Istidraj

We all know that knowledge is nur or light and it definitely wouldn’t shine those with dark hearts, but we see some people who gamble, drink alcohol can be very successful, on the other hand we still live in the hardship. We all know that those who do the good deeds, loyal to the Almighty will be eased their path to success, but we know some people who do not perform the solat have very profitable business, on the other hand we still face the massive obstacles in our life moving us away from the sweet of success. We all also know that Islam is the truth, but we always see non-muslims are more successful and muslims are still the poor struggling to live.

Have you ever wondered about this? Why this kind of thing happens in this world? The answer is simple; istidraj.

What is istidraj? Istidraj is defined as a situation where someone is kept getting bless from Allah in terms of success, money and all sort of worldly things abundantly and continuously in his life although he is not a loyal slave of Allah, making all kind of sinful acts and never ever ask for forgiveness from Allah dragging him to be further away from the nur of islam.

Normally, those who get istidraj are those that never make islam as their way of life and never put effort to be close to Allah.

  

There are lots of examples where people get istidraj in their life such as Qarun. Do you know who is Qarun? Qarun is a very rich and wealthy person living few hundreds years ago. It is narrated that there is no one can lift up the box that contains keys to all his treasures. This shows how tremendously rich this person.

The story of Qarun can be found in Al-Quran. He is the wealthiest person during his time, all his businesses are successful and all his investments are expanding. As time goes on, he becomes richer and his wealth is growing significantly. However, when Prophet Musa comes to him to remind him that all his wealth is from Allah, then Qarun arrogantly answers, “No, these are from my intelligent”.

Look at what he has said. Qarun is obviously dragged further away from Allah, although he is getting all kind of things that most people are dreaming about. Not just that, he also insults the followers of Prophet Musa ranging from the poor and slaves.

Do you what happens to Qarun at the end? He eventually is buried deep into the Earth subsurface together with all his wealth that he has been boosting all the time. Does that what we want at the end of our life?

  

Thus, don’t ever worry when we fail after trying. Don’t give up easily and keep on trying. Our faith in Allah is the most important thing that we need to maintain and protect. If we can build strong faith in Allah, whatever comes, any type of problems we face, we definitely can get it through well. Indeed, Allah likes to test His faithful slaves. There is another interesting story that can be cogitated.

There are 2 fishermen in a village. The first fisherman is a non muslim and the other one is a loyal servant of Allah. Every time when they throw their fishing net, the non muslim fisherman will say his goddess name, on the other hand, the muslim will recite bismillah. However, when they pull their net, the non muslim fisherman get lots of fish, and the muslim fisherman almost get nothing caught on his net.

An angel sees the situation and asks Allah about it,” O’ Allah, what has happened? You gives the disbeliever more than what your loyal slave”.

Allah answer,” The disbeliever is surely will go to hell. Thus, it’s merely nothing to give him something that is valuable in this temporary world. However, my faithful slave will be given paradise, therefore, We like to test his faith”.

When we fail in doing something, doesn’t mean that we will continuously fail in our life. Keep up the good effort, InsyaAllah, Allah is the most merciful, He definitely will give something meaningful in our life. Thus, it is vital for us to have faith in our Creator.

   

As a matter of fact, when we are facing any kind of problems, we actually should be grateful since Allah is still close with us. The problems are test as a sign of love and attention from Him towards us. Do you want these temporary worldly things and in the Hereafter, you will be punished forever. Ask yourself; do you want to get istidraj? I guess we all have the answer.

Translated from a note.