Desires make slaves out of kings and patience makes kings out of slaves.
Al-GhazaliRead
If you see Allah, Mighty and Magnificent, holding back this world from you, frequently trying you with adversity and tribulation, know that you hold a great status with Him. Know that He is dealing with you as He does with His Awliya’ and chosen elite, and is watching over you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Adversity can signify a deeper connection with the divine.
This quote by Al-Ghazali emphasizes the idea that facing challenges and hardships is not merely a test of endurance, but rather a sign of one's elevated spiritual status in the eyes of God. It suggests that if someone experiences difficulties, it may indicate that they are being specially regarded by Allah, similar to the way He treats His chosen ones, implying that such experiences can lead to greater spiritual growth and closeness to the divine.
Themes
AdversitySpiritualityDivineTrialsGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about resilience, one might quote this to inspire others to view their struggles as part of their spiritual journey.
More from Al-Ghazali
All quotes →The happiness of the drop is to die in the river.
Al-GhazaliRead
To completely trust in Allah is to be like a child who knows deeply that even if he does not call for the mother, the mother is totally aware of his condition and is looking after him.
Al-GhazaliRead
Do not fix hopes on your health, and do not laugh away life. Remember how they walked and now all their joints lie separately, and the tongue with which they talked lightly is eaten away by the worms
Al-GhazaliRead
A man of bad character punishes his own soul.
Al-GhazaliRead
The mere physical man is like the ant crawling on the paper, who observes black lettering and attributes its production to the pen and nothing more.
Al-GhazaliRead
Similar quotes
I am a law only for my kind, I am no law for all.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Wealth and speed are what the world admires, what each pursues. Railways, express mails, steamships and every possible facility for communications are the achievement in which the civilized world view and revels, only to languish in mediocrity by that very fact. Indeed, the effect of this diffusion is to spread the culture of the mediocre.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
I think one of the great dangers here is going and categorizing anybody from one religion as a terrorist. That's not true... That would let the terrorists win. That's what they want us to do.
Michael BloombergRead
I believed in a good home, in sane and sound living, in good food, good times, work, faith and hope. I have always believed in these things. It was with some amazement that I realized I was one of the few people in the world who really believed in these things without going around making a dull middle class philosophy out of it. I was suddenly left with nothing in my hands but a handful of crazy stars.
Jack KerouacRead
Freedom is the recognition of necessity.
Friedrich EngelsRead
If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times.
Saint AugustineRead