When you’ve been asking Allāh for something for quite a long
time and due to a ḥikmah (wisdom) that only Allāh knows, your request has been
delayed. Then when you see another be given a similar blessing — one that you
have been pining for and praying for, it might be natural for a person to feel
a burn in their heart. A bitterness. A jolt of sadness, mixed with jealousy and
envy (perhaps?). Some might go to the extent of having ill thoughts about Allāh
and question Him subḥānah for withholding from them. Aʿādhanā Allāh.
If this person is you, then there are two things I want you
to keep in mind:
a. The fact that Allāh gives other servants of His in no
way, shape or form jeopardises your chances of receiving from
Allāh. The resources we perceive are finite, but what Allāh has is infinite. No
matter how much He gives, it will not reduce the smallest perceivable amount
from the treasures He possesses. It will not reduce His ability to give you
in the slightest. Once you internalise this, you will realise that by allowing
negativity to brew in your heart, you are jeopardising your OWN chances of
having a clean heart that will allow you to connect with Allāh and be able to
ask Him.
Jealousy and envy are two deplorable human reactions (of the
heart) that no one is immune from. But those who possess hearts rich with faith
fight to overcome these and do not let their emotions, spirits, and actions be
dictated by them.
b. This āyah:
Thus We have tried some of them with
others that they might say, “Is it these whom Allāh has favoured from
amongst us?!” Is not Allāh most knowing of those who are grateful?
al-Anʿām:53
We are narrow-minded humans. We do not grasp the reality of
things easily or accurately. We may see ourselves as “deserving” of
Allāh’s blessings, but are we really?
What’s more, Allāh does not call those whom He confers
blessings over “deserving” — He calls them GRATEFUL.
They were grateful for whatever they had received from
Allāh, so He only increased them.
Finally a note from Jamiʿ al-ʿ Ulūm wa al-Ḥikam by Ibn Rajab
al-Ḥanbalī, he says:
❝When the believer sees that relief from the hardship he is
in has still not come even after excessive duʿāʾ and excessive pleading to
Allāh, and when he sees no sign of an answer, he blames his own self and says
to himself, ‘If you had any good in you, you would have received an answer!’. And this self-accountability is more beloved to Allāh than
many acts of worship, because it necessitates humility and an acknowledgement
that the person is deserving of any hardship that has befallen him and that he
is not deserving of an answer; when this happens, the answer to his duʿāʾ is
hastened to him. For indeed, Allāh is with those whose hearts are broken for
His sake.❞
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