This narrative took place about six years ago. This is a repost from 2008 with some general modifications.

Within five minutes of class I began to feel angry at myself. I had an exam to move on to the next level in Arabic within the hour, and I had not spent enough time studying. I had moved all the way to Cairo, to live my dream of studying Arabic, to finally understand the language of the Qur’an, and yet, here I was, unprepared for my exam.

My teacher caught on. “Are you feeling ok? Do you feel some pain?”

“Yeah…” I answered, hesitant to keep going, trying to get myself together, but needing someone to tell me: be patient, the road to knowledge is long and hard but worth it. I kept trying to tell myself that, but it was not working.

So I told her: I knew it was going to be hard, I was expecting difficulty, but man it’s hard, and man it’s difficult. I just need someone to tell me, I explained to her, that this is the way, and that knowledge is like this, that I can do it with God’s help.

And so she told me, and man, it was worth feeling all the anger and frustration to hear what she said to give me hope.

“Do you know who wrote THE book on Arabic grammar?” She asked me. No, I shook my head, I had no clue.

“Sibaway,” she said. And then she began to tell me about the great master of the Arabic language, Sibaway, may God have mercy on him.

He was a non-Arab. Persian, to be exact. When Sibaway would speak in Arabic, the people around him would make fun of him. Finally, he swore he would write THE book on Arabic grammar, and he even named it AL Kitab—THE Book. He was that confident. And Allah, subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He), gave him sincere success in what he wrote. Until now, all these centuries later, she told me, no one, no Arab or non-Arab, has written like Sibaway, the master of this field.

But when he approached death, and may God have mercy on him, he began to feel great sadness. He lamented at the closeness of his death, and he thought about his companions. All of these people around him had memorized Qur’an, all of these people had memorized hadeeth (sayings of the Prophet ﷺ, peace be upon him). “Where is my Qur’an? Where is my hadeeth?” He cried. Instead, he lamented, that he was stuck between Zaid and Amr, the two famous characters in the Arabic grammar books.

He went to sleep distraught.

That night he had a dream, and he was visited by the GREATEST of the GREATEST men, The Beloved ﷺ, and was given glad tidings about his efforts!

Sibaway woke realizing that his work was indeed important, as it was a means to helping people know and understand the Qur’an. So much so that until now, his book continues to help people in their Qur’anic understanding.

“This is a non-Arab,” she told me. “This is the way of knowing the Qur’an. Do you think that if you stopped and asked a person on the street something in the Qur’anic Arabic, in classical Arabic, they could answer you? No, not just anyone can do this,” she continued, “because it takes work. It’s hard, but it’s worth it, being on the path of wanting to know the Qur’an.”

If Sibaway, a non-Arab, could write THE BOOK on Arabic grammar, what about all of you with all the skills and talents Allah (swt) has created you with? Look at what you were given, and see how you can maximize that for your ummah (community) and your society fisabilliah (in the way of God).

Let us do what the Prophet ﷺ did to help build the best generation which ever walked this earth: find the skills and talents within individuals—within OURSELVES—and take them and use them for God’s sake to make great leaps of progress. We need YOU in this ummah!

It doesn’t have to be Arabic, or Qur’an or Hadeeth—it can be anything beneficial, used to help others in a beneficial way.

And yes, it is going to be a struggle. But, as a dear teacher, may Allah (swt) protect him, once reminded me:

Isbiri, fa inna sabran nooron min Allah

Be patient! For indeed patience is light from God.

By AbdelRahman Mussa

This small series of articles aims to explore the following questions:

• Does Islam promote ease or difficulty?
• Does Islam state that the path to Allah is that of difficulty?

Previously we discussed:

• With Hardship There is Ease
• Wondrous Are The Believers’ Affairs
• Seek Help Through Patience
• He Always Chose The Easiest of Two Matters
• Allah Wants Ease For You
• Allah Wants To Alleviate The Burden
• We Shall Test You With Something of Fear
• Hell is Surrounded By Worldly Desire
• When Is The Help Of Allah Due ?
• Allah Tests What Is In Your Breasts
• So That They Might Return To Allah
• The Misunderstood Hadith

In this article, we will discuss what the goal is and there will be a small word about sacrifice.

Difficulty or Ease or Something Else?

If you are going through difficulty then your goal is not big enough and the biggest goal is Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He).

