Calamities and hardships are necessary for the development of humanity. If not for hardships and sufferings, humanity would be destroyed. The Qur'an says, "Certainly We created man in travail ..90:4"

Man must tolerate hardships and suffer difficulties to attain his appropriate level of being. Conflict and turmoil are the whips of development. Living beings traverse their path to­wards perfection through this whip. This law applies to the world of plants, animals, and especially human beings.

Imam Ali (a), in one of his letters to Uthman ibn Hunayf, his appointed governor of Basrah, made mention of the biological law that living in ease and comfort and avoiding difficulties causes weakness; and conversely, living in difficult and dis­turbed conditions makes a person strong and fit, strengthening the essence of his being and making it experienced. In this let­ter, this great leader rebukes his governor for participating in an evening gathering of the nobles and setting foot in an assembly that had room only for the rich and not for the destitute. And in this connection he explains his own simple life and asks his followers and especially the members of his government to fol­low the example of his conduct.

Then, to close the door of pretexts, he explains that dis­turbed conditions and simple nutrition do not reduce a person's powers or weaken one's strength. Desert trees that are deprived of the regular observation and care of a gardener have stronger wood and greater durability; conversely, garden trees that are always cared for by a gardener are weaker-skinned and less durable.

God says in the Qur'an: "We will surely test you with a measure of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth, lives, and fruits; and give good news to the patient." 2:155

That is, calamities and afflictions are beneficial and have good effects for people who combat them and persevere; there­fore, if they are steadfast they should be given glad tidings.

God, in order to train and rear the soul of human beings, has two programs: creational and legislative; and in each He has placed difficulties and hardships. In the legislative program, He has mandated acts of worship, and in the creational pro­gram, He has placed adversities in humanity's path. Fasting, pilgrimage, holy war, charity, and prayer are hardships that have been placed [on people's shoulders] by making them obligatory, and patience and perseverance in carrying them out are a cause of perfection of the soul and evolution of the lofty human abilities. Hunger, fear, and loss of property and life are hardships that have been placed in creation and naturally have sway over people.

Tribulations for Divine Friends

This is why when God shows special grace to one of His servants, He places him in hardships. The well-known sentence "Tribulations are for God's friends" expresses this principle. In a tradition from Imam Muhammad Baqir ('a), we read,"Verily God seeks out the believer with affliction as a man seeks out his near ones with gifts when he is away from them."

In another tradition from Imam Ja'far Sadiq (a.s) we find: "Verily God, when He loves a servant of His, drowns him in tribulations."

That is, just like a swimming trainer who puts his young trainee in the water so that he will make an effort, flail his hands and feet, and thus gain practice and learn to swim, so too God places in affliction those whom He loves and wishes to convey to perfection. Even if a person reads for his whole life about swimming, until he goes in the water, he will not become a swimmer; he will learn to swim only when he actually goes in the water, practices struggling against drowning, and occasionally sees himself in danger of drowning if he isn't careful. Man must see hardships in the world in order to learn how to escape from them; he must face difficulties in order to become experienced and complete.

Regarding some birds, they have written that when their young grow wings, in order to teach them how to fly, they take them out of the nest and into the heights of the air, and then let go in the middle of the sky; the young bird, out of necessity, struggles and makes uncoordinated movements, flapping its wings until it gets tired and is about to fall; at this time, its mer­ciful mother grasps it and places it on her own wing until its fatigue goes away, and as soon as it has had a little rest, she once again lets it go in the air and forces it to struggle until it gets tired and she again grasps it. She repeats this until her young one learns to fly.

The Prophet (s) was invited to the house of one of the Muslims. When he entered the house, he saw a hen that had laid an egg on top of a wall, but the egg didn't fall, or fell and didn't break. The Prophet (s) was amazed at this. His host said, "Does this amaze you? By God Who raised you as a prophet, I have never seen affliction." The Prophet (s) stood up and left that man's house, saying, "Someone who has never seen an affliction is not a recipient of God's grace."

