Turning to Your Lord in Both Prosperity and Hardship

31 March 2023

Why do people pray more when they are in distress, yet gradually drift away when they find relief?

Because the sense of need is strong. Trouble awakens a person. When there is debt, illness, a family problem, or fear of the future, people feel more clearly that they need support.

But when the difficulty passes, another test begins: complacency.

It Is Easy to Turn to Him in Hardship

Question: When do we pray the most?

When a problem arises.

When things get worse.

When we are afraid.

When the possibility of losing someone emerges.

This is a very human state.

But if people remember their Lord only in emergencies, the bond also weakens as comfort returns.

The debt ends, and prayer decreases.

The marriage improves, and prostration decreases.

The business grows, and giving decreases.

Health returns, and gratitude decreases.

The removal of hardship does not remove the need to serve Allah.

Gratitude in Prosperity May Be Harder

Scarcity forces people to live within limits.

Abundance, however, expands the range of choices.

If we have money, we can consume more, or we can share more.

If we have time, we can waste it, or we can use it for something beneficial.

If we have knowledge, we can become arrogant, or we can teach.

If we have power, we can oppress someone else, or we can lighten their burden.

That is why gratitude in prosperity is not simply saying, “All praise be to Allah.”

It is using the blessing in the right direction.

Question: As our means increase, does the good we do also increase?

This question is the measure of the test of prosperity.

Despair Is Also an Extreme

Sometimes people fall into excessive confidence in comfort and excessive despair in hardship.

Both states disturb the balance.

Just as it is wrong to say, “Nothing will happen to me,” when we are comfortable, it is equally dangerous to say, “Nothing will ever get better now,” in hardship.

Anxiety about the future can extinguish all of a person’s goals.

“There is no telling what will happen.”

“There is no point in making plans.”

“Everything is getting worse anyway.”

These thoughts leave a person inactive.

Question: Do we also abandon the right thing we should do because of fear?

People do not know tomorrow. But they know their responsibility today.

They can work today.

They can pray today.

They can reduce their debt today.

They can treat their family well today.

They can help someone today.

Preserving hope does not mean acting as though there is no problem. It means continuing to take the right step within the problem.

Trying to Control the Future

People dislike uncertainty.

A business owner may fear, “What happens if no work comes in for three months?”

A family may worry, “Will the same disaster happen again?”

A person may constantly remember the past, asking, “Will I be abandoned again?”

Precautions are taken.

But spending the entire day mentally living with future possibilities steals the present.

Here, supplication teaches us to entrust to our Lord the area we cannot control.

Question: Are we dealing with a problem we can solve today, or with dozens of possibilities that do not yet exist?

This distinction matters for peace of mind.

Not Carrying the Pain of the Past into a New Life

Once people experience something deeply painful, they may make firm promises to themselves, saying, “Never again.”

I will never marry again.

I will never enter a partnership again.

I will never trust anyone again.

I will never take a risk again.

These words seem to protect a person. But sometimes they also close off life.

We must learn from the past; we must also not allow the past to hold us captive.

A new beginning does not have to mean experiencing the same old pain.

Supplication and Goals Go Together

People cannot live without a plan, saying, “Allah will help anyway.”

Nor can they live saying, “I control everything.”

They set a goal.

They work.

They take precautions.

And they leave the outcome to their Lord.

This is surrender within life.

Question: Do we have a goal, or have our fears swallowed all our goals?

Perhaps we cannot set great goals.

But small and beneficial goals always exist.

Reducing a debt today.

Correcting a habit today.

Supporting someone today.

Making a supplication a regular practice again today.

Speaking today to someone we have hurt.

Not Remembering Our Lord Only in Hardship

Servitude to Allah is not a method of problem-solving.

People do not turn to their Lord only to say, “Fix this.”

They give thanks when blessings are present, too.

They pray when they are comfortable, too.

They ask Him to protect them when they are strong, too.

Because one of a person’s greatest errors is to imagine that they have no needs.

