Rejoice at Your Calamities

Tests, trials, tribulations and calamities are all a part of life, but it is our status as believers and our relationship with the divine reality that will determine how we deal with them. Different calamities bring about different reactions from different people. For some, it causes them to detach themselves from Islam and they turn away from Allah, but a select few with humility and iman find a sense of comfort. This calm and collected reaction should be celebrated amidst the roar of complaining many people dish out about their tasks and endeavours, for the affliction of calamities is a certainty of life.
Unfortunately, we fail to comprehend this reality. The human mind and the restricted experience of humanity is limited in its capacity to understand the wisdom behind such tests and trials, even if they may be few. It is an arrogant presumption that we have adopted that everything must be rationalised and that nothing can divert away from our goals and our plans, especially if we aim to bring goodness to ourselves and to others. For how can any good arise, from what we perceive as a “bad” situation?
Accept that whether it is physical, mental, financial or emotional, your life is a life of trials and tribulations. Maybe it was a failed exam that prevented you from getting into the university of your dreams, a public presentation where you forgot your script or mumbled your lines, a divorce, or even a marital relationship that breaks down shortly before an announcement was going to be made. Perhaps your home was burgled, or you fell prey to a scam business transaction causing you to lose a portion of your savings. You may have been fired or humiliated at work in front of your colleagues or witnessed a calamity befall someone you love and felt helpless in the process.
These are all modern-day calamities many of us may have experienced but few have bounced back with their iman in Allah unscathed and intact. Allah did not rationalise the existence of evil, even for us, His creation. If a worldly trial brings you closer to the eternal Being, then it was a blessing in disguise. In addition, it will release you from the reliance of people and turn you to the reliance of Allah. No doubt, people who are not facing the suffering will help you, but ultimately it is Allah who placed you in that situation and it is Him, and only Him, who can remove it.Humility can be generated through accepting setbacks calamities bring. These calamities are sent by the Almighty, so no one has the right to challenge Allah. You realise there is an all-powerful entity demonstrating His lordship over you, causing you to fall into a complete state of brokenness before His will and power. Calamities bring about this forgotten act of worship; humility, which ultimately allows you to fulfil your abject servanthood unto your Creator.
When someone else loves you, you become desperate to reciprocate it. When Allah loves you, you suddenly become fervent seeking the desire of your Lord.Celebrate that your test may be indicative of being from among the believers! You are being gifted the cure at the expense of a re-shuffle or abrogation of the sequence of events in your life. All we must do is remain gratified.Consider a diamond that only forms its final state having performed well under pressure and being stripped of its impurities. And as Muslims evolving throughout the duration of our lives, our final state can only be realised having surpassed the trials and calamities thrown at us, also resulting in the loss of our sins, our equivalent of impurities.
Even for those living in lesser developed countries, made up of families caught in the crossfire of war or suffering of starvation, every drop of spilled blood and every moment of hunger will be rewarded.