Page 46 - The Truth of the Life of This World

The prophet Ayub, on the other hand, set a good example for all believ-
ers as he sought patience only from Allah when faced with a bitter illness:

Commemorate Our slave Ayyub. Behold he cried to his Lord: "The Evil One
has afflicted me with distress and suffering!" (Surah Sad: 41)

Such distress strengthens the loyalty of believers towards their Creator
and establishes them in maturity. That is why each suffering is a "fortune".
Disbelievers, on the other hand, perceive all types of accident and disease
as "misfortune". Not realising that everything is created for a specific pur-
pose and that patience shown during troubles will be awarded in the
Hereafter, disbelievers fall into great grief. Indeed, since in a system based
upon the denial of the existence of Allah, people adopt a materialistic
standpoint, disease and accidents bring other sorrows to those who have
no faith. The moral values and point of view of materialist society dictates
that after accident or disease what they generally experience is the sudden
disappearance of close ‘friends' even if they have not died. Such an atti-
tude is assumed simply because they perceive being friends with, or tak-
ing care of a sufferer as trouble. No matter how much love and care he
gave in the "good old days", once somebody becomes ill – bedridden for
instance – or disabled, all affection felt for him vanishes. Another reason
which makes people change is the loss of looks or of certain skills. That is
also what is expected from materialist society, since in such a society, peo-
ple assess others according to their physical traits. Consequently, when a
physical defect appears, the value attached to that person also diminishes.
For instance, the spouse or close relatives of a physically handicapped
person, immediately start complaining about the difficulties of looking after
a disabled person. They often lament about how unfortunate they are.
Most express that they are still very young and that being faced with such
a disaster is not something they deserve. This is only self-justification for
why he or she does not pay proper care and attention to his or her dis-
abled relative. Some, on the other hand, assist the patient or disabled just
because they fear what others might think about them in the event that
they leave them. The rumours, which are likely to spread, simply prevent
them from such behaviour. In such times of trouble the promises of loyal-

44 The Weaknesses of Man