Remembrance of God

Looked at from this point of view, suffering is, in fact, a blessing in disguise. God, in spite of being the greatest reality, remains unseen. By means of compulsory suffering, God wants a person to experience His presence. Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 110 AH) once observed: “Suffering comes so that man may pray from his heart.” (Al-Shukr, Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Athar No. 133) This does not refer to just the words of prayer. This means that a person’s mind is awakened and noble feelings are engendered within him. He starts discovering God’s attributes in different forms. And when this happens, he utters such words of prayer as befit extraordinary circumstances. Constant Complaining T he Quran describes how Satan became angry when God asked him to bow to Adam. He said to God that if he were given the chance, he would cause Adam’s whole race to go astray. At the time of throwing down this challenge, he said, “Most of them You will not find grateful.” (7:17) There are countless blessings given by God to human beings. Yet man, instead of acknowledging these blessings, becomes ungrateful. The reason for this lies in the character of Satan, or Iblis, who was a jinn