Allah says in the Qur’an:
So when they forgot that by which they had been reminded, We opened to them the doors of every [good] thing until, when they rejoiced in that which they were given, We seized them suddenly, and they were [then] in despair.
[6:44]
Allah reminds us in Surat Al An’am of an example He made of the nations that came before us. He explains before this ayah that they were trialled with hardships and tribulations so that they may be humbled towards Allah. This in itself is a lesson to all of us that the purpose of trial is not for us to despair but for us to get closer to Him.
The focus here though is that when these nations failed the tribulations by hardening their hearts and chasing their desires Allah opened all doors to the dunya. Once everything came to them it was either taken away in this world or their lives were taken away.
How many people have we heard about in our time that were millionaires and ended up with nothing or committed suicide? Most of these people got their wealth from haram means and you will find the majority were ungrateful to Allah; disbelief is merely an elevated state of ungratefulness.
Furthermore, how many examples have we seen of popular people that ended up passing away at the peak of their career? They were given everything in this world – the fame, the money, the following – yet none of it helped them in the end or the afterlife.
Even with the whole dunya given to them, throughout their lives you will still find them miserable.
So with hardship we as Muslims must understand that it is a temporary test from Allah; as He says:
And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,
[2:155]
Just because we see others who are far from Allah gain in wealth does not mean that they are on the path of success – which brings us to the notion of baraka.
When we are given baraka – which is essentially the attachment of divine goodness from Allah – then any form of wealth we have will bring us so much more good in our lives. On top of that we will be rewarded further by Allah in the afterlife for spending as Muslims through that which is halal.
If the baraka is removed you will find that nothing satisfies the heart. Nothing we buy is enough, we will just keep wanting more and more.
Why is suicide more common among celebrities, CEO’s and creatives? Why are there corrupt billionaires in the world still stealing from others? The wealth they already own cannot be spent in 10 lifetimes yet they still chase more and are given more, until one day it will end; the day when the only thing that matters are their actions.
If we take any lesson from this, it is that we should not look at those who seem to have everything in the dunya although they are far from Allah and wish to chase what they have. Most of what we see in these people is through social media which is merely deception. What people show on these platforms is not real; at the end of the day, real satisfaction and happiness is in the heart and the hearts of others cannot be seen.
We must dig into our own hearts and remind ourselves of this beautiful ayah:
Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah . Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured.”
[13:28]
Allah knows best.