Seek help from Allah

There is none in this world who is not facing one or another hardship

Whenever a man is afflicted with some hardship, he should think that there is none in this world who has not faced similar afflictions at one or another time of his life, no matter he may have been a great Monarch, a Prophet, a great Wali or a great Officer. You should, therefore, rest assured that you have to face hardships and troubles, whether you like this natural process or not. This world is a place where ease and comfort and worry, grief and joy, and the like go together. There is none who is drowned only in grief or only in enjoyment. This is the unchangeable rule of nature. Even those who deny the existence of Allah cannot deny that they must have to face hardships and worries in life. Thus, when it is a confirmed truth that hardships and troubles must befall men, then man should decide for himself which hardships he should welcome and which he should avoid. One way is that man should himself try to decide that he can face a particular item of hardship in preference to some other item. However, is it possible for a man to take such a decision ? It is not possible, because he does not know and indeed he cannot know, which hardship will prove easier and more fitting for him than another to get rid of this ticklish question, it is best to leave the problem to Allah's decision. Man should, therefore, entrust the matter to Allah and pray to Him to grant him the necessary strength and courage and patience to bear whatever fate brings to him.

A less severe hardship averts a more severe hardship

The jurisdiction of man's intelligence is limited. He does not know that the hardship that has befallen him may have saved him from some greater hardship. For example, if a man has got fever, he has in view only pains the attendant on that fever. If a man has failed in securing a job for which had been striving hard, he has in view only the dejection due to this failure. If theft has occurred in his house, the grief of the loss suffered on account of this theft is before his eyes. The poor fellow does not know what other and probably more harmful events and greater hardships would have happened to him. As the orbit of man's understanding is very much limited, he is not able to look beyond the scope of his understanding and he begins to pine over his immediate losses or troubles. On such occasions man should better think that his immediate losses or difficulties have saved him from some more severe and destructive mishaps. This trend of thinking will bring him solace and satisfaction. Sometimes Allah, in His mercy, lets His servant feel how the hardship or the loss that fell on him has proved a great boon for him.

It is a matter of common experience that sometime a man realizes that if his such and such prayer had been granted he would have been put to great loss, but Allah's decision saved him.

Seek help from Allah

he Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم has taught us this supplication to attain peace of heart and mind:

لَّا مَلۡجَاَ مِنَ اللّٰهِ اِلَّاۤ اِلَيۡهِؕ

There is no shelter and refuge from the anger of Allah except with Allah Himself.

In other words, man must accept, and submit to Allah's decision. At the same time man should remain praying to Allah to relieve him of his troubles and hardships. Maulana Rumi رحمة الله عليه has explained this point by an example. Imagine an archer who has such a huge bow with which he
can encompass the entire universe and each part of it is fitted with an arrow. There is no place in the world which is immune from the hitting orbit of this bow. Now a question arises how to be safe from the arrows shot from this bow? The answer to this question is that if anyone wants to be safe from the arrows of this archer, he should take shelter by the side of the archer himself. Likewise, the hardships, troubles and mishaps are arrows of the decision of Allah. There is no protection and shelter from these arrows except that a man should seek shelter from them with Allah Himself. The following supplication should, therefore, be made:

O Allah, do not afflict me with a torment which is beyond my toleration. If you send on me some misfortune, grant me also the necessary patience to bear that misfortune and make it a cause for my pardon and elevation of my status.