IBTILA'A (HARDSHIP)

Assalam Alikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatouh

Are you sad because of your serious illness?
Are you sad because you wish to get married but the right man hasn’t come yet?
Are you sad because you don’t have enough money to be able to live comfortably?
Are you sad because your husband is mistreating you or cheating on you?
Are you sad because you can’t see your kids?
Are you sad because you got divorced?
Are you sad because your son or daughter is sick with a serious condition?
Are you sad because you lost an important loving person in your life?
Are you sad because you can’t find a job?
Are you sad because your children are not pious and you lost control over them?
Are you sad because you lost everything you had?

We all have our shares of ibtila’a in this world….today I want to put a smile on your face and show you how to be happy and content despite what you are going through.

When you see the Ibtila’a (hardship) coming….you should say welcome to the sign of Saliheen….you will be holding the flag of Saliheen!! Ibtila’a is the legacy of the Prophets of Allah as they had the biggest share.
The one, who has no share of ibtila’a, has no share of the legacy of the Prophets and Messengers of Allah……. Are you smiling already ?

Once you see the Ibtila’a coming towards you, you should know the following things:

1. That you are in the company of Allah SWT.

2. That this Ibtila’a is not the worse…..Yes, I have ibtila’a in my rizq but I am still healthy, Yes my husband is mistreating me but I have beautiful loving children, Yes I have ibtila’a in my health but I still have my rizq, Yes I lost a loving person but I still have more people who I love, I still can breathe, I still can see, I still can give…. When the companion of the Prophet PBUH Orwah may Allah be pleased with him lost his leg as it had to be amputated, he cried, the other companions of the Prophet PBUH said: How could you cry from destiny of Allah….he said Wallahi I am not crying because my leg is amputated but Allah SWT is the only one who knows that this leg did not walk anywhere except to build the houses of Allah (Masjids) and to take care of the orphans and the poor…but Oh Allah if you took a little from me, you still left me a lot so how can I thank you!! (Subhana Allah)

Yes he lost one leg, but he still has the other leg, has eyes, he has hands, he can breathe…can you think like Orwah?

3. You should be happy that the ibtila’a is not in your deen because the ibtila’a that has no compensation is the ibtila’a in your deen but the matters of dunia are always changing….Money comes and goes, health comes and goes.

The scholars say if 40 days pass you without having ibtila’a, review your accounts with Allah….something must be wrong…..A true believer is the one who sees the ibtila’a as a ne3ma (blessing) and the ne3ma as ibtila’a…..how?

After Ibtila’a only ease could come your way but after ne3ma there is ibtila’a…..today I am healthy….but tomorrow I might not be…..And if I am sick today ….I will live and pray with hope to become healthy….and waiting for ease to come from Allah is also considered Ibadah.

4. When the Ibtila’a comes, sit and feel the Mercy of Allah SWT…..the moaning of the sick when they say Ah, Ah, Ah…..to Allah SWT is like the sound of the people who do tasbeeh…our scholars told us that the angels when they hear the sound of the sick when they say Ah, Ah, Ah, they hear it as Allah, Allah, Allah….so you are considered doing thikr despite the fact that you are moaning and in pain.

When the Khalifa Abu Bakar was ill towards the end of his days, the companions of the Prophet PBUH said: we should get you a doctor…..he said: the doctor came to me…..they said: when, we didn’t see any doctor, he said: he told me: I am the Effecter of what I intend (from surat Al Burooj)ayah 16.

Al Shafie when he was sick, he said: they called a human doctor for me and I called the doctor of the heavens…two doctors….one to give the medicine and the other one to put to make it work.

5. Remember one thing….as much humbleness and humility you go to Allah with…as much as he will give you….how?

Look at Prophet Musa PBUH when he ran away from Egypt and reached Madian, he was so tired, he had nothing, he had no job, no home, no family…

Allah (SWT) says: ( And when he came to the well of Madyan, he found there a crowd of people watering [their flocks], and he found aside from them two women driving back [their flocks]. He said, "What is your circumstance?" They said, "We do not water until the shepherds dispatch [their flocks]; and our father is an old man.") (28:23)

(So he watered [their flocks] for them; then he went back to the shade and said….(28:24)

What did he say?

If you were in his place what would you say?

May be: Oh Allah grant me a job, Oh Allah grant me a home to stay….But Prophet Musa PBUH did not say that….instead he said:

My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good you would send down to me, in need."

This means, I am in in-need and I don’t know what are the things I need so I can be satisfied ….he did not specify…he said I am poor and you are the rich and I need every good from you…

What did Allah SWT give him?

Read surat Al Qassas and see….

He gave him a job as the father of the two girls asked him to work for him, he also gave him a home, he gave him a wife and he give him Prophecy (SWT)

In our time, someone in Prophet Musa’s circumstance will be the last one to be considered to marry as he had no home, no money…simply nothing…..but look at the greatness of Allah SWT….as much humbleness and need you go to Allah with as much as he will give you, so go to him with extreme and complete humbleness, need and patience.


The baby in his mother’s womb is completely helpless…..but look at the Mercy of Allah…he gave him an umbilical cord which provides him all his nourishments…if you ask him about hunger…he will not know what it means……
When he is born that umbilical cord is cut so he loses his source of food…but Allah grants him double sources (his mother’s breasts)….here, he starts to have some ability of sucking and his mother helps him ….so some external help is intervening …Now he knows hunger and he cries when he feels hungry then his mother helps him….

After two years he loses the two sources (his mother’s breasts) but Allah SWT grants him double that so he gets four, two drinks, water and milk and two foods meat and vegetables…and now his hardship starts…He has teeth to eat with, legs to move around and as he grows, he starts thinking of his rizq and how he is going to get it and as much as he does that as much as things get more complicated and difficult. Allah SWT says: (No! [But] indeed, man transgresses (96:6) (Because he sees himself self-sufficient (96:7)

So what do we learn from this my dear brothers and sisters?

We must have complete faith in Allah SWT and go to him with extreme and complete humbleness and need. Try it and you will see how your life will change and how you will enjoy look at things differently.

Love you for the sake of Allah….smile …. Allah loves you