Page 68 - Seeing Good in All

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SEEING GOOD IN ALL

struggle with disbelievers is merely evidence of the insolence
of disbelievers. However, believers always recognize the
good in such abuse, aware that God has surely ordained it for
a purpose. They are very well aware that true righteousness
is to show patience and putting trust in God. God describes

this trait of their in the following manner:
…[T]hose with true righteousness are those who
believe in God and the Last Day, the angels, the Book
and the prophets, and who, despite their love for it, give
away their wealth to their relatives and to orphans and
the very poor, and to travellers and beggars and to set
slaves free, and who attend to their prayers and give
alms; those who honour their contracts when they make
them, and are steadfast in poverty and illness and in
battle. Those are the people who are true believers.
Those are the people who go in fear of God. (Surat al-
Baqara: 177)

Some of these positive character traits are illustrated in a
story in Surat al-Ahzab, relating an incident that took place
in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saas). According to
the story, during a battle, the believers were tested and
severely shaken when the disbelievers came at them from all
sides. In such trying circumstances, hypocrites and those
with sickness in their hearts devised various excuses, thus
exposing who they were.
In such times, the hypocrites who had, for some time,
blended into the community of believers, became known.
These people, similar to cancerous cells developing invisibly
inside the body, immediately retreated at such times of
hardship, though God's help and support always remained