Pain and Excitement

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The general rule is that pain and excitement are good if they drive us to Allah, and bad if they drive us away from Allah.

Pain drives us away from Allah when it causes us to get caught up in worry and anxiety so that we can't, for example, focus on Allah during prayer. Or, even worse, the pain may lead us to disobey Allah in order to relieve it.

Pleasure drives us away from Allah when it causes us to get caught up in excitement and exultation so that we can't, for example, focus on Allah during prayer. Or, even worse, the excitement may lead us to disobey Allah in order to relieve it.

One way to remedy this is to reflect on the hadith of the Prophet, Allah bless bless him and grant him peace:

The person who had the most pleasing life in this world, of any of the people of Hell, will be summoned on Resurrection Day and utterly plunged into the Hellfire, then asked, "O human being, have you ever beheld any good at all; have you ever felt a single joy?" and he will say, "No by God, my Lord." And the most miserable sufferer in this world, of any of the people of Paradise, will be summoned and utterly plunged into Paradise, then asked, "O human being, have you ever seen any bad at all; have you ever experienced a single misery?" and he will say, "No by God, my Lord: I have never seen any bad or suffered a single misery." (Muslim).

The lesson here is to focus on what Allah wants, rather than what we want. Pleasure and pain relate to our personal wants, and we need to prevent them from coming in the way of our obedience to Allah.

May Allah make us His obedient slaves. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam