# “To be spared and grateful is more beloved than to be tested and patient” | Daily Reminders

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Reminders
**Published:** 2020-04-06
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/x3RdxVejdoI
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/reminders/to-be-spared-and-grateful-is-more-beloved-than-to-be-tested-and-patient-daily-reminders
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
Sh. Omar Suleiman reflects on the idea of asking Allah for hardship in order to gain more reward. However it is a narrated that to be spared and grateful is better than to be tested and patient.

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Once again. We will ask the meaning of the shaytan. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa la'udhu wanila alal zalimeen wa la'aqibatu lilmuttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka alabdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam

**[0:16]** wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam tasliman kathira. One of the things that happens when there is a test or a trial that is taking place, like the one that's taking place around us right now, is that a person can really feel like the only way they can realize

**[0:32]** that reward is by being amongst those that are hit hardest. And this is something I want to address. And you know, we've touched upon it when we talked about the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam where he mentioned if a person is patient in their home, hoping for Allah's reward

**[0:48]** and knowing that nothing will come to them unless Allah decreed it, when a plague breaks out, then they would have the reward of a shaheed, the reward of a martyr. And as Ibn Hajar rahimallah said, even if they didn't actually die. And I want to broaden that concept a bit inshallah ta'ala and talk about

**[1:04]** it in a way that's more wholesome and just how we approach our Lord and how we think about Him and how we think about test and trial. One of the things as Ramadan comes around, you know, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that

**[1:20]** atla'i mushakir bi manzilat as-sadr the one who eats and is grateful is like the one who fasts and is patient. And perhaps I'll leave that for another episode inshallah ta'ala or another nightly reflection but what I want to talk about today is this very powerful statement that

**[1:36]** was narrated as a hadith but it's weak as a hadith. It's actually a saying of one of the great scholars, Al-Mutarrif Ibn Abdillah rahimallah ta'ala. Al-Mutarrif Ibn Abdillah rahimallah said la'an uAAafa faashkur ahabbu ilayya min an ubtala faasbir. I'm going to say it

**[1:52]** in Arabic again, la'an uAAafa faashkur ahabbu ilayya min an ubtala faasbir. For me and it's actually the statement that's translated and quotation marks for me to be spared and grateful is far more beloved to me

**[2:08]** than to be tested and patient. And this speaks to a hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam where he said salallahu alayhi wa sallam la'afiya wa al-muAAafa fi al-dunya wa al-akhira. Ask Allah to be spared. Ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be healthy and to be spared in dunya

**[2:24]** and in akhira. Meaning in this life and in the hereafter. So the Prophet peace be upon him told us that we should ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be amongst those that are spared. And what this speaks to is not the lack of patience or not this idea that we wouldn't be able

**[2:40]** to handle the test or that we're not grateful for the test. That's the part of the good news of the believer is that ajab an-ni amr al-mu'min the believer always has a wonderful situation because when they're struck with good or when they're struck with evil, they

**[2:56]** respond in the way that's pleasing to Allah hence they assure themselves the reward. Okay, so it's not that we're not grateful which is what patience is in times of hardship. Patience in times of hardship is the ability to still stay focused keep things in perspective and remain grateful.

**[3:12]** But it's that a person knows or doesn't approach Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the interest of that reward and think that the only way to attain that reward is to suffer. Okay, there is certainly reward in patience

**[3:28]** with suffering. However, don't ask God to suffer. Okay, don't ask God to make you amongst those that will suffer the worst, that will be tested harder than everyone else. If the test comes to you despite asking for ease, then you know there's wisdom in that

**[3:44]** and you seek the reward of it. You remain grateful, grounded, patient. But don't ask Allah to suffer. Okay, and don't think that Allah can't give you the reward of suffering without you actually suffering. Allah does not need the suffering in order to give you the reward.

**[4:00]** Because at the end of the day it goes back to your heart, it goes back to your patience, it goes back to the way that you approach these things. So when you're asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in these moments when you see things becoming more difficult and maybe in a moment of heightened

**[4:16]** spirituality and pursuit of Allah's rida, pursuit of God's pleasure, you might feel like, you know what, let me get the reward. Right, so whatever it is, let me get the reward. But don't ask Allah for the punishment or don't ask Allah for the trial. Ask Allah for the reward without the trial.

**[4:32]** Okay, and if the trial comes then Allah will give you reward upon reward insha'Allah ta'ala. Okay, so again the saying of al-Mutarrath ibn Abdullah rahimahullah ta'ala, one of the tabi'een. He said,

**[4:48]** He said, la'an uAAafa faashkur ahabu ilayya min an ubtala faasbir that for me to be spared and grateful is more beloved to me than to be tested and patient because the reward comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and surely Allah azawajal can bestow

**[5:04]** the reward regardless. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us al-afwa wa al-afiyah fa-dunya wa al-akhirah to be safe and pardoned in this life and in the next and that whatever situation we find ourselves in that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it

**[5:20]** to our benefit in this life and the next and that we never be deprived of the reward nor we be tested beyond our capacity. Allahuma ameen. Jazakum Allah khayran to you all. Insha'Allah ta'ala I'll see you tomorrow night. Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

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