The ability to find meaning in adversity is a key quality that protects against depressed mood and anxiety during intense trials. Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor of an Auschwitz concentration camp outlines the meaning-based psychotherapeutic approach that helped him and others cope with the horrors they experienced in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning.The realization of truth and development of virtue is the method by which a person perseveres through hardship and finds meaning in it. The Islāmic stories of resilience in the face of adversity capture this reality. When Prophet Yūnus (as) was thrown into the middle of the vast ocean in the darkness of the night, he called out, “There is nothing worthy of worship except you, Exalted are You! I have been of the oppressors.”[When Prophet Ibrahīm (as) was being catapulted into the pit of fire, he called out, “God is sufficient for me and the Best Disposer of Affairs.”[ When Prophet Ādam (as) was expelled from paradise, he called out, “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if you do not forgive us and have mercy on us, then we will be lost.”Charles Snyder, a leading positive psychologist in the study of hope, defines hope as “a positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful agency and pathways.”This definition essentially states that hope involves possessing agency and pathways. Agency refers to the belief that a person can affect the future, and pathways refer to the belief that one has the resources to obtain one’s objectives. Strength in our agency through the Power of God makes us surrender to our will and capacity to God’s Decree. In this section, we realize the pathways that are available to us to change our situation. The Names and Attributes of God represent the solutions to all of our problems. When we are overcome with grief and remorse for what we have done in the past, we recognize that God is Al-Ghafūr (The Eternally Forgiving). If we are on the brink of losing our home, unable to provide for our family, we call out to Ar-Razzāq (The Provider). When we can’t seem to put our life together after being hit with calamity after calamity, we recognize our strength lies in Al-Qadīr (The One with Ultimate Power). When we just feel like we are at the bottom of a pit, we never lose hope in the mercy of Ar-Raḥmān (The Most Merciful).Hopeful thinking has been associated with higher levels of academic success, physical and psychological health. It provides people with a powerful tool to move through life at times of adversity. One of the strongest spiritual states in the Islāmic tradition is rajā (hope) in God’s Mercy. It is described by Ibn al-Qayyim as one of the wings of the believers, “Fear and hope [in God] are like two wings of a bird that are used to fly.”[Hope allows a person to transcend the current situation and live for a better future. Thus, when our backs are against the wall and we feel alone in our fight, we realize that the person who has no one else has Allāh.
