Ease After Difficulty

It is often noticed that when a person undergoes trials and tribulations, he resorts to making sincere and fervent Dua, Tawbah and Istighfaar. He humbles himself and places his utmost trust in Allah that Allah will alleviate him of his difficulty by means of his actions and supplications.

Unfortunately, once his problems have been solved, he feels that everything is fine now; his kids are married, he has a good monthly income, etc. He no longer sees the need to keep up with what he had been doing when he was in difficulty. This is when negligence sets in. This is a very negative perception and attitude to have as the Quraan says in Surah Aa'raaf verse 99: "None can feel secured of Allah's plan but the losers." 

Just like how the person attained proximity to Allah due to some adversity, now, after the difficulty has been removed, this proximity should be maintained. In actual fact, increased. In a hadith it is mentioned : 

تعرَّفْ الى الله فى الرخاء
يعرفك فى الشدة

"Recognise Allah in prosperity, He will recognise you in adversity" (Mustadrak)

Thus, instead of feeling complacent in time of ease, one should always bear in mind that Allah may create unfavourable conditions anytime, even when everything seems to be so favourable at that point. Therefore, in time of ease too, one should remain attached to Allah and not displease Him in the least. One should never feel that one is out of danger or does not need (mustaghni of) Allah.

During the time of hardship, one would refrain from engaging in not only impermissible matters (eg. watching videos) but reprehensible matters (eg. idle talk). Even the permissible matters would be refrained from too (eg. chatting with friends to distract oneself). This is done with the hope that Allah alleviates one of one's difficulties. Unfortunately, one has the tendency of doing this for one's ulterior motive. This should not be the case however. During the time of ease, one should keep up in doing what one was doing sincerely to please the Almighty and remain attached to Him. One should not be indifferent towards Allah even in time of ease.

Sometimes, a person may promise someone in difficulty to provide assistance for him. His reliance and hopes are placed on that person and naturally, he forgets that in reality, Allah is the only being that is able to do everything, not the one who promised to provide relief to him. The next day, the person comes up to him and says, "I know I promised you that I would help, but my son just called me and is in need of some money. I'm very sorry that I can't help you this time." 

Therefore, we make dua : "O Allah, do not make us rely on others to the extent that it leads to a decrease in our reliance in You. Whether we get what we need or not, it is all through Your will, O Allah. O Allah, grant us the understanding to cultivate this in us". Ameen