Question: If we had no great difficulty today, would we still pray with the same sincerity?

Perhaps the real test lies in the answer to this question.

Hardship calls for patience.

Prosperity calls for gratitude.

Uncertainty calls for surrender.

And in every state, people need their Lord.

Complacency Comes Quietly

Difficulty comes suddenly, and a person notices it immediately.

Complacency is quieter.

One day we delay the prayer.

We say, “I will give charity later.”

We postpone reading the Qur’an.

We let the pressure of work push aside caring for our family.

We do not break away all at once; we drift away gradually.

Question: Which good habits did we abandon after our lives improved?

This question makes complacency visible.

A New Responsibility toward Blessings

When people are freed from debt, they should not merely feel relieved; they should think, “What can I do better now?”

If their business has grown, they can treat their employees more fairly.

If their income has increased, they can share more regularly.

If their marriage has improved, they can appreciate that peace and continue to invest effort in the relationship.

If their health is good, they can use their strength for beneficial work.

A blessing does not end responsibility; it changes its form.

Hope Is Not Blind Optimism

Hope does not mean saying, “Nothing bad will happen.”

Bad outcomes are possible. Loss, illness, and economic difficulty are part of life.

Hope is being able to continue doing what is right despite these things.

Question: Will we also abandon the right step because we cannot guarantee the outcome?

No.

A farmer does not plant every seed with a guarantee. Still, the farmer plants, waters, and waits.

People move forward in life in the same way.

Today’s Responsibility Is More Real Than Tomorrow’s Fear

We do not know what will happen tomorrow.

But there are things we can do today.

Today we can plan how to manage our debt.

Today we can speak with our family.

Today we can put our worship in order.

Today we can cut an unnecessary expense.

Today we can help someone.

These small steps do not control the future completely. But they do not leave us frozen in fear.

Breaking the Crisis–Comfort Cycle

Sometimes people experience the same cycle over and over.

Difficulty comes, and they turn to Him.

The difficulty passes, and they grow lax.

Then a new difficulty comes, and they turn to Him again.

The way out of this cycle is not to tie good habits solely to periods of crisis.

Question: Which good behavior that we began in hardship can we continue in comfort?

It may be regular supplication.

It may be charity.

It may be giving more attention to the family.

It may be reading the Qur’an.

It may be controlling spending.

In this way, we do not return to our old state when the crisis passes.

Not Being Afraid to Set Goals

Great disasters or economic uncertainties can shake a person’s confidence in the future.

But giving up setting goals altogether is not a solution either.

We can make our goals more modest and flexible.

Instead of saying that a certain thing will definitely happen a year from now, we can say, “I will do my best and adjust my direction according to the circumstances.”

This approach preserves both planning and surrender.

Not Treating Fear as Knowledge

There is no rule that everything we worry about will happen.

When the mind constantly repeats bad possibilities, it can make them feel real.

For this reason, when fear comes, it is useful to ask the concrete question: “What problem is actually before me right now?”

We take precautions according to that problem. We do not continually magnify the remaining possibilities.

Gratitude in Prosperity, Patience in Hardship, Action in Every State

Balance appears not only in feeling but also in behavior.

Sharing in prosperity, abandoning waste in hardship, continuing to take the right step in fear, not forsaking responsibility in comfort…

In this way, people cease to be playthings of their circumstances.

Question: When circumstances change, does our character also change completely?

True steadiness means being able to preserve the same fundamental standard in different states.

Question: What are three things we will continue today even if our lives are comfortable?

Supplication, gratitude, and sharing may be a good beginning. When we do not leave these only for days of crisis, our faith ceases to be a reflex that switches on and off according to circumstances and becomes a more consistent way of life.

Consistency is built through small routines, not grand emotions. Habits such as praying every day, however briefly, giving charity at regular intervals, spending regular time with family, and controlling spending can continue even after the crisis passes. In this way, servitude to Allah ceases to be merely a response to fear.

Balance means not severing the bond when comfort comes and not losing hope when hardship comes.