1- To remind us that this life is temporary. The Aakhira is what we strive for. Allah is reminding His loved ones in a direct way that this life isn't the perfect life we want. The afterlife is what we need to strive for, constantly. If this life was perfect, it would make us forget that there is a hereafter. But with tests, Allah shakes us in a way to remind us why we were created to begin with.
2- Life is not always how we perceive it. Sometimes, we see a calamity as a bad thing, when in fact it could be a good thing in the long run. Remember the story of Musa and the khidir. To Musa, taking a young boy's life was a bad thing, when he later realized his life being taken away actually saved a family from going astray. This tells me that having a child with disabilities may have advantages no one but Allah knows, and that's why we trust Him. He created us from the start without any say from ourselves, so how can we question his decree?
3- A hardship that brings you closer to God is better than a blessing that takes you further away from Him. When your life is going as planned and you're not being faced with hardships, in that moment many people begin to lose faith. Everything is going well, and they don't really "need" Him right then and there. But then when hardship strikes, they turn back to Allah and beg for his forgiveness, mercy and ease. Allah doesn't want those He loves to lose faith in Him ever. So with constant struggles here and there, they stay connected to Him, knowing that their patience will have its reward in the hereafter.
4- To recognize your blessings. When you're faced with a struggle in one area, you instantly remember the other eases you have in life. It forces you to thank Allah for the blessings you already have. Alhamdulillah I have one healthy daughter already. Never did I fully realize the extent of how blessed we were to have this healthy child until Allah tested me with this second pregnancy. Humans often overlook the many blessings they have and fail to thank Allah for them. But when one part of a blessing is stripped away, you thank Him for what you do have at hand already, learning to be thankful and being content with little.
5- To remind us of the hardships Prophets went through and learn through their stories. Every prophet was afflicted with a calamity, and many faced more than one. We hear their stories in the Quran, yet we cannot truly appreciate these stories until we ourselves are in hardship. Because at that point, they recognize the strength of faith these prophets must have had to respond the way they did. They had beautiful patience and served as role models for every other human who faces affliction.
6- A test or calamity may be the the reason you enter Jannah. No matter how hard we try, we will still make mistakes in life. No one can enter Jannah without Allah's mercy. I myself have many mistakes, and perhaps the only way I can get to Jannah is through accepting this difficulty and through my patience of caring for a disabled child. If that's the way to Jannah and eternal bliss, then I'm all for it. A temporary hardship can yield to eternal blessing.
7- To help us learn and grow. How will you ever truly trust the last verse in surah albaqara without going through a trial you or others thought you couldn't handle. Allah says that He will never give a human a hardship greater than he can handle. If Allah afflicted you with something, you have to believe that you can handle it, because He said you can. You may grow in life through this test and realize things you would have never imagined without it. It may be a lifelong learning experience that gives you wisdom unlike anything else.
8- To strengthen your faith. When in hardship, you realize that NO ONE can help you out of your misery other than Allah. As He states in the Quran more than once, Allah is the One who answers the supplication of the weak and desperate. Who else can you rely on to remove your hardship? No one but Allah, and that forces you to beg him, supplicate, cry and pray. With every breath in this situation, you are strengthening your faith and getting closer to your Lord.
May Allah give us the beautiful patience of prophets to get through our trials and tribulations, and may He never test us in our faith and deen, for as long as we have Iman, then we will be ok.
[written on July 30, 2015]
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