12. RELIEF ACCOMPANIES DISTRESS
The Messenger of Allah said, and that relief comes with distress. This is proven by the saying of Allah, most high,
“It is He who sends down abundant rain, after they have lost all hope, and unfolds His mercy. He is the Protector, the Praiseworthy.”1
“It is Allah who sends the winds which stir up clouds which He spreads about the sky however He wills. He forms them into dark clumps and you see the rain come pouring out from the middle of them. When He makes it fall on those of His servants He wills, they rejoice, even though before He sent it down on them they were in despair.“2
In a hadith reported by Abii Razin al-uqayli, the Prophet, “Our Lord laughs at the despair of His servant when His altering of his circumstances is imminent.” This was recorded by Imam Ahmad. His son, ‘Abdullah, also records a lengthy hadith on the authority of Abii Razin that the Prophet said, “On the day that (He will) send rain, Allah knows that He will see you in a state of despair and He will laugh knowing that the change He will bring about is imminent.”
The meaning is that Allah, Glorious is He, is amazed at the despondency of His servants, their fear, their misgivings and their giving up hope of His mercy when He has decreed that their circumstances are soon to change, while they remain unaware, and rain is to fall.
While the Prophet was standing, delivering the Friday ser-mon, a man came to him complaining of drought and the straitened circumstances everyone was in. The Prophet raised his hands and supplicated for rain whereupon rain clouds gathered and it rained continuously till the following Friday when they asked him to supplicate for the rain to stop. He did so and the skies cleared.
In His Book, Alal h has narrated numerous stories that deal with relief coming after distress and hardship. He told us of His rescuing Nuh and those with him on the ark from the “terrible plight’ wherein the earth’s population were all drowned. He informed us of His saving Ibrahim (‘alayhis-salam) from the fire kindled by the polytheists and how He made it “coolness and peace for him. He also narrated to us how He ordered Ibrahim to slaughter his son and, at the last moment, how He ransomed him with a “mighty sacrifice. “He told us of the story of Musa and how his mother placed him in the river and his subsequently being found by Pharaoh’s family. He informed us of the story of Musa and Pharaoh: how He saved Musa and drowned his enemy. He narrated the story of Ayyub , Yunus, Ya’qub, Yusuf and the story of Yunus’ people when they believed. He also told us about numerous incidents in the life of Muhammad where He came to his aid and saved him such as when he was in the cave, at the Battle of Badr, the Battle of Uhud and the Battle of Hunayn. He told us the story of (A’ishah when she was falsely accused and how He absolved her of that accusation. He narrated to us the story of the three.
“who were left behind, so that when the earth became narrow for them, for all its great breadth, and their own selves became constricted for them and they realised that there was no refuge from All except in Him, He turned to them so that they might turn to Him.”10
The Sunnah mentions many such incidents such as the story of the three who were trapped in the cave by a falling boulder and they supplicate to Allah, making mention of their righteous deeds, and He relieved them.And such as the story of ibrahim and Sarah with the tyrant who coveted her for his own ends and how Allah defeated the evil plot
Such events occurring to Muslims and those before Islam are too many to mention, many of them are collated in books such as ibn Abi al-Dunya’s al-Faraj ba’d al-Shiddah and Mujabi al-Du’a and in the book al-Mustaghithin bi’llah wa’l-Mustasrikhina bihi, and the books dealing with the miracles of the Awliya’, the biographies of the righteous and the works of history.
