No matter how bleak it looks out there. It’s dunya. This place, Wallahi I give you sincere advice and to myself. This place was designed to break your heart. It was designed that way. If you are looking to be happy in the dunya, you’re in the wrong place. If Allah gave you a horrible spouse, you can get out of it and He might give you another horrible spouse. Or you don’t find a spouse and then you are lonely and then you wish you were with your horrible spouse because at least with him or here, there was someone to talk to. Then He might make you happy. But you look how many wealthy people you know that have a lot of wealth who have children in tribulation, who have sons that are completely wayward, really look out there.
People are in tribulation. You look at him because he has big house. He has nice Mercedes. If you were in his shoes, you might say I want to be back in my old shoes even though they may have holes in them because at least I can sleep at night. In his shoes, I have to take all these pills to go to sleep.
Everybody has their tribulations and it’s very rare that people have a happy time and wonderful life. Ibn Abbas said,” The foundation of dunya is tribulation. So if you are in blessings, it’s easier in some ways and in some ways it’s not.” Because it’s easier to forget Allah when things go well. It’s more difficult to forget Allah when things are difficult.
In the hadith, Rasulullah said, “The best worship is waiting for the ease from Allah to come when you are in hardship.” So if muslims would just have that perspective, they would realize that if I’m patient here with all these tribulation, I’m in ibadah. But if you’re complaining, woe it’s me, everything in horrible and doom and gloom and it’s all black and dark. Allah will give you more things to complain about and He will give some real things to complain about. Because there is a hadith if you complain about small calamities, Allah gives you great calamities. Know that the people of kuffar have no lord. We have Allah and as long as you have Allah they can’t take anything away from you.
Everything your desire exists with Allah SWT. So if you have Allah, you have everything your desire. If you don’t have Allah, nothing your desire will make you happy, nothing, it will at the end bring you misery.*
*Quoted from Syaikh Hamza Yusuf’s speech, Co-founder of Zaituna College, California, United States.