Sometimes, we may watch the news and feel very despondent. We may feel like the oppressors are getting away with their crimes. But Allah reminds us:

وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ اللّٰهَ غَافِلًا عَمَّا يَعْمَلُ الظّٰلِمُوْنَ . اِنَّمَا يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ تَشْخَصُ فِيْهِ الْاَبْصَارُ

“Do not ever think that Allah is unaware of what the oppressors do.” (14:42).

Allah (ʿazza wa jall) says,

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوْعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنْفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِيْنَ . الَّذِيْنَ إِذَآ أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيْبَةٌ قَالُوْٓا إِنَّا لِلّٰهِ وَإِنَّآ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُوْنَ . اُولٰٓئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّنْ رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ ۖ وَاُولٰٓئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُوْنَ

“We will surely test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives, and fruits, but give glad tidings to the patient, those who, when afflicted by calamity, say, ‘Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we will return.’ They are the ones who will receive Allah’s blessings and mercy, and it is they who are rightly guided” (2:155-7).

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The parable of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not is like the parable of the living and the dead” (Bukhārī).

In other words, even if you are breathing and alive, but live a life in which you don’t remember Allah, you are spiritually ‘dead’.

“By Allah, the world is only sweet with His remembrance; the Next Life is only sweet with His forgiveness; and Paradise is only sweet with seeing His Noble Face.” - Dhū al-Nūn (raḥimahullāh)

“Whoever desires knowledge should read the Qur’ān, for indeed it contains the knowledge of the earlier ones and the latter ones.” (ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu)

Ibn al-Qayyim (raḥimahullāh) explains that dhikr is like a ‘whip’ which restrains and hurts Shayṭān. Every human being has a Shayṭān which accompanies him. The ‘Shayṭān’ of the believer is weak and frail because it is constantly being beaten by this ‘whip’ (i.e. the believer’s dhikr and obedience of Allah). This is in contrast to the ‘Shayṭān’ of the sinner, who rests comfortably, as he is not beaten and whipped by the whip of ‘dhikr’. Thus, his Shayṭān is strong and has a strong hold over him.

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The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Allah will certainly resurrect some people on the Day of Judgement; their faces will be beaming with light, and they will be on pulpits of pearls. People will envy them. They will be neither Prophets nor martyrs.” A bedouin fell to his knees and said, “O Prophet of Allah, disclose to us who they are.” He ﷺ said, “They are those who love each other for the sake of Allah. They are from different tribes and places. They gather together for the remembrance of Allah and they remember Him” (Ṭabarānī).

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