Surat al-Ikhlas is the surah of sincerity (Qur’an, 112). Allah, as described in Surat al-Ikhlas, is the ‘ahad,’ meaning the ONE.

All of creation is in pairs. If it is not Allah, then it is creation and it has a pair.

To achieve the outcome of a goal, you need to set the goal and fulfill the means to attaining the goal. You’ll notice that the means are always different from the goal. For example, if ‘getting to the door’ is your outcome, then ‘walking to’ the door is different than ‘being at’ the door.

With Allah, it is different; the means to getting to Allah is Allah. By remembering Him (the means), you attain Him. When you attain Him, you are remembering Him. Allah is the goal and the means.

Remember that if the goal is big enough, you won’t feel the paper-cut. Also realize that the easiest goal to attain is Allah, because the means equals the goal.

Finally, the terms ‘difficulty’ and ‘ease’ are used by the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) as being tools. The Prophet ﷺ used to choose ease over difficulty when he had a choice. In other words, he chose to do things easily when that was an option.

The terms are also used as description of circumstance, such as when ease and difficulty befall a believer.

Allah reminds us that any pain felt in His way is insignificant:

“…If you are in pain then surely they too are in pain, but you have a hope from Allah that they do not have…”(Qur’an, 4:104)

It’s important to mention that this verse is in the context of war. It’s important to mention that because ease is the usual status quo. Pain and difficulty only come by rarely.

It’s good that pain and difficulty isn’t the path to Allah, because we wouldn’t have been traveling much.

A Word on Sacrifice

Sacrifice is a form of self-inflicted difficulty. The term ‘sacrifice’ is not even stated once in the Qur’an. ‘Dhabh’ is stated in the Qur’an, which means ‘to slaughter,’ not to sacrifice. Sacrifice is a loss/giving-up of something (i.e. to give with no return).

In Islam, we are asked to INVEST, not sacrifice. And when you hear the term sacrifice in an Islamic talk/presentation, you are to remember that what is meant is “investment.”

Just think about Ibrahim `alayhi assalam (peace be upon him). Allah asked him to slaughter his son. (Note: the English translation of ‘sacrifice’ is inaccurate.)

How does he do it? After the third night, he tells his son about the command. Why does he tell his son? Is it with the hope that Ismail will say ‘no, I do not wish to be slaughtered?’ Is Ibrahim (as) looking for an excuse?

No. Ibrahim (as) could have just ignored the dream and not told his son. Why did Ibrahim (as) tell him then? Why didn’t he just cut his throat in the middle of the night, whilst his son was unaware?

It is because Ibrahim (as) wants his son to partake in the investment. He loves his son so he wants him to gain reward through this act of worship.

Ibrahim (as) moves the knife on his son’s neck. But the knife won’t cut. So Allah preserves Ismail. Moreover, Allah sends a ransom even though the parent should be the one paying the ransom in the effort to reacquire his son.

Did Ibrahim lose anything?

No, He didn’t lose his son. He doesn’t even have to pay a ransom!

He actually GAINS so much from this. Allah sends him a ransom. Allah keeps for him his son. Allah asks that they BOTH build His house (the Ka`ba) together for Him. Allah makes us remember their act of submission till the Day of Judgment.

Was there any loss in this whatsoever?

The next article will discuss:

• A Practical Example of Pro Difficulty Thinking
• Practical Examples of Pro Ease Thinking

By AbdelRahman Mussa         

This small series of articles aims to explore the following questions:

• Does Islam promote ease or difficulty?
• Does Islam state that the path to Allah is that of difficulty?

Previously we discussed:

• With Hardship There is Ease
• Wondrous Are The Believers’ Affairs
• Seek Help Through Patience
• He Always Chose The Easiest of Two Matters
• Allah Wants Ease For You
• Allah Wants To Alleviate The Burden
• We Shall Test You With Something of Fear
• Hell is Surrounded By Worldly Desire
• When Is The Help Of Allah Due?

In this article we will discuss 3 additional evidences.

Allah Tests What Is In Your Breasts

There is a pair of verses that come separately from one another but within close proximity that can also be misunderstood to favor difficulty as a path to Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He). These verses use the term: “li yumahisa” which literally means “to purify.”

