. Because I argued with, you know, my wife or something. That's not the reason. But other people will come and tell you this is happening to you. Allah is doing this to you because of that. Because of that. Like they got an email from the Ghayb that told them that this is the reason why this happened. Cause and effect. So there are these two extremes that are possible. What does the Quran do? The Quran in everything gives us balance in everything we understand in life. It gives us balance. And by the way, if you don't have this balance, you lose a lot of peace in life. You know, it gives another meaning to Allah. Bi dhikril lahi tatma'inal khloob. By remembering Allah, hearts become calm. The ultimate remembrance of Allah, the dhikrullah is actually the book of Allah. And the book of Allah clarifies how Allah deals with us in this life. So I would argue that if you're just saying Subhanallah or Alhamdulillah and your understanding of what Allah wants you to, how Allah deals with you is flawed, you still might not find peace even though you're inshaallah. You will if you're sincere. But the intent here is to be clear in how Allah deals with us. So I'd like to share some things about that with you. As far as blaming myself is concerned. And where do we draw the line between this is from Allah and this is my fault? Where do you draw that line? You know, in the physical world, it's very easy to understand what do I mean by the physical world? In the physical world, if I put, instead of putting gasoline in my car, I put water in my car and it didn't work, then you don't get. Clearly, you don't get to say this was Allah's plan, that was you. So physically speaking, or if you're eating junk food and you're constantly eating all kinds of sugary foods and then you get a diagnosis for diabetes at the age of 45, then you don't get to say, allah, this barad has come to me. It's a test from Allah. No, it's a test of your bad appetite. You don't eat cucumbers, you eat Swiss rolls or whatever you eat. You know, you've been downing junk and that's why this happened to you, you understand? So that in the physical world, the cause and effect, there's an effect. It's something that all human beings with common sense understand. In the moral world, you missed a salah, you woke up late, you didn't pray Fajr, and now you're praying it late. And then that day you had a job interview and the job interview didn't go well. And you're like, this is because I miss salah. Now the answer to that is it may be and it may not be and there's no way you will ever know. There is no way you or anyone else will ever know. But the thing that will Help you is the thing that will help me is that Allah says, I will be as you assume me to be. If you're assuming Allah took revenge from you and put this on you because you missed Fajr, then that's who Allah is to you. Now if you assume no, this is better. This job. I tried my best, I did a good job at the interview, but this was not a good job for me. Had it been good for me, Allah would have let it go. Allah would have given me this job. If you have that attitude, then that who Allah is to you despite all of your mistakes, despite you waking up late, our job when we make mistakes is to make istighfar not wait for Allah's revenge. Please understand that our job is not, oh, I messed up now. Allah is going to get me somehow. It's going to happen. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what Allah does. Which is why Allah says, whatever calamity struck you, whatever difficulty you find yourselves in, a lot of it has to do with what you did yourselves with your own hands. You brought this on yourself. And even in the spiritual sense, sometimes there are difficulties that come on us because of our deeds. If you are, for example, continuously horrible to your parents and then bad stuff comes to you in your life, probably there is some connection. There is some. And then in those kinds of cases, what does Allah do? He says he pardons a lot too. In the physical world, if I jump off of a second floor building, there are going to be consequences. Allah will not say, no, this time I'll forgive you. I won't break your. You're like, no, no. What's going to happen is going to happen. When you put your hand in a fire, it is going to burn. Allah is not going to say, well, you prayed Fajr this morning, so no, not for you, it won't burn for you, that's not going to happen. But when it comes to spiritual consequences, he says, when you do a sin, then Allah says, actually Allah lets a lot of it go. He doesn't just avenge immediately. He doesn't just take immediate account and then make you suffer in this world because of the mistake you made. He doesn't do that. That's the nature of Allah with us. This is something you have to internalize for yourself. I would argue the reason I brought up this particular subject is because one of the greatest crimes, spiritual crimes, that occurs every day in the Ummah is at the hands of loved ones. To loved ones, parents, spouses, husbands. We have sometimes the worst Things to say to our loved ones. And sometimes we say those things in the name of Allah. Allah will punish you for what you just did. There will be justice on you. Allah will not forgive what you, you know, and mother can say that to her child, wife can say to husband, siblings can say to each other. Like invoking, like Allah is some angry weapon that you can invoke because you're upset, Allah must be upset. And you can just use Allah like that. That's not our place. And you know, for a lot of people, they have heard this kind of thing so many times over and over and over again that they have become far away from Allah himself. They heard from their loved ones. They heard from a child, heard from his father or his mother all the time. Allah will punish you if you don't pray. Allah is going to get you if you don't pray. Allah is going to, you know, Allah is very angry at you because you ate that cookie like constantly. Allah is angry. Allah is angry. Allah is angry. When