Seeing Hardships As A Path to Forgiveness

By: Sheikh Salman Bin Fahd Al-'Audah

The hardships that we suffer in life are means by which our sins are pardoned. These difficulties can take many forms, like sickness, financial misfortune, or the loss of loved ones. Through these trials, Allah grants us atonement for our sins and raises our spiritual status.

Allah tries those of His servants He deems best to test. Consider Job (peace be upon him) about whom Allah says: “(Remember) Job, when He cried to his Lord, ‘Truly distress has seized me, but You are the Most Merciful of those who are merciful’.” [Sūrah al-Anbiyā’: 83]

In this way, Job became for later generations the ideal representation of patience and gracious resignation.

Allah has made His prophets and messengers exemplars and role-models for the believers to follow, and all of them were severely tested. Some of them suffered from extreme poverty. Some of them had to endure serious illness or tragic sorrow. Some were imprisoned or endured one form of persecution or another. Allah, in his wisdom decreed this to be the case.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “The prophets were the most severely tested of people.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhī (2397) and Sunan Ibn Mājah (4023, 4024)]

Therefore, when believers are beset with hardships, they should turn their Lord. They should know that enduring these difficulties might be a way for them to atone for their sins and bring them closer to Allah. It might be a means by which their status in the Hereafter will be elevated. Even the mere prick of a thorn can be a means for the forgiveness of sins.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Whatever befalls a Muslim of exhaustion, illness, worry, grief, nuisance or trouble, even though it may be no more than a prick of a thorn, earns him forgiveness by Allah of some of his sins.” [Sahīh al-Bukhārī]

Believers should never ask why Allah decrees what He does. They should know that they are the needy, dependent ones and place their hopes in their Lord who is their Creator, and who is All-Knowing and Wise: “He cannot be questioned about what He does, but they shall be questioned.” [Sūrah al-Anbiyā’: 23]

At the same time, believers can discern various aspects of Allah’s wisdom and mercy in the difficulties of life. Sickness, weakness, and poverty are among the common trials of life, but a discerning mind can often find wisdom in their existence. Nevertheless, the life of this world should not be considered in isolation. No assessment of life will be balanced unless it is considered in connection with the Hereafter – with the fact that our ultimate return is to our Lord.

This is what gives contentment and composure to the believer’s heart, and acceptance of what must be endured in life. It is only this consideration that provides a balanced view of life, and through which much of the wisdom of what takes place in the world becomes evident.