بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Who, when disaster strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.’
al-Baqarah : 156
The word Musibah is translated as a calamity, a disaster. It is a word which we all fear. Yet if we understand the meaning of this word alone, it will help us find the peace in a storm.
The word Musibah comes from “asaba” which means to hit. And the root word for “asaba” is “saaba” which means to hit the mark. As the archer hits the mark with his arrow, we call it “saaba”.
So Musibah means a calamity which has hit its mark.
If we ponder over the meaning, it means that Musibah is a disaster which is specifically directed towards a particular person. A tailor made calamity, if you will. So who is designing this calamity specifically for us? Who is in charge of creating and sending down a tailor made disaster towards us? Of course it is Allah.
So as soon as we hear the word Musibah, it should remind us that any disaster or misfortune that is coming to us is not a random thing, but rather it is specifically designed for us by Allah, with all our strengths and weaknesses bare before Him. In short it should remind ourselves that Allah is the controller of any given misfortune that strikes us.
And when we remember that Allah is at the driving seat of our vehicle, things will fall into place, Insha Allah. It won’t end the misfortune, but it will give us the confidence that everything is for our own best.
سبحانك اللهم و بحمدك نشهد ان لااله الّا انت نستغفرك و نتوب اليك