Painful Events in your life?

[Khalid Saifullah]

When Prophet Yunus left his town and went aboard the ship to sail away from the disbelievers that he spent years trying to guide, the seas turned stormy. In the story we all know, the crew wanted to throw someone off the boat and they randomly drew a name – Yunus. When he was about to be thrown overboard by the other passengers, what were the possible outcomes? He was about to be thrown into the middle of a stormy sea, in the middle of the night. In all likelihood, he was going to die.

But he didn’t. A whale was sent by Allah to swallow him. And beneath all the darkness, he called upon Allah (swt) using words that are immortalized for us in the Quran:

“There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.”

Can you imagine the fear and pain that Prophet Yunus (as) must have been experiencing in those moments? The physical pain of having the whale’s stomach acid burning through his skin, the emotional pain of being absolutely alone and not knowing if or when he’d be able to escape, and the spiritual pain of knowing that he disobeyed Allah by leaving his people without Allah’s permission.

But all that pain he was experiencing was still better than the alternative – dying in a state of disobeying Allah.

Sometimes when you experience painful events in your life, you can barely get your head above water. You want to drown in the darkness within you.

You might even think that your situation is the worst it could possibly be. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself – is Allah saving me from an even greater tragedy? Is He strengthening me through this difficulty so I can move forward as a better, stronger believer? Is this pain good for me, even if I don’t yet understand how or why?

“Perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not” (2:216).

To the pained dua of Yunus, Allah responded:

“So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers” (21:88).

He will respond to you, too. And what you gain from your distress, though you may not see it now, will be better and more beautiful than what you could've imagined.

- Asmaa Hussein

[~ Sabr ~]

#Haqq