One afternoon, as I was twisting in pain from a stomach ache, I said to myself: How can a word be a cure? I remembered my uncle, who was afflicted by a severe illness that accompanied him for ten years until it took him to his final resting place. He used to say to me: All the pains of this world become bearable once you understand their meaning. Every day, I carry my pain to the Qur’an to find its meaning. I recite Surat al Furqan until I reach the words of Allah, {And We have made some of you a trial for others. Will you be patient?} There, that final word carries me amid my pain, which turns into gentle shadows within the companionship of my Lord, who tested me. I return, repeating it, its sharp sweetness never leaving my mouth. Yes, my Lord. Yes, my Lord.
I remembered my own state when my soul was sickened by what I saw of tyranny and foolishness rising high. Then I hear His words, {So do not hasten against them. We are only counting them as a number. I calm down, and my soul ascends once more through the ranks of trust. How does a word heal? Is there anything other than the word that is both illness and remedy for us human beings? Truly, one who said that words are light spoke the truth, and some words are graves. How does a word heal? You will know if you understand how a word kills.
If you are like me, seeking healing wherever you may be and in whatever state you are, in residence or travel, in joy or sorrow, lost or longing, fearful or grieving, seeking a spark of guidance, a word of light, a story of hope, a moment of connection, or a word of warning and awakening, waiting for a message, then open the windows of your heart and let the messages of the Qur’an flow into your conscience. In the Qur’an, there is healing and mercy. So what are the Qur’an’s messages to our inflamed emotions?
Between the Ear of Grain and the Bare Rock
Do you guarantee that you will reap the fruits of your labour, or do you fear that your efforts will be wasted? Many people complain of a lack of success and the loss of what they built over years of effort in mere moments. What guarantees the preservation of what we pursue with our bodies and minds, as days turn and make the rich poor, the strong weak, and the learned forgetful?
Before the beginning of the twentieth century, scientists exerted exhausting efforts to manufacture rubber due to the high price of natural rubber. After years of labour, the First World War erupted, rubber prices collapsed, and their efforts were lost. History is full of such stories, where people returned empty-handed. When such circumstances surround a person, they may drive him to despair, surrender, and abandon striving. So what is the way out?
The Qur’an rescues us from this state by placing the guarantee of effort with Allah, whose trusts are never lost. Allah says, {Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds, We do not allow the reward of those who do good to be lost. If your striving is directed to anything other than the Face of Allah, you expose it to loss and failure.
To instil this message in our souls, the Qur’an embodies it in a striking contrast between two scenes. In the first, we see the history of the ear of grain. In the second, the smooth rock upon which soil rests until heavy rain washes it bare. The Qur’an narrates this comparison with vivid imagery that places us within the scene and its clear meaning. One grain produces seven ears, and in each ear are one hundred grains. Meanwhile, a rock bears soil, then rain strips it away as if it were nothing. One scene is growth, beauty, and abundance. The other is rigidity and loss. The first represents spending in the path of Allah, the second spending for show.
Those who give of their time, expertise, health, and wealth for the sake of Allah are like the grain that grows and flourishes. Its goodness increases, its impact endures, and its roots extend. Those who give all of this to be seen by people are like the bare rock, preserving no effort and yielding no fruit.
The message is clear. The only true guarantee for preserving one’s striving is Allah alone. It is a divine message guiding us to the path where we grow and flourish, where our efforts are safeguarded, and where we escape the inevitable loss of those consumed by themselves and their worldly concerns.
So where do you see yourself in these two scenes?
The Wisdom of Struggle
Someone once met me and said: I have just graduated from university, and I am afraid of life. I hear so much about the hardships of work and the crises of life, and I fear that I will face something I cannot bear. Is there a path that allows me to avoid all of this?
Life was created this way, with toil and struggle. Allah says, {We have certainly created man in hardship}. A person does not reach the essence of anything without passing through struggle. Through it, a person matures. Through real challenges and difficulties, he gains the experience necessary to fulfil his responsibilities. Allah did not create hardship without purpose, but to prepare and qualify the human being to carry the trust, to act as a steward on earth, and to build life. Difficult situations press a person to engage, think, and find solutions, driving him to discover his capacities and recognise his tools.
Even in matters of faith, belief does not grow strong or sincere without trial. Allah says, {Do the people think that they will be left to say, ‘We believe,’ and they will not be tested? And we certainly tested those before them, so Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful and those who are liars.
In psychology, the Danish psychologist Erik Erikson viewed the soul as maturing through crises. According to his theory, a person passes through eight successive stages throughout life, from childhood to old age. Each stage involves a crisis arising from the relationship with the self and with others. Erikson emphasised that fully experiencing each crisis is necessary for healthy psychological growth, enabling a person to face the challenges of subsequent stages.
Historians have likewise agreed that one cause of the decline and collapse of states is the later generation of rulers, who are often far weaker than those before them. According to historians, foremost among them Ibn Khaldun, this is because such rulers are raised in luxury and abundance, without experiencing real crises or enduring struggles that shape leadership and mature vision.
So endure life willingly, and know that Allah tests you to refine your faith as gold is refined, removing all impurity from its clarity and brilliance.
The Siege
A fortress truly learns who supports it and who abandons it only during a siege. At that moment, means and power are cut off, and one feels that every path to salvation is closed. The greatest sense of divine companionship arises during a severe crisis, when causes disappear, and we are left besieged.
In the story of the three who stayed behind, Allah describes their state: {Until the earth closed in on them, despite its vastness, and their souls closed in on them}. This is more a description of their truthfulness than of a calamity. Enemies of Islam offered them refuge and honour, yet they refused. They sought the companionship of Allah, seeing the earth without it as narrow as the eye of a needle, and their own souls without it as a land of torment.
This was the wisdom behind the boycott imposed upon them, to reveal the truth of their sincerity and their struggle against their own desires. They turned to Allah as one who has no one else, fleeing from the injustice of the self. They could have escaped easily, as others did, by offering excuses, even lies, to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. But they chose the harder path, the path of truth, to purify themselves. In proportion to their hardship and their preference for truth despite its difficulty, their repentance was immense, so much so that a divine revelation was sent down, recited until the Day of Resurrection.
Here we see the short ropes of falsehood, which briefly imagine they possess the moment, and the extended rope of truth, enduring despite its heaviness on the soul. What befell the three was a guiding trial, directing their spirits toward Allah and His companionship when no refuge remained but Him. When they were truthful in hardship, Allah was truthful with them, granting them repentance and success.
Moses, peace be upon him, stands with his people before the sea, while Pharaoh’s army pursues them from behind, intent on killing them. His people feel danger, siege, and the end. They say, “We are surely overtaken.” Here, the sense of divine companionship reaches its peak. Moses says, {No. Indeed, with me is my Lord. He will guide me.
And here is our beloved and our example, the chosen Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with his companion in the cave. The polytheists stand above them. Had one of them looked down, he would have seen them. In that moment, the Prophet consoles his companion Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, saying, “Do not grieve. Indeed, Allah is with us.”
Sunna Files has no billionaire owner or shareholders demanding profit.
We are fiercely independent, and every dollar we receive is reinvested directly into our journalism
Helping us pursue the stories that matter and ensuring our reporting remains open and accessible to everyone.
Click here to donate & fund your Islamic Independent Platform
