‘Asiyah, the wife of Fir’aun (Pharoah). Her iman in Allah thrived under the shadow of someone that said, “I am your Lord, Most High!” When news reached Fir’aun of his wife’s iman he beat her and commanded his guards to beat her. They took her out in the scalding noon heat, tied her hands and feet and beat her perpetually. Who did she turn to? She turned to Allah! She prayed:
“My lord, build for me a home with you in Paradise and save me from Fir’aun and his deeds and save me from the transgressing people.”
It was narrated that when she said this, the sky opened for her and she saw her home in Paradise. She smiled. The guards watched astonished, she’s being tortured and she smiles? Frustrated, Fir’aun commanded a boulder to be brought and dropped on Aasiyah, to crush her to death. But Allah took her soul before the boulder was brought and she became an example for all the believing men and women till the end of time:
“And Allah has set forth an example for those who believe: the wife of Fir’aun – when she said, ‘My Lord, Build for me a home with You in Paradise, and save me from Fir’aun and his deeds, and save me from the transgressing disbelieving people.”
[Al-Qur’an 66:11]
The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:
“Strange is the affair of the mu’min (the believer), verily all his affairs are good for him. If something pleasing befalls him he thanks (Allah) and it becomes better for him. And if something harmful befalls him he is patient (sabir) and it becomes better for him. And this is only for the mu’min.”
[Muslim]
bn al-Jawzi said, “If this dunya was not a station of tests it would not be filled with sicknesses and filth. If life was not about hardship, then the Prophets and the pious would have lived the most comfortable of lives. Nay, Adam suffered test after test until he left the dunya. Nuh (Noah) cried for 300 years. Ibrahim (Abraham) was thrown into a pit of fire and later told to slaughter his son. Ya’qub (Jacob) cried until he became blind. Musa (Moses) challenged Fir’aun and was tested by his people. Isa (Jesus) had no provision except the morsels his disciples provided him with. And Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam met poverty with patience, his uncle – one of the most beloved relatives to him – was slain and mutilated and his people disbelieved in him … and the list of Prophets and the pious goes on and on.”
The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wa Sallam said:
“Whoever abstains from asking others, Allah will make him contented, and whoever tries to make himself self-sufficient, Allah will make him self sufficient, and whoever remains patient, Allah will make him patient. Nobody can be given a blessing better and greater than patience”
[Bukhari: 2: 548]
Gratitude (shukr) is about expressing thanks and appreciation to those who do any favor to us. Obviously, none can come close to our creator, Allah who gave us everything. As the Quran states:“Who created you, fashioned you perfectly, and gave you due proportion” [Infitar 82:7]. As humans, Allah has bestowed on us the nature to be grateful and we should thus express that gratitude not just to Allah but to the people whom we deal with as well. In many places in the Quran, Allah divides people as being grateful and as ungrateful to motivate us to join the camp of those who are grateful.
In one of such verses, Prophet Sulaiman said, as stated in the Quran,
“. . . then when (Sulaiman (Solomon)) saw it placed before him, he said: “This is by the Grace of my Lord to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful! And whoever is grateful, truly, his gratitude is for (the good of) his own self, and whoever is ungrateful, (he is ungrateful only for the loss of his own self). Certainly! My Lord is Rich (Free of all wants), Bountiful”
[An-Naml: 40]
Gratitude helps us focus our minds on Allah, something that has unfortunately become so difficult today on account of life’s distractions and attractions. Gratitude, therefore, corrects our perceptions by reminding us that everything that happens to us doesn’t happen because of its own volition and thus we shouldn’t take matters for “granted”. Allah says in the Quran:
“And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah” [al-Nahl 16:53]
He also says,
“And He found you poor and made you rich (self?sufficient with self?contentment)” [al-Duha 93:8]. Let’s therefore constantly remind ourselves of Allah’s bounties by expressing our gratitude to Him in prayers and at other times.
Allah says:
“And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: ‘If you give thanks (by accepting Faith and worshipping none but Allah), I will give you more (of My Blessings); but if you are thankless, verily, My punishment is indeed severe’”
[Ibraaheem 14:7]
Let’s, therefore, make thanking Allah part of morning and evening remembrances (adhkars) to get more of Allah’s blessings in our lives.
May Allah (SWT) Include Us Amongst His Grateful And Patient Slaves.
Aameen!