The Product of Allah is Expensive
Living one’s life in a good manner, achieving good and doing good, and gaining paradise is not simple.
In a hadith the Prophet ﷺ says ‘Lo and behold! The product of Allāh is expensive’.
What is the product of Allāh? Jannah.
In a verse of the Qur’an, Allāh says
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلِكُم مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَزُلْزِلُواْ حَتَّى يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَعَهُ مَتَى نَصْرُ اللّهِ أَلا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللّهِ قَرِيبٌ
What, do you think that you will enter Jannah even though the like of those days has not yet visited you the like of that which came upon those who have passed away before you? Affliction and misfortune befell them and they were shaken so much so that even the Messenger and those who believed with him said ‘When will the help of Allāh come’. The help of Allāh is nigh. [Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:214]
The beginning of the verse refers to this point – do we think we will enter Jannah without undergoing the trials and tribulations experienced by those that came before us? Even the Messengers of Allāh faced immense difficulty and hardship in life.
Life is difficult and the obedience of Allāh is not easy either. This is why the product of Allāh is expensive. We cannot take dīn in our stride. It requires great sacrifice. We must develop great willpower and steadfastness because it is easy to be swayed.
[This short excerpt is based on a talk entitled ‘ Man’s Toil & Misery A Tafsīr Of Sūrat al-Balad Part 2 of 2’ delivered by Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq on 10th October 2014 at Al Kawthar Academy].