Reflection on Calamities

In sha Allah I pray this post finds you in the best of health and iman. The Coronavirus pandemic of 2019 – 2020 is by far one of the biggest global calamities of the last century. The main differentiating factor between Coronavirus and other calamities is that this is a global catastrophe affecting the whole world and not just a specific group. What I mean by this is the overwhelming global involvement of Coronavirus. Other catastrophes typically tend to be limited in their nature. Wars for example don’t always affect the everyday lives of the average person in the world. They are usually very specific to the people in the war zone. By and large, life around the world goes on normally. However, the Coronavirus outbreak is vastly different as we see.

In our Islamic belief, we believe that disasters and calamities have been ordained for certain reasons only Allah ﷻ can comprehend. In times of calamity we resort too and rely on Islam to provide us solace and comfort. In a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim, The Prophet (saw) said,

Calamities are a means of expiation of sin and raising one’s status. The Prophet (saw) said: “There is nothing that befalls a believer, not even a thorn that pricks him, but Allah will record one good deed for him and will remove one bad deed from him.”

In another hadith narrated by At-Tirmidhi, the Prophet (saw) said,

“On the Day of Resurrection, when people who had suffered affliction are given their reward, those who were healthy will wish their skins had been cut to pieces with scissors when they were in the world.”

Now obviously, this doesn’t mean that we wish for ourselves to fall ill, rather we pray to Allah ﷻ to keep us healthy and upright so that we can serve Him and glorify Him. One of the reasons for calamities is so that we do not feel content and attached to this dunya. As we all know, we all must one day move on to the next life. If the world were free of calamities, mankind would love it more and grow increasingly attached and as a result forget about the akhirah (Hereafter). Calamities are meant to wake us up from our negligence and make us strive for the place in which there are no calamities or trials. May Allah ﷻ protect us and make us steadfast on His path, ameen.