“And that Allah may purify the believers  [through trials] and destroy the disbelievers.” (Qur’an, 3:141)

“[It was] so that Allah might test what is in your breasts and purify what is in your hearts. And Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts.” (Qur’an, 3:154)

When reading the Qur’an, you have to read before and after the particular verse to see if there’s a specific context that the verses are referring to. In this case, the verses surrounding these two verses are talking about fighting and Jihad.

In verse 141, the meaning of “purify the believers” is very closely related to “eliminate the disbelievers.” In other words, Allah is purifying the believers BY eliminating the power of those who hold onto impurity (the disbelievers). When truth overpowers falsehood, it cleanses it. What is left is only truth (purity) or that falsehood is so weakened, such that it’s as if there is only truth.

You see the same meaning in verse 154.

So That They Might Return To Allah

The following piece of evidence can’t really be used as evidence for the claim that difficulty is the path to Allah, but I heard it quoted by a speaker. So in the interest of covering all bases:

“And We sent to no city a prophet [who was denied] except that We seized its people with poverty and hardship that they might humble themselves [to Allah].”(Qur’an, 7:94)

It’s very clear from the verses before and after this one that Allah is only talking about towns that turned away from the truth, towns that were arrogant.

It’s very clear that Allah doesn’t send with his messengers affliction, courtesy of the truth!

The Misunderstood Hadith

Let us narrate one of the most misunderstood occurrences and Hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him).

The Prophet ﷺ is looking for a tribe or city to accept Islam and to protect him ﷺ so he goes to Ta’if. It’s a town where his maternal relatives reside and he ﷺ invites them to the path of Allah.

They reject him and set their slaves, the downtrodden, and the children of their town to humiliate and stone the Prophet ﷺ. His injuries were such that his blessed body was flowing with blood and by the time he sat down to rest after fleeing, his slippers were stuck to his feet because of the extent of his wounds.

Was this an easy experience? No; This is the definition of difficulty.

What does the Prophet ﷺ do? He raises his hands to make du`a’ (supplication):

“O my Lord, to you I complain of my weakness of strength and my lack of resourcefulness (that I couldn’t attain what I set out to get.) O most Merciful… If you are not angry with me, then I don’t care! [i.e.: If the stoning that I received was because of your anger, then I care. However if it wasn’t, then I am content]… Except that I would prefer that you would make things smoother/more-open.”

Many misunderstand this hadith to show that the Prophet ﷺ was feeling sorry for himself. Re-read the prayer he makes to Allah and ask yourself: Is this a man wallowing in sorrow and self pity?

“O my Lord, to you I complain of my weakness of strength and my lack of resourcefulness (that I couldn’t attain what I set out to get). O most Merciful.”

When you complain of your weakness, you are asking for more strength. A person wallowing in self-pity wouldn’t ask for that. A person pursuing difficulty would not ask for strength either; He/she would ask for weakness, for weakness would increase the difficulty.

“…If you are not angry with me, then I don’t care!”

Understand this literally. The Prophet ﷺ actually doesn’t care about what happened; It’s as if it didn’t happen, so long as it wasn’t a sign of Allah’s Wrath upon him ﷺ.

“…Except that I would prefer that you would make things smoother.”

I don’t think that these can ever be the words of a broken man. I don’t think that these can ever be the words of a man wallowing in self-pity nor are they the words of one who would prefer hardship over ease! In fact, verbatim, the Prophet ﷺ says that he doesn’t care so long as this isn’t indicative of Allah’s Wrath upon him. This isn’t a man broken.

I heard a speaker once say that this hadith teaches us that Allah gives us difficulty to break us so that we turn back to Him. How does this hadith teach us that?

In fact, saying that implies that the Prophet ﷺ was looking away from Allah to start with! Find me one occurrence in his blessed life where he strayed from Allah. The only reason this happened to him was because he went to Ta’if on the path of da`wah, calling to Allah! From the words of the Prophet ﷺ, it’s clear that difficulty wasn’t even on his RADAR!

Allah and the angels cared that this occurred to the Prophet ﷺ, so Allah gave him the power to avenge this tribe. Allah sent the angel of the mountains:

“…If you wish I will bring down the two mountains surrounding the people of Ta’if upon them.”