It has been narrated from Imam Sadiq ('a) that: "Verily, the most severely tried people are the prophets, then those who follow them [in their level of virtue], and so on in order of [people's level of] virtue." In books of traditions, a special chapter has been dedicated to the severity of the trial of Imam 'Ali ( as) and the Imams of his progeny.

For the friends of God, the adversity is a Divine grace that has the face of wrath, just as blessing and ease for those with the apparent form of a blessing, and wrath disguised as grace.

Pedagogical Effect of Calamities

Difficulty and hardship are both an instructor for individuals and awakener for nations. Hardship awakens and makes more alert those who were asleep and motivates people's decisions and determination. Like a polish given to iron or steel, the more hardships touch a person's soul, the more determined, active, and sharp they make him, since the peculiarity of life is to combat hardship and, knowingly or unknowingly, become prepared to face it.

Hardship, like alchemy, has the attribute of changing the es­sence of things; it changes the soul of a person. The elixir of life is two things: love and tribulation. These two create gen­ius, and from depressed and lustreless matter make lustrous and shiny gems.

All his life Sa'adi has faced bitterness, For his name to be known as sweet-tongued. Peoples who live in the heart of difficulties and hardships become strong and determined. A leisure-seeking and pam­pered people are condemned and wretched. It is within nature that disgrace must come To every nation that becomes used to ease and lei­sure. In another place, to convey this reality he relates the state of an animal that, however much it is beaten, becomes fatter: There is an animal whose name is ushghur (porcu­pine): it is (made) stout and big by blows of the stick. The more you cudgel it, the more it thrives: it grows fat on blows of the stick. Assuredly the true believer's soul is a porcupine, for it is (made) stout and fat by the blows of tribulation. For this reason the tribulation and abasement (laid) upon the prophets is greater than (that laid upon) all the (other) creatures in the world ..

Not flaming up unless stirred by iron

Prison, if not entered on account of a crime

Is a wonderful abode to be in

Contentment with Divine Decree

It is in view of the valuable benefits of tribulations that the quality of contentment with Divine decree and pleasure at what God brings about is born. Sa'adi says: Let the shortsighted seek comfort, And the gnostic, affliction; for his ease is in tribulation Leave all that you have and pass by, for it is nothing

This five days of life behind which is death All who were killed by the sword of love

Say grieve not, for their blood-money is the Eternal Kingdom

Whatever you get from the hand of a friend, give thanks Sa'dk, seek not your own pleasure, for this is His pleasure.

In some of the prayers narrated from the Imams, we read: "O God, I ask of You the patience of those thankful to You." The patience of the thankful is not a bitter patience; like honey, it is sweet. Those who know that tribulations are what build the soul of a human being are not only happy to face them and welcome them with open arms, they even occasionally put themselves in the claws of tribulation and create troubles for themselves; they create seas and whirlpools for themselves to swim in and become well-practiced.

Rumi, after the verses we related, says The affliction becomes sweet (to the sufferer) when he sees happiness: the medicine becomes sweet (to the sick man) when he regards health. He sees victory for himself in the very essence of checkmate; therefore he says, "Kill me, O trusty ones!" Saadi says

They bring precious stones from the mouths of whales

While he who fears for his life avoids the sea

Adversity and Blessings are Relative

We should not be inattentive to the point that tribulations are only a blessing if a person makes use of them and makes his soul reach perfection with patience, perseverance, and by facing the hardships that create tribulations. But if a person chooses to flee and complain in the face of hardships, in such a case afflictions are truly an affliction for him.

The reality is that the blessings of the world, like tribulations, can be a source of ascent and felicity, and they can be a source of wretchedness and helplessness. Neither is poverty absolute wretchedness, nor is wealth absolute good felicity. How often has poverty caused the development and perfection of human beings, and how often has richness been a source of ill-luck and misery! Safety and insecurity are the same way. Some individuals or nations, in times of security and luxury, fall victim to worldliness and gluttony, and as a result fall into abasement. And many other nations, through the whip of hard­ship and hunger, get into motion and achieve power and hon­our. Health and sickness, honour and lowliness, and all other natural gifts and trials are also included in this law. Blessings, and likewise trials and tribulations, can be a gift—because each of them can be put to great use—and they can also be consid­ered an affliction and misery—since it is possible for each to become a cause misery and descent. One can reach felicity both through wealth and through poverty; and through both it is also possible for a person to reach wretchedness.

