How to Face Problems The Sunday Guardian | September 19, 2010 | Page 14

The Prophet of Islam started his mission in the first quarter of the seventh century in Arabia- an age of religious persecution. The Prophet’s mission was based on the oneness of God, while the people of that time were believers in idolatry. So they turned hostile to the Prophet and he and his companions became the victims of various kinds of problems. It was obviously an unfavourable situation for the Prophet and his companions. At this critical juncture, God revealed a meaningful peace of guidance. This divine guidance is as follows: So, surely with every hardship there is ease. (94:5-6) In this Quranic verse the same phrase is repeated twice. From this repetition, the Prophet drew a very meaningful inference. That is, according to the law of nature, the situation of ease is double that of the situation of difficulty. So he formulated this principle: “Two situations of ease will surely prevail over one of difficulty.” The fact is that in every situation there are problems, but at the same time there are opportunities. This is a law of nature. But it is also a law of nature that the quantum of opportunities will be more that the quantum of problems. This being so, the best course to adopt is to ignore the problems and divert one’s energy to availing of the opportunities. Complaint about or protest against problems is of no value. Problems are no created by some person: they are a part of the creation plan of God. No one has the power to change the course of nature. We have no option but to accept this natural course. So when you face a problem, don’t be negative. Be normal. Don’t be disturbed. Don’t allow to tension to develop.