Eye of the Soulstorm

“So long as you are in this world,
be not surprised at the existence of sorrows.
For truly it manifests nothing but what is in keeping
with its character or inevitable nature.”
-Shaykh Ibn ‘Ata’illah
 
“He has afflicted you from every direction in order to pull you back to the Directionless.”
-Mawlana Rumi

“The world was designed to break your heart…and God is with the broken-hearted.”
-Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Ahadeeth:

“The extent of the reward will be in accordance with the extent of the trial (fitna). If God loves a people, He tries them, and whoever is content will have contentment, and whoever is angry will have anger.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 2320; Sahih al-Jami’, 2210).

“There is nothing that befalls a believer, not even a thorn that pricks him, but God will record one good deed for him and will remove one bad deed from him.” (Muslim)

“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 (when they see the immense rewards for the afflictions they suffered)..” (Tirmidhi)

“Trials will continue to befall the believing man and woman, with regard to themselves, their children and their wealth, until they meet God with no sin on them.”  (Tirmidhi)

“If you put your trust completely in God, He will arrange for your sustenance in the same way as He provides for the birds. They go out in the morning with their stomachs empty and return filled in the evening.” (Tirmidhi)

“The greatest reward comes with the greatest trial. When God loves a people He tests them. Whoever accepts that wins His pleasure but whoever is discontent with that earns His wrath.” (Tirmidhi)

Wisdom from Past Scholars:

Mawlana Rumi said:

“Whoever is more awake has greater pain, whoever is more aware has a yellower face.” (Mathnawi I 629)
 
“Every heartache and suffering that enters your body and heart pulls you by the ear to the promised abode.” (Diwan 35486-87)

Al-Hasan al-Basri said:
“Do not resent the calamities that come and the disasters that occur, for perhaps in something that you dislike will be your salvation, and perhaps in something that you prefer will be your doom.”

Ibn Taymiyah said:
“A calamity that makes you turn to God is better for you than a blessing which makes you forget the remembrance of God.”
 
It is reported that Shurayh – may God have mercy him– said:

 “If I am afflicted with a calamity, I praise God for it four times: I praise Him because it wasn’t worse than it was, I praise Him when He gives me the patience to bear it, I praise Him for enabling me to say al-istirjaa’ (‘To God we belong and to him we will return’;) in hope of a great reward, and I praise Him for not making it a calamity in my religion.”
-Adh-Dhahabi, Siyar A’laam An-Nubalaa’, in his biography of Shurayh Al-Qaadi.