Thus, for a blessing to be a blessing depends on how a per­son reacts to it, whether he or she is thankful or ungrateful. And similarly, for an adversity to be an adversity depends on how a person reacts to it, whether he or she is patient and for­bearing or weak hearted and indecisive. In this way, one thing acquires two varying states with respect to two people; that is, it is a blessing for one and an adversity for another. This is the meaning of the statement, "Blessing and adversity are both relative."

What should be called a calamity is that which is a nonmaterial Divine punishment; that is, the evil consequences of human actions. These are actual afflictions and adversities in that first, they are an effect of the intention and free will of man himself, and second, they are not a preliminary for any type of good or perfection. For example, hardheartedness is an affliction for a person, as has been said in a tradition: God has not struck any [of His] servants with a punishment worse than hardheartedness.

In the stories of the prophets, it is related that a man said to Prophet Shaf ayb ('a), "Why is it that I commit all these sins, but God does not punish me?" He replied, "You have been subjected to the worst of punishments without you knowing it." That is, your thinking is backwards. If God had involved you in an apparent punishment, which you would have felt to be a punishment, and if you were worthy of such a requital, it would be possible for that punishment not to actually be a pun­ishment, but a Divine grace and mercy; for it might be a cause for you to wake up and take heed. But the punishment which you are currently involved in and which is a corollary of your actions is one which is entirely a punishment and nothing else.

Actual afflictions are the results and effects of a person's ac­tions, and it is with regard to these very effects and results and punishments that the Qur'an says,

And We did not wrong them, but they used to wrong themselves."

Why did Sadiq Hidayat commit suicide? One of the factors in his suicide was that he was an aristocrat. He had more pocket money than he needed but lacked a proper and methodical way of thinking. He was devoid of the gift of faith. He thought of the world as being pleasure-seeking, pointless, and foolish like himself. The pleasures that he knew and was familiar with were the dirtiest of pleasures; and of those pleasures nothing worthwhile remained for life and existence to have the value of waiting for them. He could no longer derive enjoy­ment from the world. Many others like him lack systematic thought and are devoid of the gift of faith, but unlike him are not satiated and highborn, and life is still attractive for them, and so they are not pushed to commit suicide.

If the likes of Hidayat complain about the world and view it as ugly, they have no other choice; their luxurious lives demand as much. They are unable to sense the agreeable taste of Divine gifts. If they had taken Sadiq Hidayat to a village, thrown him behind an ox and plough, and made him taste hunger and na­kedness, lashing him with a firm whip when necessary, and then when he was famished with hunger placed a piece of bread in front of him, then he would well understand the meaning of life.

I once had a distant familiarity with someone and used to think he was among the luckiest of people. Every sort of material object was available to him. Money, wealth, position, fame, he had everything. We spoke about having children. He said, "I never wanted, and don't want, to have children." I asked why. He said, "It's enough that I came into this world. Why should I bring about the suffering of another being? For him to suffer as I have?" This surprised me at first, but later as I became more familiar with him, I realized that he was being honest. In all his comfort and luxury, he saw nothing but pain and suffering. Usually people who we think have freed themselves of all suffering are in greater suffering than everyone else.

Yes, adversities and tribulations are great blessings for which one should be grateful; they are blessings in the apparent form of wrath. Similarly, sometimes wrath is manifested in the form of a blessing. One must, in turn, be grateful for these manifestations of wrath. But in any case one must bear in mind that for a blessing to be a blessing or an adversity to be an adversity depends on our reaction to it. We can change every adversity into a blessing, let alone those things that also happen to have the apparent form of a blessing. And we can turn every blessing into an adversity and misfortune, let alone those things that are in the clothing of misfortune and adversity.

Abstracted from the Book Adl-e-Ilahi (Divine Justice) – By Ayatullah Muttahheri