FlRST: Recognize the reward and compensation for patience.
SECOND: Know that calamities are atonement for sins and they wipe them away.
THIRD: Know that this calamity is from the preordained decree. It has been written in the Mother of the Book before the calamity was created, so it is inevitable that it would occur. Thus, despondency will only increase the calamity.
FOURTH: Understand the right Allāh has over you during this calamity. It is obligatory to be patient, and there is no difference of opinion in this. Some scholars say it is obligatory to be patient and pleased. Thus, the person is commanded to perform the rights of Allāh and worship Him during this calamity. This is a necessity, and if you do not do so, the calamity is multiplied.
FIFTH: Understand that this calamity is a result of your sins. This is general for all calamities, subtle and apparent. Thus, you should busy yourself with seeking forgiveness, as this is the greatest way to repel this calamity.
SlXTH: Know that Allāh is pleased with this calamity and has selected it for you, and servitude to Allāh necessitates that the slave is pleased with whatever his Master is pleased with for him. If the person is unable to attain the level of being pleased with this calamity, it is due to his weakness; thus, he moves to the lower level, which is to be patient with the calamity. If he is unable to be patient with the calamity, he moves to the level of oppression and transgression.
SEVENTH: Know that this calamity is a beneficial medicine given to the person from at-Tabib² (الطبيب), who has full knowledge of what will benefit the person and is Most Merciful towards him. Therefore, be patient and swallow your dose of medicine, and don’t vomit the medicine with anger and complaints, thus losing the benefit.
ElGHTH: Know that at the end of this medicine there is healing, curing, well-being, and removal of the pain which could only be removed by this medicine. Thus, when you find yourself hating this illness and its bitterness, look at the good results and after-effects.
NINETH: Know that this calamity did not come to destroy you or kill you. It only came to test your patience. At this point, it will be made clear if the person can become a friend of Allāh and from His party or not. If he is firm, he will be selected and bestowed with nobility and dressed in the garment of virtue. He will become one of Allāh’s friends and helpers. But if he turns on his face and falls back on his heels, then he is driven away and neglected, and his calamity is multiplied, and he doesn’t realize at the moment that his calamity has been multiplied and increased. But after this calamity is over, he will realize his adversity became many calamities.
TENTH: Know that Allāh will cultivate His slave upon ease and hardship, favors and trials. Thus, He will bring servitude from him in every situation. Allah’s slave, in the true sense of the word, is the person who has servitude to Allāh throughout his varying circumstances.
If the slave knows that Allāh’s favor upon him during the adversity is not less than Allāh’s favor upon him during [his time of] well-being, he will busy his heart and tongue with gratitude towards Allāh.
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¹ Taken from Tariq al-Hijratayn.
² Shaykh Fawzan said, “At-Tabib is not from the names [of Allāh], but it is information about Allāh.”
Book: One Hundred Pieces of Advice By Ibn Al Qayyim. Translated by Rasheed Barbee
Authentic Statements Publications Page 21-24