Praise be to Allah, we praise Him, seek His help and guidance, ask Him for forgiveness and direction, and seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and our deeds. I testify that no one is God but Allah alone, He has no partner, no likeness or equal, whatever you imagine in your mind, Allah is not like that, and whoever attributes to Allah an attribute of human beings has disbelieved.
I testify that our master Muhammad who is the slave of Allah, His Messenger, His most accepted and best believer, was sent by Allah with guidance and to relay the religion of truth as a guide. O Allah raise the rank of our master Muhammad and his chaste and pure companions and those who followed them with chastity until the Day of Judgment.
Thereafter: O slaves of Allah, I command myself and you to fear Allah, the Almighty, so fear Allah, the Lord of the worlds, Who provided you with wealth and offspring, Who said in His Holy Qur’an, Surat Al-Baqarah, Ayahs 155-157:
وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّبِرِين الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ أُوْلَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُون
َThese Ayahs mean: [And We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and harvest; but give good tidings to those who remain patient; who, when inflicted with calamity say: ‘Verily, we belong to Allah and to His judgement we shall return. On those mercies will befall from their Lord, and those are the guided].
Allah, the Almighty, told us that He will afflict his slaves with hardships including fear, insecurity and food starvation, and a loss of their money, even a loss of relatives or loved ones by death and other means. Allah shall afflict some with a loss of harvest from drought or pests that eliminate their orchards.
Yet, He also ordered His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to announce to those who remain patient that their reward from Allah for their patience will be of special mercies. The sound-minded should remember this and remember that this world is not an everlasting homeland. He will soon depart it and leave behind its joys and anguish. When hardship befalls him, he must resort to the command of Allah to summon patience.
Observe, my Muslim brothers, the biography of the righteous companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and their successors; see what calamities befell them, and how they were patient to learn from their harsh circumstances – manhood, heroism, pride, dignity and honour.
Muslim narrated that Jabir Ibn ^Abdillallah said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent us to intercept a trade caravan for Quraysh and assigned Abu ^Ubaydah (may Allah accept his deeds) as our leader”. He said, “the Prophet provided us with a leather sack of dates. Abu ^Ubaydah would give us a date, one by one and we would suckle on it like a baby suckles, then we would drink water and it would sustain us all day till nightfall. We would then hit the leaves with our canes and add water to them and eat them. These leaves were the sun-dried fodder for the camels.
The hardships we may experience today will not amount to a quarter of a quarter of the distress the companions had suffered. Look also at the biography of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah accept his deeds). He once fainted from hunger in the mosque of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and started to gargle. Onlookers thought he was losing his mind. He later said: “but I was suffering from nothing more than hunger”, narrated by al-Bukhariyy.
When matters become unbearable, you should do what our Lord, the Exalted, has instructed in His words that mean: ‘and whoever fears Allah, Allah shall grant him relief.
As for the one who was not patient when afflicted and resorted to dispraised reactions, such as stealing, looting, or killing people or killing himself; this person did not benefit or honour himself. His situation would be as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “One might be doing a deed intending to honour oneself but results in one’s humiliation.” This means, if one is doing an act of sin intending to benefit oneself, the foul act of sin would taint him with disgrace. More so is to commit the gravest of major sins, which is killing people or committing suicide.
Allah, the Exalted, said:
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا
This means: [And do not kill yourselves, for Allah is Most-Merciful to you].
Killing the soul that Allah has forbidden except in justice is the most enormous sin committed by the slave after blasphemy. As well, the self-murderer deserves Allah’s severe punishment unless Allah forgives him. The one who commits suicide with a tool, will be repeatedly tortured by that same tool in Hell. Suicide is not a solution to problems and is not a way of relief.
Also, the one who commits suicide in discontent and to object to Allah’s Destining has committed blasphemy and exited Islam. Being patience with worldly calamities is achievable but being patient with the punishment of Hellfire is not something we can achieve.