But Messenger of Allah ﷺ responded:

“No, I hope that Allah will raise from amongst their descendants people that will worship Allah the One, and will not ascribe partners to Him (in worship).” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

This story illustrates many lessons:

To the untrained eye, it would seem that the Prophet ﷺ went through a harrowing experience. But his words refute this.

How is it that the Prophet ﷺ can say that he doesn’t care?

Simply put: Allah is His only goal. Not ease and not difficulty. And with such a huge goal, one doesn’t feel the nuances of pain or difficulty.

For example, if you paper-cut your finger whilst being bored then you will instantly feel the pain. However if you obtain a paper-cut doing something fascinating, you will only realize later that you sustained this injury. Why?

The goal nullifies the pain! If you keep in mind why you are doing something, then the so-called difficulties that you come across will seem totally insignificant. If you feel difficulty, it’s because you are chasing after ease or chasing after difficulty. Make your goal Allah so that you will not feel difficulty. Realize that the bigger goal, the greater the nullification of pain and difficulty!

The bigger your goal, the more insignificant the challenges. There is nothing bigger than Allah. We say Allahu Akbar – Allah is Greater (than anything).

Yusuf `alayhi assalam (peace be upon him) did not feel bitter in prison as people asked him for advice! Had he focused on his ‘hardships’ and ‘difficulties,’ he would never have interpreted the dreams for the fellow prisoners. His bigger goal nullified any pain, challenge or difficulty faced by him in his life – of which there were many!

The next article will discuss:

• Difficulty or Ease or Something Else?
• A Word on Sacrifice

AbdelRahman Mussa, a graduate of sharia and a therapist, is the founder of ipersonalenrichment.com, a site specializing in practical tazkiyah (purification of the heart). To receive his free newsletter about tazkiyah, please visit the ipersonalenrichment.com website.

The Question

There were some recent problems between my wife and I. Due to a physical threat from one of her family members, I was forced to divorce her. I love her greatly and I did not intend to divorce her. I was under duress and direct physical threat. Is the divorce valid?

The Answer:

The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) said, “An action done under duress is forgiven from my community.”

Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) says, “Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief, except for one who is forced [to renounce his religion] while his heart is secure in faith. But those who [willingly] open their breasts to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allah, and for them is a great punishment” (Qur’an, 16:106).

Some scholars used this verse and the hadith above to prove that a divorce under duress is not acceptable. This was the opinion of ‘Ata who said, “Associating partners with God is worse than divorce.” Al-Shaf`i said, “Allah overlooks the action of disbelief if done under duress, removing the rulings associated with it. This means that an act less severe than disbelief would also be overlooked because if the greater sin is forgiven, the lesser one is by default.”

If the case is as you mentioned above, then there was no Islamic divorce.

Allah knows best.

Suhaib Webb

Thus, a brief look at what is being said in the two primary sources, namely the Qur’ān and Hadīth (record of the sayings and actions of the Prophet ﷺ) does not seem to correlate with what one actually experiences. However, the believer knows that the primary sources are divine, and hence cannot be providing false or inaccurate information. How then do we reconcile this apparent contradiction? The answer lies in an analysis of our actions and the demands placed upon us by Allāh (swt).

Actions are generally divided into two main categories:

1) The Impossible

There is a general consensus amongst ahl al-sunna wa al-jamā’a that a person is not obliged by Allāh (swt) to do something that is impossible. Though there are apparent differences between some of the scholars of usūl, this seems to be mostly theoretical, if not very much a difference in semantics.

2) The Possible

As stated, it is confirmed that Allāh (swt) does not oblige humans with something not within their capability. This then leaves the domain of all those actions which are possible. Yet all the possible actions are not of the same level―they are differentiated¹ based upon how difficult they are.

(i) The Abnormally difficult (المشقة غير المعتاد)

There are actions a person isn’t able to do except without undergoing undue difficulty. These actions are annexed with the impossible, and Allāh (swt) does not oblige human beings with such actions, solely out of His Mercy. There are many textual and rational proofs for this.² It is this type of difficulty which is referred to in all verses and ahādith that mention the negation of “all difficulty” within the religion. Thus this highlights how a lay reading of legal texts or legal aspects of texts can result in confusing conclusions. So actions such as waking up in the morning to pray fajr (the prayer before sunrise), or avoiding clear-cut agreed-upon prohibitions, are not considered to be from this category, and hence are not negated by all such verses and ahādith, since the fact that they are demanded

(1) in a clear-cut manner, whether requiring the omission or commission of an action,
(2) without it being restricted upon time and place,

assumes that it is  within the capability of the average person. Instead they are considered to be from the next category.

