Page 47 - Spirit of Islam-May'17

He subjects them to trials, so whoever is content, then for him is
pleasure, and whoever is discontent, then for him is wrath.” (Sunan
at-Tirmidhi)
From this Hadith we learn that trials are a means for our spiritual
development. We face different types of shocks. Tests and trials of life
shake up our minds and our hidden potentials are awakened.
While undergoing these unpleasant experiences if you wallow in
negative emotions, and allow yourself to fall prey to anger, start living
in frustration and complaint, you will fail in the test. You do not gain
anything positive from the tests. But in contrast, if you are intellectually
awakened, you will be able to maintain your balance when faced with a
test. Despite unfavourable experiences, you will preserve your positive
thinking. You will be able to extract goodness from the trials you go
through.
Trials always appear to come to us in the form of problems. People
who panic when faced with a problem will not get anything from trying
situations, other than complaint and despair. But those who regard
trials as part of God’s Plan, face them with a positive mind-set. It is
these people for whom trials of life work as a means for increasing
their reward.

With God, there is no lack of reward. But one gets a great reward from
God, only when one develops a great deservingness for it. And there
is just one means for making oneself deserving of great reward—one
must, in every condition, remain steadfastly positive in one’s thinking.
Your positive thinking must remain firmly in place, and no event should
cause you to waver.
Who is a complete person?

He is someone in whom the human attributes are found in the fullest
possible manner. God has given every human being attributes in
potential form. A complete person embodies these attributes to the
maximum possible extent. Such a person has a balanced character.
He is free from psychological complexes. He lets his conscience prevail
over his ego in every situation, until he becomes an emblem of a soul
at peace. (89: 27)
A complete person is one who, passing over the material things of the
world, begins to live in the higher realities of life. He rises above things
of superficial importance and engages himself in matters of deeper
significance. He reaches the stage of perception described in a Hadith as
the ability to “see things as they are”. Such a person thus begins to see

Spirit of Islam Issue 53 May 2017 45