Why Did Allah Not Help Me With My Problems?
Question: Please advise me, why do I feel so alone and that my life seems to be getting worse despite my faith and praying my prayers? Why does he not help me with my problems?
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
May Allah bless you for your candid question. You have asked a great question, and I understand what you are going through.
Allah Most High created us in this world as a test. The nature of tests is that they involve challenges. Sometimes we perceive our circumstances and our difficulties as a sign of Allah’s indifference to our circumstances.
How Do We Know that Allah Loves Us?
Many people falsely conflate worldly success, material possessions, and physical well-being with the love of Allah. Having an easy life, possessions, status, etc. are not proofs of Allah’s love for that person.
The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Verily if Allah Most High loves a person, He tests them to hear his voice.” [Bayhaqi]
Factors to Reflect Upon
Remind yourself of the following factors:
(1) Your difficulties do not mean that Allah does not care about you, rather it indicates to the opposite.
(2) Our situations can often teach us to turn to Allah Most High for help.
Allah Most High has blessed us with the gift of supplication (du’a). We must learn to turn to Allah Most High in our brokenness and our desperation, pouring our heart out to Allah, presenting our complaints to Him.
Allah Most High tells us, “Or ask them, “Who responds to the distressed when they cry to Him, relieving their affliction, and Who makes you successors in the earth? Is it another god besides Allah? Yet you are hardly mindful!” [Qur’an; 27:62]
(3) Difficulty is a form of blessing
The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “No calamity befalls the Muslim, not fatigue, nor suffering, nor worry, nor grief, nor harm, nor sadness, even the thorn that pricks them – except that Allah expiates by it their sin.” [Bukhari]
(4) Difficulties teach us to rely on Allah Most High, not in ourselves.
Allah Most High says, “…God will be enough for those who put their trust in Him…” [Qur’an; 65:3]
Advice
The above factors are essentially a call to action. In order to rely on Allah, we have to let go of our assumed control over our life. We need to turn our beliefs into action. We believe that Allah Most High is All-Powerful, but we are determined to rely on our own power; this is a type of arrogance. Try the following prayers and humbly consign your affairs to Allah.
The prayer of need and the prayer of seeking guidance means that Allah Most High has blessed us with as a means of turning to Him in humility and seeking His aid.
Pray each of these prayers once a day with a good opinion that Allah Most High will come to your assistance.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a graduate from Tarim; a student of Habib Umar and other luminaries; and authorized teachers of the Qur’an and the Islamic sciences
