The question, ‘why does God take away everything‘ comes from the questioner’s hugely flawed paradigm. It admits that this depleting, material world, that tends towards nothing, less than a drop in the ocean to the hereafter, limited and inherently cursed, “except whatever seeks the countenance of Allāh Almighty”, can be ‘everything‘.
The trials of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, life and fruits are hardly thought to be precursors to greater things. Though we recognise that ‘greatness is born out of the womb of affliction’, in the thick of difficulties, our limited minds often fail to see how earthly empowerment or ‘Tamkin’, and everlasting fortune in the hereafter is necessarily preceded by trial.
The Prophet Yusuf ‘alayhi asalām was thrown in a well, sold off as a slave and spent years in prison. Little did it seem that if it were not for a deep well and a dark cell, he would not have embarked the path of becoming Egypt’s revered Minister, treading the same footsteps as his forefathers, Ibrahim, Ishāq and Ya’qoub ‘alayhim asalam, who themselves faced extraordinarily onerous trials. Their legacy was etched out by their blood, sweat and tears while in the hereafter, they are of the masters of mankind. Allāh says:
“We will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and crops. Give good news to those who patiently endure. Who, when faced with a disaster, say, ‘Surely to Allāh we belong and to Him we will (all) return.’ They are the ones who will receive Allāh’s blessings and mercy. And it is they who are (rightly) guided.”[1]
What immediately follows is another verse that seems to interject with a complete shift in subject. This is when Allāh says:
“Indeed, (the hills of) Ṣafa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allāh…”[2]
While the first verse speaks of the varieties of trials and those who patiently endure, the second marks the hills of Safa and Marwah, exhorting those on lesser and greater pilgrimages to the Holy Sanctuary in Makkah to walk between them. But in carrying out one of the rights of this great event, the masses of pilgrims are, at once, recalling the mark of our mother Hagar and Prophet Ismael ‘alayhima asalām and reliving the event which inspired this injunction. Never did Hajar imagine that her desperate footsteps on the Makkan barren plane would be perpetually retold through this unending ritual walk.
Property, life and crops in the Hijaz began here, at the ever flowing spring of Zamzam, when, before it was “a barren valley”, hardly attracting the interest of shrubbery, let alone pilgrims.
Here, Ibrahim was ordered to leave Hajar with nothing but her enduring trust in Allāh. When she overcame her fear, hunger, loss of wealth and deprivation of fruit with endurance, Allāh give her example and this land its abiding bounty and abundance.
Often, when we see the enormity of certain calamities, be they earthquakes, wars or famine, we show a strange propensity to lose sight of the Most Wise’s Wisdom. Often we are so tied to the depleting, transitory world, or so invested in its small offerings that if they are devastatingly lost, we deem that we have lost everything, because that was everything to us.
The question, ‘why does God take away everything‘ comes from the questioner’s hugely flawed paradigm. It admits that this depleting, material world, that tends towards nothing, less than a drop in the ocean to the hereafter, limited and inherently cursed, “except whatever seeks the countenance of Allāh Almighty”[3], can be ‘everything‘. Had we seen the world for what it actually is, we would better fair under trialling circumstances.
Tribulations intend, not deprivation but perpetuity. When we complain about losing out now on what will eventually deplete, we are, in reality, only hoping for it to last a little longer. The only other possibility is for us to wish that these blessings would continue forever. Such only proves that our inherent tendency is not towards this world but towards the next. We are not only aware of the Everlasting, but the strength of our inclination towards it reflects a powerful experience we wish to bring out and relive – when we feel pain at loss, we are in fact yearning to our heavenly origin to which we are homesick because there, there is no loss. This is why after the loss of worldly fodder, the righteous are quick to remind themselves of that everlasting reality and gain:
“Surely to Allāh we belong and to Him we will (all) return.“[4]
Tribulations, thus, should never be cursed, for they serve the greater purpose of existence, the only real purpose of existence, to realign Allāh’s servants towards His Glorious, everlasting presence and perpetual paradise and bliss. In the Hadith, the Prophet sala Allāhu ‘alayhi wasalam says:
“My Ummah is the one to which mercy is shown. It will have no punishment in the next world, but its punishment in this world will be trials, earthquakes and being killed.”[5]
Tribulations, for the perseverant, forgive them of their sins, teach them patience, gratefulness and selflessness. When the companions faced a grave setback at the Battle of Uhud and lost 70 of their brothers, a great proportion of what constituted the whole nation of believers, Allāh reminded them that:
“If you have suffered injuries ˹at Uḥud˺, they suffered similarly ˹at Badr˺. We alternate these days ˹of victory and defeat˺ among people so that Allāh may reveal the ˹true˺ believers, choose martyrs from among you—and Allāh does not like the wrongdoers— and distinguish the ˹true˺ believers and destroy the disbelievers. Do you think you will enter Paradise without Allāh proving which of you ˹truly˺ struggled ˹for His cause˺ and patiently endured?”[6]
the virtues and lessons of this setback better served the companions of the Messenger sala Allāhu ‘alāyhi wasalam on their journey towards their Creator than the benefits reaped at the victory at Badr:
“Strange are the ways of a believer for there is good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except in the case of a believer for if he has an occasion to feel delight, he thanks (God), thus there is a good for him in it, and if he gets into trouble and shows resignation (and endures it patiently), there is a good for him in it.”[7]
Just as some of us begin to develop an unhealthy attachment to this limited world of unfulfilling desires, tribulations come to remind us that this world is to dust. It means so little to the Almighty that the righteous can face trials, while many of the most wretched, or even perpetrators of injustice can live in extravagance.
“Know that this worldly life is no more than play, amusement, luxury, mutual boasting, and competition in wealth and children. This is like rain that causes plants to grow, to the delight of the planters. But later the plants dry up and you see them wither, then they are reduced to chaff. And in the Hereafter there will be either severe punishment or forgiveness and pleasure of Allāh, whereas the life of this world is no more than the delusion of enjoyment.”[8]
When the Almighty eventually annihilates the earth and folds it up His right, it will become but a faded, distant memory, leaving nothing but the actions that we sent ahead.
References:
[1] Al-Qur’an 2:155-157
[2] Al-Qur’an 2:158
[3] At-Tirmithi, on the authority of Abu Hurairah rady Allāhu ‘anh
[4] Al-Qur’an 2:157
[5] Sunan Abi Dawud, on the authority of Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari rady Allāhu ‘anh
[6] Al-Qur’an 3:140-142
[7] Muslim, on the authority of Suhaib b. Sinan rady Allāhu ‘anh
[8] Al-Qur’an 57:20
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