| Answer: As long as the wheel of
life is destined to move on, problems and difficulties will keep popping up.
The Almighty has sent us in this world in order to test and try us. The nature
of this trial of life varies from person to person. Some people are placed in
difficult times and others in prosperous ones, according to the just and wise
scheme of the Almighty. The underlying objective, however, remains to test
them which one of them is good in deeds. So, the befitting attitude is to
submit to the scheme of Allah because it will lead us to the Garden of
Paradise. The benefit, we shall reap, in this world because of this
submission, is to be contented and satisfied. Try as hard as we may, we cannot
undo whatever Allah has willed for us. However, if we learn to see our
happiness in the failures that He has willed for us it will not only earn us
entitlement to Paradise but also give us a contented heart.
The second question must also be
understood in the perspective of the explanation delineated above. Allah has
created people of varying skills and capabilities. Some people are awarded the
ability of articulation as good as to become immortal orators and some are
deprived of the very ability of speaking. While the former group of people is
supposed to prostrate themselves in gratitude, the latter group is required to
prostrate themselves in submission to God’s will. I think it is rather
difficult to be a good Muslim when you are engulfed by God-gifted talents and
skills. Our misery and deprivation remind us of Allah and help us to be
closest to Him. So the deficiency that you have related is not to be feared.
Moses (sws), the great Prophet of Allah, had problems with communicating the
message of Allah to the people. What he did is that he prayed very sincerely
to the Lord to compensate for the lack of it:
O Lord, relieve my mind, and ease my task for me and loose
the knot from my tongue that they may understand my saying. (20:25-8)
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