“Mama, the doctor hurt my arm,” my 3-year old niece wailed after receiving her vaccination. “It’s hurting.”
This poor girl was taken out by her mother, the person in the world who meant everything to her.
“Mum loves me, she would never ever hurt me,” my niece must have been thinking when her mum took her in the car.
But after the injection she must have been baffled: “But then why did Mum just sit there and allow a stranger to put a big needle into my arm?”
How do you explain to a 3-year old that a vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate an individual’s immune system to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen?
You can’t.
You just hope that the love and care and affection that you have given this child throughout its life will allow the child to understand that even when mum does something to cause it pain, it is for the child’s ultimate, long-term protection and benefit.
Stop for a moment and think of a good person that you know who is going through unimaginable suffering.
Perhaps a loving, charitable couple who have just lost a child? An upright, noble man serving life in prison? A kind, generous woman suffering from painful cancer?
In December 2004 an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed over 230,000 people in 14 countries. It was a disaster of biblical proportions.
I was in HM Prison Woodhill at the time. As I have described in the book that I am writing, I saw this disaster in a dream hours before it happened.
A week after this disaster The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England, wrote an article in The Daily Telegraph in which he said that the Tsunami had made him question the existence of God.
I remember reading this article then, and I re-read it again recently.
He wrote that it would be wrong if the question ‘How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?’ was not being asked.
I do not feel that the article sufficiently addressed this question.
When we look around us, we see much suffering in the world. War, pain, poverty, sickness, hunger, famine, earthquakes, floods, disease, disability…
The strong oppress the weak, men are violent to women, adults abuse children.
We do not have to look far. Each of us knows someone in our family, or relatives, or community, whom we consider an upright ‘good’ person who has endured, or is enduring unbelievable suffering.
When you go through a calamity and you are at your lowest point, Satan plants seeds of doubt into your mind and urges you to question the Wisdom of God.
Even the Prophets questioned, not the existence of God, but His Wisdom when they were at their lowest points:
‘Or do you think that you will enter Paradise while such [trial] has not yet come to you as came to those who passed on before you? They were touched by poverty and hardship and were shaken until [even their] messenger and those who believed with him said,”When is the help of Allah ?” Unquestionably, the help of Allah is near.’ [Quran 2:214]
As did their disciples:
“[Remember] when they came at you from above you and from below you, and when eyes shifted [in fear], and hearts reached the throats and you assumed about Allah [various] assumptions.” [Quran 33:10]
Imagine a calamity so severe that it shakes your faith to the core and you begin to have doubts about, not the existence of Allah, but why He has done or is doing something.
One of Allah’s Names is Al-Hakeem, The Wise One.
If you truly believe in Allah and trust Him, then you have full confidence in His Wisdom.
When you go through suffering and things are hard. When you begin to feel as if Allah has abandoned you and you question why He is not responding to your prayers…
Think of all the good things He has done to you in your life before this point. Think of all the blessings He has given you:
Despite your suffering what do you still have?
Health, eyesight, fresh air, sleep, family, intellect, food, water, shelter?
What do you still have that many in the world do not have and would yearn to have?
If Allah was evil, or sadistic, or hated you, why would He have given you all these blessings?
If Allah has given you so much, but then He has put you through some pain which is small in comparison to the comforts He has given you, surely there must be a reason for this pain?
Surely, this reason must be in your benefit?
A 3-year old child is not going to understand that her mother asked a stranger to put a metal needle into her arm today so that many years in the future she will be protected from a debilitating illness.
Allah puts us through suffering in this life to allow us to attain a rank in the Hereafter that we would never have reached with our deeds alone.
One who does not believe in God will never be able to understand this.
When He puts us through suffering, and we demonstrate patience and contentment despite what we are going through, He rewards us for that by raising our status in the Hereafter.
Think of the love that a mother has for her child. Not just among humans, but among animals even.
Think of the lioness who picks up her young cub in her sharp teeth. If one of those teeth penetrate even a mm into the cub, it will kill him. But the tooth never penetrates into the cub. Never.
This is love.
But the love that Allah has for His Creation is millions and billions and infinite times more than the love any mother has for her child.
The believer realises, therefore, that the ‘bad’ thing that happens to a good person is not a bad thing, it is a good thing.
So, in the context of the Hereafter, only good things happen to good people. Bad things never happen to good people.
If we trusted our parents when we were young, then surely we should trust Allah and His Wisdom whatever we go through in life?
Allah is the Lord, Al-Hakeem, The Wise. Allah does not gloat at our suffering and pain. It does not make Him happy to see us in pain.
He never puts us through any suffering today unless He knows that it will be in our best interest tomorrow.
This is love.
Has Allah (God) ever put you through suffering whose wisdom you did not realise at the time, but you realised many years later? Why don’t you share your experiences below?