One of the scholars – I think he was from Morocco – mentioned in a book of his that he heard Abu Dharr al-Harawi, the Hafiz, narrate that, while he was in Baghdad reading to Abu Hafs ibn Shahin in a perfume sellers shop, he saw a man coming to the perfume seller and giving him ten dirhams in return for whatever he needed, he placed the items in a bowl and put the bowl on his head. He slipped and his bowl fell, breaking all the items and he began to cry profusely saying, ‘In a caravan I lost a camel carg four hundred – or he said four thousand – dinars and with them stones for rings which were worth even more. However, I do not despair at their loss but I have just had a son born to me and we need the items that a woman needs after having given birth and all I had were these ten dirhams! Then, when what was decreed just happened, I fell into despair. I have nothing to give them tonight and no work tomorrow so that I may bring something home, the only thing I can think of is to run away and let them die in peace.’ Abu Dharr said, ‘An elder from al-Jund, sitting at the threshold of his house, heard the story and he sought Abu Hafs’s permission to enter his house along with his colleagues while the afflicted person was still with him. He granted them permission and the elder asked the man to repeat his story aμd asked him who was in the caravan he spoke of and where he lost the camel. He told him and was asked, “If you saw it, would you recognise it?” He replied, ”Yes.” The man brought out the camel and when he saw it he said, “That’s it,” and he described the stones it carried. When its baggage was opened, they saw those stones in it, so the elder returned it to him and he became wealthy once again. When the man had left, the Jundi man wept and when asked why, he said, “The only wish I had left in this world was that Allah bring the owner of this wealth to me to retrieve it. Now that Allah has fulfilled that wish by His grace, I have no further wish left to meet and so I know that the time of death is near.”‘ Abii Dharr said, ‘He passed away less than a month later and we prayed over him, may Allah have mercy on him.’
The same author narrated from someone in Mawsul that there was a trader there who would travel to different lands to ply his trade. One time he travelled to Kiifah with all of his trade goods and everything he owned. During this journey he met a person who served him well, they became fast friends and he came to trust him completely. Then, while they had stopped at a rest station, he took advantage of him and stole all his property and provisions, leaving him with nothing. He searched and searched but was unable to find out where the servant had gone so, on foot and starving, he returned to his land. He entered his city by night and knocked on his door. When his family learned it was him, they rejoiced and praised Allah for his return saying, ‘Your wife has just given birth to a son and we have no money to buy the things a woman needs post-delivery. Tonight, we are very hungry so buy some flour and oil for the lamps.’ When he heard this, his misery and distress increased. Unwilling to tell them what had happened, he left for a nearby shop and extended the salam to the shopkeeper and gathered the oil and everything else he needed. Then, while talking to him, he saw his saddlebag lying unguarded on the ground in the shop and asked how it got there. The shopkeeper said, ‘A man bought food from me and asked me to host him. I put his saddle-bag in my shop and tied his beast in my neighbour’s house. The man is sleeping in the Masjid.’ Taking the saddle-bag with him, he went to the Masjid to find the man sleeping. He kicked him and he awoke alarmed. ‘Thief! Betrayer! Where is my wealth?’ he cried. He replied, ‘It is in the bag around your neck,’ and when he looked he found that nothing was missing at all. He then retrieved his beast, spent lavishly on his family and then told them all that had happened.
