In Times of Calamity (In the Light of Hadith)

It is narrated from Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When a believer is afflicted by a calamity (and something dear is lost), and at that moment he says what he has been commanded to say, namely:

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ 
اَللّٰهُمَّ اْجُرْنِي فِي مُصِيبَتِي وَاخْلُفْ لِي خَيْرًا مِّنْهَا 

Transliteration: Inna lillāhi wa inna ilayhi rājiʿūn. Allāhumma’jurnī fī muṣībatī wa akhlif lī khayran minhā.

Translation: “Indeed, we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we shall return. O Allah, grant me reward in this calamity of mine and replace it for me with something better.” (Sahih Muslim)

Allah will surely grant him something better in place of what was taken from him. Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها said: When my first husband Abu Salamah رضي الله عنه passed away, I thought to myself, who could be better than my late husband Abu Salamah رضي الله عنه? He was among the earliest Muslims who migrated with their family to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Yet, in accordance with the teaching of the Messenger ﷺ, after his death I recited “إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ” and supplicated with the aforementioned supplication. Thereupon Allah granted me the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in place of Abu Salamah رضي الله عنه. (Sahih Muslim)

Our Prophet ﷺ was made to pass through every form of hardship by Allah. No one has faced calamities greater than those endured by him ﷺ. His father passed away even before his birth. Then his mother was called back (to Allah). She had set out from Madinah returning toward Makkah. This caravan consisted of only three individuals: Umm Ayman, his mother, and the noble Prophet ﷺ. When approximately 170 kilometers remained to Makkah — a journey of three to four days on foot — at a desolate place known as Abwa’, surrounded by wilderness and desert, his mother received the call from Allah. The child was only six years old.

The Messenger ﷺ sat sorrowfully by his mother’s side, looking at her, while the mother cast her final loving glances upon her child. As she gazed upon him, it was as though she was saying: “I am departing, but I leave behind a child whose name will echo throughout the world.” There, in that lonely wilderness, she passed away. What must have passed over that child? Death cannot be averted, yet it could have been that Allah caused this to occur two days earlier in Madinah, where someone might have comforted the child. But the system of the Creator is wondrous — He took the mother of His beloved ﷺ away in the wilderness. There was no one to wipe the child’s tears, no one to console him, no one to embrace him with affection. Then she was buried alone in that desolate place. What must the journey to Makkah have been like without his mother?

Exactly two years later, his grandfather also passed away. And when the need for the companionship of Khadijah رضي الله عنها was greatest, she too was taken away. His uncle Abu Talib also passed away. His home was left with little provision; he tied stones to his stomach due to hunger; two of his sons passed away in succession.

All of this is a lesson for the Ummah. Today the Muslim Ummah is afflicted by severe hardships — some caused by its own people and some by its enemies. For such sorrows, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When calamities befall you, remember my calamities; you will forget your own grief.

May Allah grant us the ability to observe patience in times of hardship. Ameen.