After Deprivation

AFTER DEPRIVATION Samuel Butler, a well-known English writer of the 1800s, once said: “Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.” Butler based this on natural reasoning. However, the concept presented by the Shariah regarding life is exactly the same. The Quran tells us that in this world, God has established a system where ease is paired with hardship: “Indeed, with hardship there is ease” (Quran 94:6). Once, the Prophet Muhammad saw a mountain path called al-Dayyiqah (the difficult one). He said, “No, in fact, it is al-Yusra (the easy one).” (Seerah Ibn Hisham, Vol. 2, p. 482) Islam teaches that a person should find ease within hardship and see a tough path as an easy one. The life of the Prophet of Islam is the highest example of this teaching. He faced the harshest difficulties, but through wise planning he turned them to his advantage. He transformed disadvantage into advantage. The orientalist E.E. Kellet, referring to this quality of the Prophet, wrote: “He faced adversity with the determination to wring success out of failure.” (A Short History of Religions, p. 334) In this world, on one side is man, who creates difficulties for other men. On the other side is God’s system, which has placed within every difficulty its own solution. To complain of human-created difficulties is, in reality, to see only man’s