A similar story is related by Tinnawkhi, al-Faraj ba’d al-Shiddah. It is lengthy, but in summary: At the time of al-Rashid there lived a money-exchanger who bought a slave-girl for five hundred dinars. He fell deeply in love with her, and in wanting to be with her all the time, his business suffered immensely. He spent all his capital and was left with nothing. The slave-girl became pregnant and he began to take his house apart and sell the effects therein until nothing remained, then, while in this state, she went into labour and asked him to buy what she needed for birth and post birth complaining that she would die if he did not hurry. Weeping, he immediately left the house having resolved to drown himself in the Tigris. He was about to jump in, when the fear of Allah struck him and stopped him; instead he travelled on foot from city to city until he reached Khurasan where he stopped and commenced employment. He wrote sixty six letters to his hometown asking after the slave-girl but got no response and determined that she had indeed passed away. Many years later he decided to return to Baghdad and took with him his property to the value of twenty thousand qmars. The caravan was attacked by highway robbers and they stole everything leaving him, once again, poor and needy. He continued on his journey until he reached Baghdad, entering it in the same state that he had left it some thirty years ago. He went to his house to find it well looked after with a beautiful entrance, there were doorkeepers, servants and mules. He asked who lived in the house and he was told that it belonged to such-a-such money-changer, the name they gave was his name and they said that the mother was foster mother to the Leader of the Believer’s son and that the owner of the house himself was in charge of the Bayt al-Mal. The person he had asked told him that his father had told him that the father of this money-changer also used to be a successful money-changer who, being beset with poverty, left seeking items for the mother when she was in labour and had lost his way and died. His mother had begged for help from some neighbours who came to her assistance. Then,the Leader of the Believers had as one born to him, Ma’mun, and he would accept the milk of no foster mother save hers; so, while in his service, she came to hold a position of respect and honour in his household. ‘Then, when Ma’mun became Khalifah, he kept the woman and her son with him and her son built this house you see,’ he finished. The man asked if the mother was still alive and he replied, ‘Yes, she spends some days with the Khalifah and some days with her son.’ The money-changer, the son, arrived with a group of people and entered his house; the man went in as well. The son fulfilled their needs and they left, leaving the man alone. The youth asked, ‘Old man, what is it you need?’ He replied, ‘I am your father.’ His face went white and he quickly jumped up and led the rrian into his house, sitting him on a chair. There was a screened area in the room and the old man remarked. ‘Perhaps you should ask so-and-so if I am telling the truth,’ mentioning his mothers name. The mother, the slave-girl, heard his voice and raised the screens and rushed to her master, kissing him and weeping. He informed them of his story and they took him to al-Ma’mun who had him take his son’s position and promoted the son.
lbn Abi al-Dunya, al-Faraj ba’d al-Shiddah, records with his isnad to Waddah ibn khaythama who said, “umar ibn abdu’l-1aziz, may allah have mercy on him, ordered me to release all the prisoners in a prison, so i released them all save Yazid ibn Abi Muslim who vowed to have my blood in revenge. I was in Africa when I was told that Yazid ibn Abi Muslim, recently appointed Amir of the African provinces, had arrived. I fled. He sent people after me who caught me and took me to him. He said, “By Allah, I have been asking Him repeatedly to allow me to find a way to you!” He said, “By Allah, I have been asking Him repeatedly to save me from your evil!” He said, “By Allah, He has not granted you safety and I will kill you! Were the Angel of Death itself to race me in taking away your soul, I would beat it! Bring a sword and the executioners mat!” I was made to kneel on it and shackled, the executioner stood over me, sword ready. Then the call to prayer was given and he went to pray, when he went into prostration, an army attacked him, killing him. A man came and cut me free and told me to go on my way.’
He also records, with his isnad to ‘Umar al-Saraya who was, one time, fighting in the Roman provinces by himself. Once, while sleeping, one of them came to him and prodded him with his foot, waking him. ‘O Arab,’ he said, ‘you have a choice: I can kill you with a spear, a sword or we can wrestle!’ He said, ‘Then, let us wrestle.’ He beat me and, sitting on my chest, asked, ‘How should I kill you?’ I cried out, ‘I bear witness that everything that is worshipped beneath your Throne is false save Your noble face. You see my circumstances so save me!’ I then fell in a swoon and when I came to, I found the Roman lying dead beside me.
Abu’l-Hasan ibn al-Jahqam records with his isnad to Hatim al Asamm who said, ‘We encountered the Turks and had a jousting match. A Turk threw me off my horse and then dismounted and sat on my chest. Grabbing my beard, he took a knife out of his sock and moved to slaughter me. My heart, however, was not with him or his knife, it was with my Master. I thought, “My Master, if You have decreed my slaughter here, I fully submit to Your ordinance. I belong to You.” While in that situation, one of the Muslims shot him with an arrow and he fell off me. I stood up and, taking his knife from his hand, slaughtered him with it.’ Let your hearts reside with your Master and you will see such wonders of His providence unfurl that were never seen by your predecessors! There are many more incidents such as these but what we have mentioned thus far is enough.
By ibn Rajah al-Hanbali
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