Compensation for trials Muslims suffer in this life

28-12-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

There are numerous Hadeeths of our Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) that tell us that the hardships a Muslim faces in this life help him to gain more rewards in the after-life or decrease his punishment in the after-life.My questions are:1. If the hardship that a person suffers is entirely his own fault (for example: driving carelessly and then having a severe car accident, which causes him pain and costs him a lot of money). Does this person also hope to gain rewards in the after-life for his suffering?2. Do people who generally live hard lives expect some reward for that in the after-life? Examples of what I mean is what is unfortunately experienced in many Muslim countries where there is corruption and injustice. For example, a person does not know the proper people or is not extremely wealthy, many everyday life events are distressing for him, such as getting his children into a good school or starting a small business. Do these unpleasant and disappointing events experienced by that person, help him get rewards or decrease his punishment in the after-life?I have asked you questions before and have always received the answers from you. I cannot thank you enough.

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
Evidence in the Sharia prove that whenever a Muslim is afflicted by some adversity in this life regardless of its quality or quantity, Allah reduces some of his sins and raises his grade in the Hereafter life provided that person is satisfied with what happens to him..
Allah Says (interpretation of meaning): {but give glad tidings to As-Sâbirin (the patient ones, etc.). Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: "Truly! To Allâh we belong and truly, to Him we shall return." They are those on whom are the Salawât (i.e. blessings, etc.) (i.e. who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided-ones.}[2:155-157].
Imams Bukhari and Muslim narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah and Abu Sayeed they said that the Prophet said: "No Muslim is afflicted with any hurt, even if it is no more than the pricking of a thorn, but Allah wipes off his sins because of it and his sins fall away from him as leaves fall from a tree".
In another Hadith the Prophet said: "No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that".
The above evidences and many other not mentioned here emphasise the fact that all kinds of adversities befalling Muslims wipe out some of their sins, no matter these adversities are in health, wealth, body, children etc. Surely they expiate their minor sins. So, this rule applies also to the situations mentioned by the questioner.
At the same time we would like to draw your attention to the fact that everyone who causes some harm intentionally to someone else surely he is responsible for that harm and consequently bears the sin of harming others.
The unjustice, oppression and other ill practices observed in the Muslim countries are nothing but the immediate punishments of Allah inflicted on them for neglecting to apply justice amongst themselves and as mentioned earlier punishments are expiations of sins just as the Hadd punishments are; i.e., if a Hadd is applied upon a person it will wipe out his sin which caused him to be punished.
Allah knows best.