The Madinan Period, Part 13: The Last Lessons of Uḥud, al-Rajīʿ and Biʾr Maʿūnah
Section 4 of 14 · The Life of the Prophet Muhammad: The Madinan Period
True Servants Worship Allah in Hardship and in Ease
Another of the lessons is from Ibn al-Qayyim, who counts, among the wisdoms of Uḥud in Zād al-Maʿād, the bringing out of the servitude of the allies of Allah and His party in ease and in hardship, in what they love and in what they dislike. If they stay firm upon obedience and servitude in both, fa-hum ʿabīduhu ḥaqqan, then they are His servants in truth, and not like the one who worships Allah ʿalā ḥarfin wāḥid, on one edge only: that of ease, blessing and well-being.
One of the lessons of Uḥud, then, is to show the servitude of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them): that they are willing to worship Allah (swt) in times of ease and in times of difficulty. If they are firm and steadfast on the religion in both situations, that is a sign of true servitude, ʿubūdiyyah. And that is unlike people who only worship Allah (swt) on one condition. They are programmed to only worship Allah if things are tough, or they are only programmed to worship Allah if things are easy, but they don't have the combination of both. The expression Ibn al-Qayyim uses is the Qur'an's own:
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَعْبُدُ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ حَرْفٍ ۖ فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُۥ خَيْرٌ ٱطْمَأَنَّ بِهِۦ ۖ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ ٱنقَلَبَ عَلَىٰ وَجْهِهِۦ خَسِرَ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةَ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلْخُسْرَانُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
“And among men there is one who worships Allah (standing) on the verge: so if some good thing happens to him, he is satisfied with it, and if a trial befalls him, he turns his face back. He loses both this world and the Hereafter. That is the manifest loss.” (22:11)
See, sometimes people only remember Allah (swt) when things get tough. Then they start making duʿāʾ: "O Allah…" For example, all of those bachelors out there: they are making duʿāʾ in every prayer and in every sujūd, "O Allah, I want to get married." They would pray qiyām al-layl; they would make this duʿāʾ between the adhān and the iqāmah; they would make this duʿāʾ when they are making iʿtikāf; they would do it on the night of the twenty-seventh: "O Allah, I want to get married." And as soon as they get married, they stop making duʿāʾ. That is an example of somebody who only worships Allah (swt) when things are difficult, but when things get easy, they forget about Allah (swt).
It is like the story Allah mentions in the Qur'an of the people who are in the middle of the sea, and a storm picks up, and they feel that they are going to die, and there is no one to ask except Allah (swt). One is in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the ocean; the only refuge is Allah (swt). They make duʿāʾ to Allah (swt). They don't make duʿāʾ to their idols, their false gods; they make duʿāʾ to Allah. And when Allah delivers them to safety, then they go back and make sujūd to their idols (29:65).
Ibn al-Qayyim also says, in the same place, that when Allah tested them with being overcome, broken and defeated, dhallū wa inkasarū wa khaḍaʿū, they were humbled and broken and they submitted, and so they came to deserve honour and victory from Him. Allah (swt) tested them by them being defeated and humiliated and weakened, and that made them humble themselves in front of Allah (swt), and lower themselves in front of Allah (swt). And that is when Allah (swt) responds to one's duʿāʾ: when one humbles oneself in front of Allah (swt), and shows Him true servitude, that is when Allah (swt) responds to one's duʿāʾ. Allah (swt) said about Badr, in the ayah Ibn al-Qayyim cites here:
وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِبَدْرٍ وَأَنتُمْ أَذِلَّةٌ ۖ فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
“Allah certainly supported you at Badr when you were weak. So, fear Allah that you may be grateful” (3:123)
Allah (swt) gave you victory in Badr when you were weak, the believers are told. While in Ḥunayn:
لَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ فِى مَوَاطِنَ كَثِيرَةٍ ۙ وَيَوْمَ حُنَيْنٍ ۙ إِذْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ كَثْرَتُكُمْ فَلَمْ تُغْنِ عَنكُمْ شَيْـًٔا وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ ثُمَّ وَلَّيْتُم مُّدْبِرِينَ
“Allah has surely blessed you with His help on many battlefields, and on the day of Hunain, when you were proud of your great number, then it did not help you at all, and the earth was straitened for you despite all its vastness, then you turned back on your heels.” (9:25)
While in Ḥunayn, because you were dependent on your numbers, you lost.