Turning Lemons into Sweetness: How Hardship Strengthens Faith and Leads to Growth

Hardship as a Crucible: Stories of Islamic Scholars who Transformed Challenges into Triumphs

Convert a lemon into a sweet drink:

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was severely tortured and flogged, and yet he emerged triumphant from that ordeal, becoming the Imam of the Sunnah. Imam Ibn Taymiyah was put into prison; he later came out an even more accomplished scholar than he was before. Imam As-Sarakhsi was held as a prisoner, kept at the bottom of an unused well; he managed therein to produce twenty volumes on Islamic jurisprudence. Ibn Atheer became crippled, after which he wrote Jam'ey al-Usool and An-Nihoyoh, two of the most famous books in the Science of Hadith. Imam Ibn al-Jawzi was banished from Baghdad. Then, through his travels, he became proficient in the seven recitations of the Quran. Maalik ibn ar-Rayb was on his deathbed when he recited his most famous and beautiful poem, which is appreciated until this day. When Abi Dhu'aib al-Hadhali's children died before him, he eulogized them with a poem that the world listened to and admired.

Therefore, if you are afflicted with a misfortune, look on the bright side. If someone were to hand you a glass full of squeezed lemons, add to it a handful of sugar. And if someone gives you a snake as a gift, keep its precious skin and leave the rest.

(And it may be that you dislike a thing that is good for you)

(Qur'an 2: 216)  

Share: