Nothing brings up our core values like hardships do. Tests and trials beg us to answer who and what we truly submit to. And many times, they are the driving force to realign our lives to what truly matters in life. Allah tells us in the Quran that people are often tested in order for them to return. Yet what are they returning to? Their true authentic core selves, which in other words is their servitude to none but Him. In this way, a hardship at our door ends up saving us from the trivial world we were once drowning in.

Is it a Punishment? or a test? When we experience hardship we often wonder if it’s a punishment from Allah or a test. If we conclude that we are being punished, we are holding a bad opinion of Allah. And if we conclude that we are being tested in order that our ranks be raised, we might just be thinking too highly of ourselves. Let me tell you something; it’s not our job to figure out the reason for the hardship, nor is it something that we will be asked about. We will be asked about our response to it. Yes, we are sinful, yes we are in need of purification, and if we gave some thought, we could easily reason that we deserve what has befallen us, and that would only drown us in guilt and

کچھ دن پہلے میں اُستاد نُعمان کی ایک ویڈیو دیکھ رہی تھی جس میں وہ ایک آیت کو بیان کرتے ہوئے یہ کہہ رہے تھے کہ جب اللہ نے یہ فرما دیا ہے کہ قرآن میں ہمارے لیے نصیحت اور شفاء ہے تو پھر آپ کو چاہیے کہ آپ اس زاویے سے قرآن کی آیات کو دیکھنا شروع کریں۔ اب اس آیت میں اللہ تعالیٰ فرما رہے ہیں کہ پچھلی قوموں کو ہم نے بھوک اور مصیبت میں مبتلا کیا تاکہ وہ اللہ کے سامنے عاجزی اختیار کریں اور گڑگڑا کر دعائیں کریں۔ تو اُستاد کی ہدایت پر عمل کرتے ہوئے میں نے یہ سبق لیا کہ اپنی زندگی میں آنے والی ہر مصیبت کو میں اب سے یہی سوچ کر ڈیل کروں گی کہ اللہ چاہتا ہے کہ میں اس کے سامنے عاجز ہو جاؤں، اس کے سامنے جھک جاؤں۔ اللہ چاہتا ہے کہ میں اس کے قریب ہو جاؤں۔ یہ میرے لیے ایک گولڈن چانس ہے۔ اللہ مجھے میری موت سے پہ

In verses 94-102, ALLAH (SWT) talks about how whenever a prophet/messenger would be sent to a society, it's disbelieving citizens, would initially receive some sort of punishment as an attempt to force them to change their ways. But when they continued in their sins, ALLAH (SWT) would change their punishment into prosperity, as a way of telling them that all of this is just for this life and temporary. Your next punishment would be the biggest and everlasting, Hellfire. Sometimes, the disbelievers used to argue that their forefathers also had these ups and downs in life but continued in their bad lifestyles, not realizing that this life is still temporary and that even good people also have