By Practicing Islam Will all my problems go away?

Bismillah hir Rahman Nir Raheem

Verily all praise is for Allah, we praise Him and seek His aid and ask for His forgiveness and we seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and our evil actions. Whomever Allah guides there is none who can misguide him, and whomever Allah misguides there is none who can guide him, and I bear witness that none has the right to be worshiped except Allah alone, having no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger

My Lord, expand for me my chest [with assurance] And ease for me my task And untie the knot from my tongue That they may understand my speech. Ameen

Normally it is a belief that when you start practicing Islam your life will become easy and you won't face any difficulties because you are on the right, sacred and the promised path of Allah.

For example a person says that I didn't used to pray at all and a day before exam I prayed all the Salah's, offered dua and still failed in exams. He might say that I followed Islam what did Allah gave me? or what good did following the religion do to me, I turned to religion and it should have given me something in return right?! Is this belief right or wrong? Let's dive deep into it.

A person might also say that then what about the people of Palestine, China, Syria, Kashmir, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and many more places why are they being butchered and Allah is not doing anything I will answer this question at the end.

Firstly let's talk about this belief a bit, this is what other religions are supposed to offer like you go to a temple or shrine or a place of worship and you offer something to the idol, priest, or a  saint there and ask that this problem of my should go away or give me this car or etc. That's where this ideology comes from, that you are giving money for example to the priest in the form of charity and it should do something in return, this is not the thing with Islam. It's not like that when you start following Islam you will get rich, all your problems will go away etc. Allah says in Quran

Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial.[Balad 90:4]

This life is a test, this 60,70 years of life is a test if you pass you have an infinite life of blessing ease no hardships and blessing which this earthly life doesn't even have. So a trade-of is do you want a 60-70 years of ease and peaceful life or a never ending peaceful life. One more thing its not like that every second of this 60-70 years of life will be a misery for you NO NO there will be ease and comfort here too, blessings too but they will be a test. Although we should be thankful too that our life span is of 60-70 years or maybe 100 years and not 1000 years similar to that of Prophet Nuh AS he preached and faced hardship for 950 years can you imagine. Alhamdulillah we have short life spans.

Let's start from Salah, in Salah almost 17 times every day we ask Allah to 

Guide us to the straight path -(6) The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray. (7) [Surah Fatiha]

If we don't ask this our Salah is not complete. So who are those "whom Allah have bestowed favor upon"  They are ...مِّنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ.... .In short, the path of those who were the best and for us they are the Prophets and the companions of Prophet. The question arises, were the life of Prophets and his companions easy? You know before embracing Islam they were okay, no one ridiculed them, no one hurt them physically, it all started after embracing Islam. You know there was this one companion of prophet Khabab bin Arth R.A  the mushrikons what they did was they used to burn coals on the ground and put Khabab with his back on the coals and stand on top of him and what happened is that all his back was melted. He came to Prophet S.A.W cried and asked are we not on the right path? then why is this happening to us. They were the best of people they were not doing any random good deeds they were the supporters of the Prophet they were the best and even they faced such difficulties. Then what are we and we don't face such harsh difficulties Alhamdulillah and may Allah not indulge us into such difficult tests that we may come out as failures. Ameen

Look at other Prophets like Ibrahim A.S he stood up against his entire nation and he was just a boy. He was thrown in fire, he was banished from his country alone only with one other person who believed in him who later became a Prophet as well Lut A.S. Then he was childless for a very long time and had a child at a very old age and then he was asked to travel 100's of miles to reach Makkah by foot, imagine the arabian desert, the heat and traveling on foot and no grocery stores on the way and when they reach there Allah commanded him to leave his family there without saying any thing. Just imagine a woman and a small infant child in a desert all alone. Then when the boy had grown a little Ibrahim A.S was asked to put a knife on his sons throat who he had after a long time and he did. Thats what the Khalil of Allah was made to go through and what are we. That's only one Prophet I am talking about. After all this hardship now today every religion owns Prophet Ibrahim A.S Christians says we are the descendants of Ibrahim, Jews say we are his descendants and Muslims are his descendants. These are the extreme examples I am giving, what we might be going through is, we might not be getting a good job, not have a good house, not getting a good grade, or might have some incurable disease and we think our life is hell think about them. Alhamdulillah we still have a lot better life then them.

Today we think that we will say Kalima and we will go straight to Paradise no deeds are required just once a year celebrate Milad or pray on Shab e Miraj or Shab e Baraat and you are all good you will go to Jannah. Who said that, who gave you this certificate? If that was it then the Companion of Prophet and the Prophets themselves were Na aozubillah fools ?! they should have done the same thing right?! We do all this without having any authentic proofs.

They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie.[Al Kahf 18:5]

 

Allah says in another place in Quran 

Do the people think that they will be left to say, "We believe" and they will not be tested? [Ankaboot 29:2]

for We indeed tested those who went before them? Allah will most certainly ascertain those who spoke the truth and those who lied. [Ankaboot 29:3]

One might say all of this is okay but then are the disbelievers given full rights to ridicule, butcher  and hurt Muslims in whatever way they see fit and they won't be held accountable?

Allah says, it's the continuation of the same passage 

Do the evil-doers suppose that they will get the better of Us? How evil is their judgement! [Ankaboot 29:4]

Let him who looks forward to meeting Allah know that Allah's appointed term will surely come to pass. He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. [Ankaboot 29:5]

And one more thing Allah says in reference to our previous context that what ever good you do don't think it is a favour you are doing to Allah NO.

Whosoever strives (in the cause of Allah) does so to his own good. Surely Allah stands in no need of anyone in the whole Universe.  [Ankaboot 29:6]   

Those who believe and do good deeds, We shall cleanse them of their evil deeds and reward them according to the best of their deeds. [Ankaboot 29:7]

This Ayah 7 it is said "reward them according to best of their deeds". Imagine in school you have 5 tests in a semester and 4 were not so good but in one you aced it and at the end of the semester the teacher says that all you will be graded according to the best of the marks that you got in the 5 tests, how cool is that . That's what Allah is saying in this Ayah above. Let's continue the passage.   

As for those who believed and acted righteously, We shall certainly admit them among the righteous. [Ankaboot 29:9]

Then Allah talks about another type of people.

Among people there are some who say: “We believe in Allah.” But when such a person is made to endure suffering in Allah's cause, he reckons the persecution he suffers at the hands of people as though it is a punishment from Allah. But if victory comes from your Lord, the same person will say “We were with you.” Does Allah not know whatever is in the hearts of the people of the world? 

[Ankaboot 29:10]

Try reading the tafseer of these ayats of Surah Ankaboot to gain better understanding.

In short what I meant to say is that following Islam will not make you rich or cure your disease, it might but not in general. Your reward is the Aakhirah not this world but it doesn't also mean to not strive for good life or good job or good grades. What I mean is that it is not a transaction that you do one good deed and you get something in return in this dunya. Wallahu Alam

May Allah guide me  and you to the straight path.

O Allah! Enable us to see the Truth as Truth and give us the ability to follow it. And show us the falsehood as false and give us the ability to refrain from it. Ameen

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JazakAllah Khair