EVERY individual, male or female, born in this material world has to have their share of toil. According to the Holy Quran, man is created in toil (90:4). Toiling (the Quranic term being ‘al-kabad’) refers to the fact that a man in this world has not been created to enjoy and live a life of ease and comfort. Rather, the world for him is a place of enduring and undergoing toil, labour and hardship, and no one is immune from this.
We should not forget that our daily meal is the result of toil. People work day and night to get two square meals a day. Toiling is even necessary to remain fit, healthy, enjoying a sound sleep and gaining success. Success is not something that will come without toil, as it is a prerequisite.
Along with toiling, one needs to be seeking continuous grace and guidance from Allah, be consistent in one’s efforts, while not letting go of patience and ethics on the road to success, so that the fruits may be durable and long-lasting. Though the desire for immediate and instant success is quite strong in many people, to gain durable success, quick-fix prescriptions may not work.
There are many examples where people have achieved massive success by working hard. All scientific inventions and discoveries are the result of laborious work and toil. Thomas A. Edison invented the lightbulb after many attempts and failures and is believed to have said: “I have found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
We should also be ready to get going again and again with the same spirit, even if we encounter some hurdles. But working hard, in the correct manner, pays well in the end.
In every society, people are engaged in toil. They rise early and go to bed late, they work from dawn to dusk, face problems, undergo hardships and adversities which, in fact, make them strong and courageous and also open the door to further progress. This is the true nature of life. Even birds, such as ducks and hens, toil all day in the sun.
But one should be clear that Allah does not burden a person beyond his or her ability to cope (2:286). A teacher used to tell an inspiring story to his students. He said, “Initially, when Allah created birds, they had no wings. They used to crawl on earth. Then, one day, Allah decided to bestow the birds with wings. He threw wings towards their feet and commanded them to pick up the same and carry them on their backs. At first, this seemed difficult for the little creatures but [they] later picked up the wings and carried them on their backs. What happened then? What they once considered a hampering weight and burden, enabled them to fly.”
Life is not a bed of roses. Whatever one dreams of cannot be accomplished without hard work. Though one faces adversities, these are a ‘tonic’ that works in favour of a person. In other words, no person is so broken, so oppressed by the burdens of bad health, poverty and unhappiness that there is no way out of their problem or no way to bear it in the last resort. This is so because all individuals exist within the Divine framework of creation. The burdens we carry by necessity or by choice, instead of weighing us down, actually lift us up. The Holy Quran says “Verily, with hardship, there is relief (94:5)”.
Life demands constant struggle and one has to strive for improvement. Today must be better and tomorrow must be even more so. The success stories of many great people amply prove that struggling with strong willpower leads them to growth and development.
Moreover, history is a witness to this fact that every person in his material life has to toil in order to survive and prosper. Even the prophets and other chosen people considered close to Allah also have had an appropriate share of toiling in their earthly life. But they have left a lesson for coming generations demonstrating how to bear it during their lifetime. The life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) bears witness to the fact that he endured every kind of hardship for the sake of his mission.
Similarly, all other great prophets, like Adam, Nuh, lbrahim, Yaqub, Yousuf, Musa, Ayub and Isa, had their fair share of trials and tribulations, as recounted in Quranic parables, as well as authentic hadith literature. Some had to face the powerful tyrants of their time, while others dealt with ill health or separation from their loved ones. Today, these venerable individuals are examples for humankind.
All these aforementioned examples justify the fact that one must understand the nature of life and continue to toil for durable success, no matter the odds and challenges one is faced with.
The writer is an educationist with an interest in religion.
Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024
