What Should I Do When I Feel Hopeless?
Question:
I have made mistakes in the past, and everyone hates me. I pray to Allah, but the situation is impossible. It feels hopeless because there is no answer to my du’as. What do I do?
Answer:
Wa ‘alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.
I pray Allah removes this difficulty for you very soon. Often things can feel hopeless like difficulty without end. However, that is usually just the pain of the situation that leads us to that train of thought.
Try To Make Amends
If the mistakes were with people, ask them to forgive you, and try to do what is needed to patch things up – if it is possible and will not make matters worse. In any case, you should keep praying that Allah fixes things. How many a person disliked another, yet further down the road they became fast friends.
If the mistakes were between you, and Allah it is even easier to rectify matters. Allah accepts those who turn to Him in remorse. Ask for forgiveness and do what you can to turn things around.
Hope
Hope is a strange, yet beautiful matter. It is most needed in the thick of the trials, yet that is where it can be least visible. However, it is always there for the believer. Allah is with you.
How can you realise this? Look back at the difficult days you have lived through. They may have been a struggle, a huge trial, yet you lived through them. Despite feeling alone and hopeless, Allah helped you get through them. Reflect on this. It will help you see hope for the coming days.
Sometimes, The Problem Is the Solution
Years ago, at the start of a difficult set of trials, I was looking for some hope too. I opened up a book and found a profound quote. It came to me when I was praying a lot for Allah to show mercy to me by removing a calamity. The quote read, “My servant, how can I be merciful to you if I remove that with which I am showing you mercy?“ [Ibn ‘Ajiba, Iqaz al-Himam]
It was someone speaking on behalf of Allah to explain that, sometimes, what pains us is actually the process of the cure.
Your prayers have been answered – be certain of that. However, the response is what Allah will choose in your favour and not necessarily what you have asked. It will happen in the way Allah wants, and that is the best possible way. You might not see it now, but it will be very clear someday.
Take whatever means you need to in order to get matters right again. Gain some new friends, try some therapy, or pick up a positive hobby. Trust in Allah. It is a great act of worship precisely because it is hard. Allah will fix things, just give it time.
May Allah grant you the best of both worlds.
[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History he moved to Damascus in 2007 where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital and he was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.
