Chapter 7 - On Calamities and Hardships

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “Whoever believes in the following will not lose anything. It is better for one not to have any shelter other than the trees and eat only the leaves of the trees.”

“Whenever God the Almighty loves someone, He will throw him into trouble and storm him with calamities. When he prays to God for help, God will say: “O' My servants! I hear your prayer and have the power to immediately fulfill your requests if I so wish, but I will save it for you; and what I save for you is better.”

“Great calamities have great rewards. When God loves someone, He will make him suffer great calamities. God will be pleased with whoever is content with these calamities. Whoever is displeased, God will be displeased with him.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “God has especial servants on the Earth. God will not send down any gifts to this world unless He deprives them of these gifts, and will not descend any calamities unless they suffer from these calamities. They are the followers of (Imam) Ali (a.s).”

“A believer will go after business and trade. When he finds what he is after, God will send down an angel and will instruct the angel to prevent him from that work, since if he continues doing that he will go to Hell. An angel will descend and prevent him from doing what he wanted to do, by God's Favor. The next morning he says: “Something prevented me from doing that.” Of course it was God who prevented him. He does not know that God the Glorious, the High was witness to his deeds and knew that if he succeeds in doing that act, He will send him to Hell.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “There is always a great reward for a great calamity. God will send calamities to any nations that He loves.”

“I swear by God that no one can attain nobility near God unless his sufferings increase.”

Imam Baqir (a.s) said: “The people who suffered the worst hardships were the Prophets. Then there were those who followed them and then the people who are most similar to the Prophets suffer the worst hardships.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “The people who suffered the worst hardships were the Prophets. Then there are those are most similar to the Prophets who suffer the worst hardships.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “God's Prophet (a.s) was asked: “Which people suffer the most in this world?” The Prophet (a.s) said: “The Prophets. Then those who are most similar to them. Then the believers will suffer according to the degree of their faith and good deeds. The stronger their faith, and the more their good deeds are, the worst will their sufferings be.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “A believer is similar to a scale. The stronger his faith, the more his sufferings will be.”

Imam Kazim (a.s) said: “You will not be true believers unless you are trustworthy and consider sufferings to be blessings, and consider welfare to be a tragedy, since perseverance in the face of hardships is better than negligence at times of comfort.”

Imam Baqir (a.s) said: “A believer will suffer from calamities in this world according to his religiousness.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “Those who follow the right way are always in hardship. But this hardship is for a short duration, and it will be followed by a long period of well-being.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “There is a rank near God for His servants which they cannot attain unless they either get sick or lose some property.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “One of the reasonings of God the Almighty for his servants in the Hereafter is expressed by him saying: “Did I not make your remembrance pleasant?”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “God told Moses the son of Imran (a.s) in one of His revelations: “O' Moses! I have not created anything dearer than My believing servant. I will make him suffer for what is better for him, and then give him a reward that is better for him. I know best what is better for him. He must persevere in the face of My hardships, and be grateful for My blessings. He must be content with My decree. If he acts according to My decree and oobeys Me, then I will record him as being one of the Righteous.”

“Ask your Lord for well-being since you are not from among those who will suffer calamities. Before you there were those of the Israelites who were torn into pieces to force them to convert to atheism, but they did not do so.”

“There was a man in the past who was content with whatever hurt him in this world, and so many good deeds were recorded for him that were not recorded for anyone else on the Earth, and he never committed any sins. One of the angels who liked him asked God for permission to descend down to Earth and visit him. He was standing in prayer and the angel sat down near him. Suddenly a lion jumped on the man and tore him into four pieces and threw each piece on a side. The angel stood up, collected the parts of his body and buried him. Then he went to the seashore and saw a polytheist there for whom the people brought a variety of foods in golden and silver dishes. The man was uttering polytheistic sayings and was the king of India. The angel ascended to the heavens. He was summoned and asked what he had seen. He said: “The most amazing thing that I saw was that You let a lion tear into pieces the man for whom You recorded the best good deeds, and I saw that you gave perfect health to a polytheist to whom You gave a kingdom, and for whom the people brought a variety of foods in golden and silver dishes.” God the Almighty said: “Do not be surprised about My first servant. He had asked Me for a high rank in Heaven which he could not attain any other way. I fed him to a lion to let him reach that rank. However, I did not do anything for the other man, since he will get My torture in the Hereafter.”

“There are some excellent ranks in Heaven which one cannot attain unless he suffers from a calamity. But whenever you suffer a calamity, recall my calamities which are the worst calamities.”

God's Prophet (a.s) said: “The greatest reward is for the worst calamities. When God loves a nation, He will send down a calamity upon them. God will be pleased with whoever is content, and will be displeased with whoever is displeased.”

Imam Baqir (a.s) said: “A servant is always faced with calamities, divine destiny and blessings. He must persevere in the face of calamities that God descends down upon him, he must submit to divine destiny and be grateful for God's blessings.”

“Imam Sadiq (a.s) saw a man who was really upset about the death of his child. Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “You are so upset about a small tragedy, but you are neglecting the great tragedy. If you had prepared yourself to go to where your child has gone, you would have never become so upset. However forgetting to prepare for death is a greater tragedy than the death of your son.”

“When the Letter of Deeds is opened and the Scales are setup, there are no Letters of Deeds for the people who suffered calamities.” Then he recited the verse: “O' ye My servants who believe! Fear your Lord. God is the reward for those who do good in this world. Spacious is God's earth! Those who patiently persevere will truly receive a reward without a measure.” [The Holy Quran: Zumar 39:10]

Whoever says the following seven times after the morning prayer before saying anything else: “In the Name of God, the Most Gracious Most Merciful. There is no strength nor power but in, or by means of, God, the Exalted.” God will fend off seventy types of calamities from him- the simplest of which is leprosy.”