When the going gets tough, be patient and call on Allah

The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) said in a beautiful hadeeth:

"Indeed amazing are the affairs of a believer ! They are all for his benefit; If he is granted ease of living he is thankful; and this is best for him. And if he is afflicted with a hardship, he patiently perseveres; and this is best or him."

[ Muslim ]

But in order to make this a reality we have to be able to have the foresight to see beyond this life, to the next life. When we feel tested, we often feel our Iman weaken. At times we can fall into a state of sadness and stop striving and slacken in our actions – our good deeds. But it is those very good deeds: that extra salah, that extra dhikr of Allah, the extra sadaqah that will cause us to get out of the pit we have found ourselves in. Doing fewer good deeds will deepen our anguish even more. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam himself, when something happened to him he would pray. The prayer was the coolness of his eyes.

In discussing patience the scholars mention that there are two types of patience:

1. Patience in restraining oneself from committing sins.
   
2. Patience in continuing to be obedient to Allah and making sacrifices.
   

Ibn Kathir Rahimahullah mentions a third type of patience. It is the endurance of disasters and crises and includes seeking Allah's forgiveness from mistakes.

One of the things that living away from your family at a young age does, is that because you feel very lonely at times, it forces you to engage with Allah and realise that, just like that person who's holding onto a plank of wood in the sea, about to drown, it makes you realise that when you are emotionally drowning, the only one who can help us is Allah. When I felt that sense of distress coming over me, I found the following du'a very helpful. If you are feeling a sense of anguish, make this du'a. You can make it in your sajdah, or in the last third of the night:

Abd-Allah ibn Mas'ood said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

"There is no-one who is afflicted by distress and grief, and says:

اللهم : اني عبدك, وابن عبدك, ابن أمتك, ناصيتي بيدك, ماضى فيّ حكمك, عدل فيّ قضاؤك, أسألك بكل اسم هم لك سمّت به نفسك, أو أنزلته في كتابك أو علّمته أحدا من خلقك, أن تجعل القرآن ربيع قلبي, ونور صدري, وجلاء حزني, وذهاب همّي وغمّي

...but Allaah will take away his distress and grief, and replace it with joy."

He was asked: "O Messenger of Allaah, should we learn this?" He said: "Of course; everyone who hears it should learn it."

"O Allaah, I am Your servant, son of Your servant, son of Your maidservant,": Here we are showing our complete subservience to Allah, even our parents are His servants.

"my forelock is in Your hand, Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just."
:Here we are acknowledging that Allah has complete control over us in things that we have no control over.

"I ask You by every name belonging to You which You name Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with You,": Here we are seeking a means of nearness to Allah by calling upon Him by His names and attributes – by every name He has, that we know of or that we don't know of. Included in that will be Allah's greatest name, which if we call Him by it, He will surely answer our du'a.

"that You make the Qur'aan the spring rain that brings my heart to life and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety.'

We ask Allah to bring our hearts back to life, and expand our breast, just as plants need rain and light, we ask Allah for that nourishment like rain and light from the Qur'an, that will make the difficulties we feel we are facing, seem easy. We beg Allah to make the Qur'an that we recite, a means for our 'Huzn' (our anxiety about the past) and 'Hamm' (our anxiety about the future) to dissipate.

Aameen thumma Aameen