In Hardship and in Ease: How to Rely on God

The Prophet ﷺ  and Abu Bakr hid together in a cave. Outside, death circled nearer and nearer in the blades and hateful hearts of the disbelievers of Quraysh.

The Prophet ﷺ  and his beloved companion had done everything they could to avoid their persecutors. They had left Mecca at an unpredictable time, taken an alternate route to Medina and accepted the help of a guide. They had even left Ali , the cousin of the Prophet, as a decoy in the Prophet’s ﷺ bed. Yet the disbelievers were still close on their heels. Abu Bakr voiced his concerns for their safety, but the Prophet ﷺ consoled him: “Do not grieve, indeed Allah is with us.” And in that moment, “Allah sent down his tranquillity upon him and supported him with angels you did not see” [Qur’an 9:40].

And of course, Allah was with them. By Allah’s Will the disbelievers passed by the mouth of the cave without noticing them. The Prophet ﷺ  and Abu Bakr trusted in Allah their entire journey and did everything within their power to travel safely. But when faced with an impossible situation, with danger right on their tails, the Prophet ﷺ  relied entirely on Allah alone.

So how do we have the same trust in Allah that the Prophet ﷺ  had? How do we accept what seems beyond our comprehension and control? How do we overcome our natural anxieties and find purpose and solace?

Allah has promised that with every hardship we face, there is ease. Allah does not send us trials without also giving us the means to seek relief and make our success easy. The real test of hardship is not the worldly pain and discomfort, but how we choose to respond to it.