(ii) The Regular Actions with some Added Difficulty (المشقة الزائدة عن المعتاد)

It is true that Allāh (swt) demands from us that which results in some difficulty; however, such difficulty is not given any legal weight. For example, finding a good means of living is difficult. The ability to perform such actions is not deterred by the difficulty that accompanies them, and upright people normally consider a person who refuses to perform such actions as lazy. Thus there is fear of continuously highlighting the fact that Allāh (swt) “has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty,” as it can lead to misunderstanding such statements and encouraging Muslims to be people of weak resolve. Indeed the very nature of responsibility is that it is difficult, hence as people mature, their responsibilities increase and life seems to become more difficult, yet all this is still within the norm.

Differentiating between the Regular and the Abnormal

What then distinguishes the regular action from an action demanding an unusual amount of difficulty? According to Imām al-Shātibi (r), if the continuous performance of an action leads to an unusual amount of difficulty or harm, such that the person is severely de-motivated from performing it, or it harms the health of the one who performs it or his wealth, then this is an indication that such an action is from “The Abnormal Actions.”   If it does not lead to such a result, then even though one may endure some difficulty in performing such actions, nonetheless it is within one’s capability.

Our Attitude Towards Difficulty and Ease

So now that we have established that not all difficulty is removed in the shari`a, how do we understand this difficulty? It is important to understand that the entire shari`a is for the benefit of the creation. Some have said that it is also to avert harm, but in reality, the aversion of harm is securing a benefit. Thus, if our Lord (swt) has legislated for us something we find difficult, it is not for the sake of difficulty, but for the benefits, worldly or other-worldly, that will accrue from that action. However as the world has been created upon some basic ‘laws of nature’, acquiring such benefits results in some difficulty as a by-product. Nevertheless, the gain surpasses by far the difficulty.  This means that the intention of the Most Merciful (swt) is not to cause us hardship, but to secure benefit for us. Therefore our attitude should reflect this, and we should not go seeking difficulty deliberately.

Intending Difficult Actions, not Difficulty Itself

One should not go searching for difficulty in order to increase one’s reward, even though difficulty endured in the process of fulfilling a good deed increases the reward. For example, jihād (struggle in the way of Allah) is better than nafl (optional) prayers, as jihād involves more difficulty; however, it would be incorrect to explicitly intend to undertake jihād just to endure difficulty, since the Creator legislated jihād for accruing  benefits, not for the sake of placing hardship upon us, and any intention that contradicts the intention of the Almighty is null and void. For example, the Hadīth of the Prophet (saw): “A Muslim is not afflicted by hardship, sickness, sadness, worry, harm, or depression—even if pricked by a thorn—but Allah expiates his sins because of that.”³

Even though this is so, it does not imply that we actively seek to be pricked by a thorn. As Imām al-Shātibi eloquently said:

“It is not for the legally mature person (mukallaf) that he should seek difficulty per se in order to increase the reward of the action, but he should intend the action that is more rewarding on account of it being difficult.”⁴ It is on this basis that the Prophet (saw) ordered a person who vowed to fast standing under the sun⁵ to find shade and sit, but also complete his fast. Imām Mālik commented on this, saying the Prophet (saw) prohibited him from what was disobedience (ma’siya) and ordered him to complete what was obedience (ta’a). What this also means is that though difficulty is not to be sought, it is one of the criterion for making an action weightier.

A Good Indication of When to Seek a Legal License (Rukhsa)

The above should be a means of knowing when one should consult a mufti (a scholar qualified to issue legal rulings) regarding an action which one is finding difficult. If something is generally obligatory, yet one is experiencing nearly unbearable difficulty, so much so as to be discouraged from fulfilling the obligation, then perhaps the situation has entered the realm of “the Abnormal” and hence a good competent mufti should be consulted.

Conclusion

This world is a place of labour and of work, and striving and difficulty seem to be a vital part of it. To deny this completely is to display ignorance of the subtleties of the magnificent shari`a, and to over-emphasize this aspect and insist on it is to miss the whole point. We are, after all, “a balanced nation”⁶ and our behaviour and attitude should reflect this.