Question:
Assalam o Alaikum Shaykh, Hope all is well InshaAllah.
A question that keeps surfacing – people ask “Allah is all powerful, then why did His prophets suffer.”
What’s Mawlana’s advice about this?
JazakAllah!
Answer:
Waalaykumussalam warahmatullah,
There are innumerable wisdoms to the question of why there is suffering for the best people in creation but “Why” does keep surfacing from the devil. As for Prophets and Awliya they look at the Divine Attributes of al-`Aziz, al-Hakim — the Almighty, the All-Wise. Mawlana said it was Adam’s progeny in his loins who pushed him to accept shaytan’s advice. Then it was Adam who bore the burden of expulsion from Paradise and estrangement from the Divine vicinity and from his wife.
Prophets suffer because they took from Allah the covenant of erasing the traces of their Umma’s sins to the extent that Allah gave them. This is why our father Adam keeps weeping at the sight of all the sinners of humankind as mentioned in the hadith of Mi`raj. Prophets and Awliya embody that all-inclusive mercy; and, most of all, the Prophet of Mercy, our Liegelord Muhammad, upon him and them blessings and peace, who carries the most and suffers the most.
This is why the Prophet said to one of the Companions, “If you want to be near me on the Day of Resurrection then help against your own self with abundant prostration (i.e. abundant prayer).” I.e. act and clean yourself already. In the light of the above it can be seen that the question “why” is only a word of rejection, rebellion, laziness and despair which all just mask a delay tactic as an excuse for the questioner not to get up, act and do good in the short time there is left in this life.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