that young boy becomes a 16, 17, 18 years old, 18 year old, he wants nothing to do with Allah. And when he hears Allah is merciful and Allah is forgiving, he has a hard time believing it because that's not what he grew up with. He did not grow up with an Allah who is forgiving or an Allah who is merciful. As a matter of fact, every time he got in trouble, it's because of Allah. He got in trouble. That's how he got in trouble. And then those same parents say, we taught this child about Allah from the beginning. I don't know why he's running away from Deen. Yeah, but which Allah did you teach him about? An angry Allah, An Allah that seeks to punish Allah says, what's Allah going to get out of punishing you? That's what Allah says himself. Why is he in just the business of coming after you, going at you? So what happens with people? They are in a difficult situation and what do they do? They're constantly thinking, Allah is getting them, Allah is hurting them. Allah is doing this to them. You know, I was reminded by a colleague of mine I was just. When I was coming here to Malaysia out of nowhere, this has never happened. I developed this crazy bacterial infection thing in my, in my tonsils and it swelled up and half of my neck was completely blocked and I felt like I was drowning in one nostril. And, and I'm still on the plane and I get halfway through Abu Dhabi. On the way here, I run over to a clinic and say, you have to take these heavy medications. I come here, the recommendation is I should go to surgery. I was like, what is going on? And they even told me this never happens. This is really crazy. In my entire career of 30 years, I've seen one other case of this. And I'm lying there in the hospital bed waiting for a surgery to take place. And I'm thinking, and I was reminded by a colleague, this is the best place you could have been. Like, there's no better place than this hospital bed for you at this moment. That is Allah's plan for you. Here I am thinking, I have to cancel this program. I can't go over here. I can't go over there. How are we going to manage this situation? That situation, that calendar, that meeting, all this way? I came all this way, and now look, I didn't get to do this, that or the other. And then all of a sudden, just that little reminder, you're just like, yeah, this is the best place I should be. There's no better place. Because this wasn't planned by me. This was planned by Allah. This is entirely planned by Allah. We have to have a closeness to Allah. That when he plans something for you and me, even when it's painful, he doesn't do it for anything except love. That Allah loves his Ibaad, that He loves what is best for them. He loves us more than we could ever love ourselves. He cares more for us than we can ever care for ourselves. He provides us more than we could ever provide for ourselves. When we forget that, when we forget that guidance goes away, Allah says on the same issue, whatever calamity strikes you, it comes from Allah. It came by Allah's permission. And whoever can have Iman in Allah at that time, you have Iman in Allah anyway. You believe in one God. But when you're in a difficulty, that's when you start questioning, why is Allah doing this? Right? That's the time when Allah puts the words, whoever can truly believe in Allah, then, yeah, you always say Allah is Ar Rahman. But do you really feel Allah is Ar Rahman right now? Nah. Right now he's probably Dhuntiqam right now. He's probably the one who takes revenge right now is probably Jabbar, not Ar Rahman. Right now. Let's see. Your Iman went away. Your Iman and Ar Rahman went away when you were in difficulty. Allah says, if you can have Imani in Ar Rahman at that time, the best of Allah's names, the best of what Allah is to you, what he described himself to you at that moment, then what gift will Allah give you? And this is the conclusion to my khutbah. What is it that Allah will give you? I want health. I want recovery. I want a job. I want money. I want a better family situation. I want escape. Some people just want escape. I just want this other person to stop hurting me. I want people to stop talking about me. Whatever it is. There's something that's bothering you and it's eating away at you. And if you think if that problem went away, you would have peace. What does Allah give you when you can trust him? He doesn't end your problems. This life problems will not go away. If problems were going to go away, they would have gone away for Yaqub a lot sooner than for you and me. If no problems would have come because we have Iman, then Maryam Salaam should not have had problems. Rasulullah should not have had problems. You study the people that are closest to Allah and all you're studying are problems, really big ones. Their entire life, that's all you're studying. You're just learning about one problem to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next. That's all you're learning. Yusuf, a great, profound messenger of Allah. And I mean from childhood there are problems. From childhood there are problems. So I keep asking that question, what is it that Allah has given you? What do you get when you completely put your trust in Allah in the middle, in the thick of a difficulty, when everybody else is telling you Allah is. On the one hand, people are telling you Allah is angry at you, that's why this is happening. Allah hates you. That's why this is happening. On the other hand, you start thinking Allah is punishing me. That's why this is happening. At that moment when you can have the best impression of Allah and maintain your love and reliance and bond with Allah, that Allah has not let you go? He hasn't. What does he give you? He guides this person's heart. He gives their heart guidance. I can guarantee you when your problem goes away, if it's a money problem, if money comes in, if it's a health problem and health comes back, if it's a family problem, the family problem goes away. None of the good things in this life are worth anything compared to that one gift.