“It is but a summer cloud which will soon disperse.”

Muhammad Ibn Shubruma used to say when a trial befell him:

سحابة صيف ثم تنقشع

“It is but a summer cloud which will soon disperse.”

That is the nature of the trials that we are tested with. None of them remain forever, and one hardship is always followed by two reliefs, as Allah says in the Quran:

“So indeed, with the hardship, there is relief. Indeed, with the hardship there is relief.”

‎إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا ‎ فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ یُسۡرًا

(Quran 94:5-6)

As-Sa’dee says in his Tafsir of this ayah:

“The letters alif and laam (that come before the word العسر/the hardship) indicate generalization — which shows that any hardship, no matter how difficult it becomes, will eventually end with relief.”

This is why it is so important to respond to trials with a “beautiful patience” as mentioned in the Quran. Your Lord will not let your patience and hope in His reward for your pain go in vain.

Al-Hasan Al-Basri referred to the trials and tests that Allah gives us as “doses of medication” because they heal and purify us like a benefical medication:

‎ما جرعتين أحب إلى الله من جرعة مصيبة موجعة محزنة ردها صاحبها بحسن عزاء وصبر وجرعة غيظ ردها بحلم

“There are no doses (i.e. tests) that are more beloved to Allah than a painful, upsetting calamity that one responds to with a good consolement and patience, and a test of anger that one responds to with forbearance.”

’Ubayd Ibn ’Umayr said:

‎ليس الجزع أن تدمع العين ويحزن القلب ولكن الجزع القول السيء والظن السيء

“(Responding to a trial with) panic is not when the eyes fill with tears or the heart grows sad. Rather, panic is negative statements (which displease Allah) and bad thoughts (about Allah).”

(All quotes come from Ibn Al-Qayyim’s book “Uddat As-Sabireen”)