7. TRUE BELIEF REQUIRES SURRENDERING AND CONTENTMENT
A true believer (muwmin ) is not one who merely performs ritualistic worship (‘ibadat) and avoids prohibitions (almahzurat).
Rather he is one who has perfected his belief (kamil al-iman). He never objects (to Allah’s decree), the more hardship he undergoes the stronger his belief and submission becomes.
He might pray and his prayer is not answered, yet his belief is never affected for he realises he is owned and that his Master directs him as He pleases. If he ever objects then he exits the state of servitude (maqam al-‘ubudiyya) and enters the state of debate (maqam al-m unadhard), which is what happened to Iblis.
The effect of strong faith becomes clear at the time of hardship (bald).
Some people might wonder why Allah allowed for [Prophet] Yahya (‘alayhi as-salam) to be slaughtered by an evil person, and for other Prophets and believers to be harmed. It would be a form of disbelief (kufr) to assume that Allah is unable to defend the Prophets.
The only thing that can be done is to surrender to the Owner. He feeds some disbelievers (kuffar) and starves some believers (mu’minim). He keeps wrongdoers (fdsiqbn) healthy and some among the righteous (mutaqin) people ill.
[Prophet] Ya’qub (‘alayhi as-salam) cried over his missing son for eighty years and never lost hope. When his second son was taken he said:
“May Allah return them both to me.” [Yusuf (12): 83]
[Prophet] Musa (‘alayhi as-salam) made du’a against Fir’awn but was only answered forty years later, although Fir’awn used to kill Prophets (‘alayhi as-salani) and he crucified the magicians (who believed in Musa) and severed their hands.
Many calamities strike a noble person only for him to increase in his surrendering (taslim) and contentment (rida). This is when we understand the verse:
“Allah is pleased with them.” [al-Bayyinah (98):8]
Al-Hasan Al-Basri said, “People behave the same during good dmes (‘afiya), but they differ in times of hardship {bald).”
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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