You don’t find Allah saying in the Quran, “verily Allah is with the ones who pray a lot, or He is with the ones who fast a lot, or with the ones who seek forgiveness a lot…”
But you see:
Allah is with the patient.
This is where Hafiz ibn Rajab said that:
“I studied all of the verses and the a hadith where Allah mentions His ma’iyyah (His being with a person), and every single verse or hadith, where Allah mentions his being with a person, shows that that person has lost something.”
And so he said that:
“Allah never takes something away from you except that He gives you something in return. And the best thing Allah can give you when He takes something away from you is Himself.”
Allah never leaves you empty-handed, if Allah takes a blessing from you, He gives you something, but the best thing He can give you is Himself.
So, every single time Allah mentions His Ma’iyyah (His being with a person), even in the hadith when the Prophet mentioned that a person would come on the Day of Judgment, Allah would say:
I was sick and you did not visit me.
Can you imagine!
And the person would say:
“Oh Allah, how could I visit You and you are the Lord of the world?”
What is that even mean?
On the Day of Judgment everything’s pretty straightforward; that’s one of those conversations where a person would be shocked.
Allah says:
Didn’t you know that so-and-so was sick? Had you visited that person? You would have found Me with him.
So, Allah never takes a blessing from you except He gives you something in return. The best thing Allah can give you is Himself.
If, in your hardship, you rediscover a meaningful relationship with Allah, then you better believe that that hardship is the best thing that ever happened to you.
Whatever that hardship was, if that was the cause of you to find Allah and to rediscover Him, Alhamdulillah, trust me on the Day of Judgment, you won’t regret it.
