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The situation of the Islamic world, especially the situations of the oppressed geographies, leaves the conscious people of faith within the sorrow. Sometimes when this sorrow and sadness is stirred up, one can lose moderation and direction. When we think the states of hungry and weak children and of vulnerable women, and realize that we are not able to do much about it, we are filled with desperate sadness. On the television and social media, people’s curiosity and attention are more provoked, so the painful scenes are spreading a lot. Those who follow these painful pictures and then compare their own comfortable status with them feel full of remorse.
As this situation continues, some negative consequences are beginning to emerge. As the conscience is provoked at this point, it starts to lose its direction and moderation and a state of despair starts to reign. This despair takes a social form and gradually leads to accustomedness and disregard.
If the true wisdom and reasons of these events are known, and it is understood that nothing is stray and forlorn, if one realizes that man is sent to this world for a test and that his real duty is faith and prayer, this desperate sadness and despair will be gone. After doing all he can do, man puts his trust in his Lord and keeps his prayer.
First of all, we mustn’t forget that we have a Lord Who is the real owner of the dominion and is above all might. And our Lord rules with eternal mercy, wisdom, and justice. Since He is the owner of the dominion, He disposes of His property as He wishes. We and they and the entire universe are the property of Allah. These places belong to Him. They are not ownerless.
There is no deficiency in the power of Allah, Who owns the property of heavens and earth. There is no event to exceed His power. Allah Almighty makes the most brutal tyrants defeated by means of a smallest soldier. He killed the Nimrod, whose persecution was all around, with a fly, and destroyed the palace of Pharaoh, who claimed divinity, with an ant. A person who cannot control the beating of his heart and the number of his breath, and is defeated by an invisible microbe cannot oppose this sovereignty.
And Allah has such infinite compassion and mercy that if the compassion of all mothers on earth gathered, it would even be a droplet compared to His. It is a big mistake to assert more mercy than His.
And Allah Almighty has an eternal justice; He maintains this universe with justice and wisdom. He creates everything in order and measure and maintains their life. It gives every right holder their right in proportion to their needs. In particular, He bestows the sustenance of all living creatures in the most appropriate time in the most befitting way. Almighty Allah, Who rules the world with such justice, assures in the Qur’an: “And injustice will not be done to you, [even] as much as a thread [inside a date seed].” (Qur’an, Nisa, 4:77)
Moreover, Allah Almighty has an everlasting wisdom. He created the universe and man for great purposes. He puts people in various situations in order to manifest His beautiful Names and make them advance and mature. He leaves you hungry, and makes you full. He sends illness and affliction. Then He bestows healing and health. He tests people in such situations. He reveals the moral values of human beings and makes them worthy of paradise and eternal bliss.
One day, they gave a wise man a handful of walnuts and asked him “Please distribute them among these brothers.” That man gave one brother five walnuts, three walnuts to other brother, and one to another; and he didn’t give any walnut to one of them. Then he left the rest of walnuts in the middle. “What have you done?! You haven’t behaved equally!” they said. And the man replied, “Doesn’t Allah do the same? He gives some more, and some less. If I had given them equally, nothing would come out of it. I gave them like this so that the one I gave more will have compassion to the one I gave less and share; the one I gave less will come closer to the one I gave more and ask for help. The one whom I gave rightfully will content himself with what he is given and not be greedy. And the one I didn’t give will seek his right and struggle to take his share. And let them learn to share the walnuts I left in the middle. In this way, brotherhood and good characters improve among themselves.”
And what’s more, since the world is not permanent, and since human beings will not be eternal in this world, things like illnesses, troubles and disasters awaken people from heedlessness. They remind them that they are guests in this world. They cause them to busy themselves with faith and prayer, which are their true duty. This becomes a means for them to know the value of life capital and to spend it well for the trade for Hereafter.
Some of the calamities are Divine warnings and wake-up calls. A reminder to keep people away from harmful states. Some calamities cause forgiveness of sins. Part of them is a means to dispel heedlessness; and a means to feel one’s weakness and neediness and to turn to Divine presence.
Illness, which is among calamities, is sometimes a Divine gift. It becomes a means to win an eternal life in a very short life. It makes one to feel the value of blessings like health and well-being and directs one to true gratitude. Sometimes it comes for cleansing people from sins. One hour of patience to one illness sometimes wins one day of worship to people.
If the human knows Allah Almighty by these beautiful Names, and if he thinks the rewards of the calamities in the Hereafter and that his short life will be a long life through calamities, he will be thankful rather than be patient.
The people of faith who understand these wisdoms continue to work with prayer, trust and effort instead of despair and helplessness.
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Resources:
1. The Flashes, the Twenty-fifth Flash
2. The Flashes, the Second Flash