Blessing or Punishment

By: Yasmin M.
InFocus News

Blessing or Punishment: Reinterpreting Prosperity and Hardship

Since the time we were children, we have learned the difference between good and bad. The formula is simple. When something good happens, we’re happy. When something bad happens, we’re sad. And the criterion is clear. Good is about having, and we play to see results that can be weighed and measured. For example, someone who wins a million dollars is lucky. Someone who loses all they own is unlucky.

Many years ago, there were a people who thought just the same way. Qarun was a very wealthy man who lived at the time of Musa (pbuh). Qarun was given so many treasures that the very keys to those treasures “would have been a burden to a body of strong men”(Quran 28:76). The Quran tells us his story, and the story of those around him:

“So he went forth among his people in the (pride of his wordly) glitter. Said those whose aim is the Life of this World: ‘Oh! that we had the like of what Qarun has got! for he is truly a lord of mighty good fortune!’ But those who had been granted (true) knowledge said: ‘Alas for you! The reward of Allah (in the Hereafter) is best for those who believe and work righteousness: but this none shall attain, save those who steadfastly persevere (in good).’” (28:79-80)

But soon the Reality of Qarun’s situation became clear, and those people who had once envied his position came to realize who the lucky ones really were:

“Then We caused the earth to swallow up him and his house; and he had not (the least little) party to help him against Allah, nor could he defend himself. And those who had envied his position the day before began to say on the morrow: "Ah! it is indeed Allah Who enlarges the provision or restricts it, to any of His servants He pleases! had it not been that Allah was gracious to us, He could have caused the earth to swallow us up! Ah! those who reject Allah will assuredly never prosper." (Quran 28:81-82)

As it was for the people of Qarun, the common criterion of good and bad is simple enough. But it is also completely wrong. According to this criterion, prosperity is defined largely by how much we own, while poverty is defined as the loss or lack of that which can be owned. And yet the true definition of prosperity—given to us by our Creator—is quite different:

“Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have succeeded: For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception” (3:185).

And so we may live in this world, and have all the goods and chattel of deception that anyone could dream of, but have completely failed at the object of our existence. And if the object of our existence is, as Allah tells us, only to serve Him (Quran 51:56), then it would follow that only that which brought us closer to that end, would be a blessing, while that which took us away from that end would be the greatest calamity—no matter what those things were. And so it may be that the loss of everything dear to us is in fact the greatest blessing from Allah. If that loss brings us closer to the very purpose of our creation, what greater blessing could there be?

It is for this reason that Allah's messenger (pbuh) said, "If Allah wants to do good to someone, He afflicts him with trials." (Sahih Bukhari)

And Allah says in the Quran: “Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We took up its people in suffering and adversity, in order that they might learn humility” (7:94).

It is, in fact, out of Allah’s mercy for those people that he does so. Because, what would be the greater tragedy? Afflicting a people with adversity and trials, until they became humble, or providing them with all the wealth and ease, until they became arrogant?

Correcting our criterion is a challenge, but is absolutely necessary. Only when we can see through the deceptive definitions that surround us, can we correctly orient ourselves, prepare for the real test, and ever hope to reach true prosperity in this life and the next.

A Treasure

to know the depth of your own insignificance.
to be broken before God.
to have experienced even a taste of unselfish love.
we are mortal, but to stop living as if we're living.
and to know it's not yet, and the truth of the true life.
to taste the sweetness of a month meant to carry us there.
to see the Reality behind the rain and stars and sun,
and the waves of the ocean.
to see kindness and purity and the humility of an open heart.
to let go of all that has ever hurt you.
to erase oneself in the freedom of forgiveness.
to understand the miracle of flight.
to know the beauty of true beauty.
to fall. to fall at the knees of all your frailty and nothingness.
and yet to believe still, that you can stand.
not because of strength, but because He is the ground under your feet.
to have Him be your sight and your love and your hate.
and to know that no matter where you go
or who you are
or what you carry...
you are to Him
nothing and everything all the same.

--Yasmin M.