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Wow.
Poor Asma. Hopefully she’ll understand.
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Asalamu alaykoum. I really like the example of the 3 year old child. One of Allah’s names The Wise Al-Hakeem is what comes to mind. I have been through many trials in my life that I always say I could write a book with many chapters. These tests have shaped the person I am today. But these trials are what have kept me remembering Allah. We do not have knowledge of the unseen so therefore we must trust Allah that whatever plan He has for us is only good for us. One of my favourite ahadith is of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “How wonderful is the affair of the believer, for his affairs are all good, and this applies to no one but the believer. If something good happens to him, he is thankful for it and that is good for him. If something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience and that is good for him.” (Narrated by Muslim). This is one Hadith that I always try and remind myself with. If we think this way it’s always a win win situation. Alhamdulillah
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Dear Babar,
I can keep silent no longer..
“How do you explain to a 3-year old that a vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate an individual’s immune system to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen?”
The three year old has a pure fitrah and she is justified in asking why her mother hurt her. The answer is that the mother, like a vast majority of mothers and fathers is guilty of the worst kind of dereliction of duty. The vaccination does not stimulate an immune system. It is a poison or toxin that is administered by big pharma to ensure that the child grows up to be a customer of big pharma for the rest of their lives.
There is no evidence to back up anybodies claim that it is effective against any pathogen unless you accept kack-eyed analysis delivered by the worst form of criminal. Todays GP is nothing but a paid up member of the eugenics club, but far worse a crime is the parents who mis-developed belief system has led them to inject poison into their own children.
Always assume the 3 year old is correct and the adult is wrong!
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Hi Danny and thanks for your comment. It was just an example to illustrate my point. As long as you get the point of the article, you don’t have to agree with my example. 🙂
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I love your blogs my brother and i mean no disrespect. I have just discovered i must inject these poisons into my body in order to perform hajj… Anybody know any doctors who will be willing to sign me off without having to go through the nonsense? I am happy to pay!!!
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Without the injection they won’t give you the visa and no genuine doctor will accept money to give a false declaration.
I guess you have to choose between Hajj and preserving your body from these vaccines. That’s the reality, I’m afraid, like it or hate it. I didn’t make up the rules. 🙂
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It is not that i disagree with your example, it is i find it abhorrant that anyone still thinks that a vaccination is anything other than a criminal act that should be banned. You seem to think that these vaccinations are a force for good however, they are a direct threat to the ummah and mankind as a whole and they should be exposed for what they are… You are encouraging their use! Vaccinations are the single biggest killer in the world.
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I’m happy to revise my view if you can show me evidence that vaccinations are a direct threat to the ummah and the single biggest killer in the world.
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Seems like an indictment in the making “conspiracy to commit wire fraud vis a vis a fake medical certificate ” only joking my brother you cant be suckered! And like every post you handle it very amicably , and once again love reading your posts.
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I should have said I can’t do it but I know a man who does https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1897962/investigation-reveals-dodgy-gps-getting-cash-to-help-minicab-and-uber-drivers-fake-medical-test-over-fitness-to-drive/
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I really loved a guy, it was more like the first man i loved so much that no one in this world can imagine i was so mad for him that i would have actually walked the path of hell with him Nauzubillah…he use to treat me the way he wished, he use to call me with so many bad names he use to hit me badly, but nothing made me go away from him i did every thing to stay…i left everything every sec i use to ask Allah for him..i never use to sleep without getting his text i knew he was just using me still, suddenly after 3rd year he left me i was devasted broke and and after those depression i became ill and i am still suffering from a life threatening disease…each day i use to look at his picture every day i cried in front of Allah…like Allah teach him a lesson i dont want anything bad to happen to him but teach him , and to my surprise i found him happy all the time every day.. each day then i felt that Allah loves those who do bad…Allah loves bad people more than good he doesn’t like me…and i turned worst..Idk…what will make me come back to my good side again i wish before i die i turn to be a better person. But i aint afraid of dying i blame everything Allah for making me this, for ruining me and making that man happy in front of me.there is so much to this story.. which i have shared with Allah. But he doesn’t listens to me he really doesn’t he really doesn’t.
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Asalamaleikom, I wonder if your love made you blind. We suppose to be servants of Allah, not a man. Was your relationship a marriage with support of family? Or it is your test. Only you know every detail. We should pray for others to be guided. Free your heart from servitude to that man, especially if it is not mutual love and respect. Then you will find contentment. Perhaps seek advice of someone that knows your situation, this blog is not right place.
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Alhumdu Lillah! Amazing article and excellent analogies as to why Allah does things through his wisdom. Very important to educate the young generation on this, I shall be sharing with my students in sha Allah.
Shame about the negative comments with regards to the injection example. Just shows how people exaggerate and magnify things into which they are not.
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