He is living alone and has no job, and he is blaming Islam

Praise be to Allah

If we are to offer you sincere
advice, we must establish an important point from the outset, which is that
– no matter how tough your life is – you must beware of putting the blame on
your religion, which is the last thing that you have in this world, when you
know for certain that your religion has nothing to do with your situation or
your circumstances, for you could find some poor, hopeless people who are
going through a much more wretched and miserable situation than you, but
they follow a different religion than yours; you could also find some people
who are living a life of luxury and are very happy, and they may be Muslim
or otherwise.

What does religion have to do
with what you mentioned about your circumstances? We do not know.

Rather we are surprised at how
your reasoning could justify putting the blame on religion, and how you
could conclude that the problem is with religion, when you know that
whatever has befallen you is not because of your religion; rather it is
because of the difficult circumstances you are in. You are not the only one
going through this; rather millions of people throughout the world are also
experiencing it. This is part of the trials and tests that Allah has decreed
for His slaves in this universe, in their lives in this world, to see how
well they will fare in these trials and tests: will they succeed or fail?
Will they become confused and uncertain, and will their faith be shaken? Or
will they remain steadfast through times of ease and times of hardship, with
certain faith in the Lord of the Worlds?

Reflect upon the following
verses, O slave of Allah:

{Blessed is
He in whose hand is dominion, and He is over all things competent –

[He] who
created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed –
and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving -} [al-Mulk 67:1-2]

{And it is He who has made you successors upon the earth and has raised
some of you above others in degrees [of rank] that He may try you through
what He has given you. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He
is Forgiving and Merciful.} [al-An‘am 6:165]

{Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and with good as
trial; and to Us you will be returned.} [al-Anbiya 21:35].

And there are many similar
verses in the Noble Quran.

Reflect also upon the words of
Allah, may He be exalted, when He explains the reality of testing people
with good and bad, and that neither of them necessarily indicates that Allah
is angry or pleased with His slave, in the life of this world. Rather the
wisdom behind all of that is so that Allah, may He be exalted, might test
His slaves, to see whether they will obey Him in what He commands and
forbids them to do, or they will disobey Him and turn away?

{And as for
man, when his Lord tries him and [thus] is generous to him and favors him,
he says, “My Lord has honored me.”

But when He tries him and
restricts his provision, he says, “My Lord has humiliated me.”

No! But you do not honor the
orphan

And you do not encourage one
another to feed the poor.

And you consume inheritance,
devouring [it] altogether,

And you love wealth with
immense love.}
[al-Fajr 89:15-20].

For more information, please see
the answer to question no.

179441.

If you follow the media, we hope
that you will look on the Internet for video clips of people throughout the
world who have been driven into exile, persecuted, suppressed and oppressed,
and we hope that you will let yourself reflect upon the situation of those
people, who live with fear and dread at every moment, every hour of night
and day, being shelled by their enemies, with their children and loved ones
dying before their very eyes, with buildings collapsing on them, and they
have no power to benefit themselves or ward off any harm. Others are
starving under siege, until their children die of starvation, after their
bodies have wasted away and they have become skin and bones. And many others
are suffering in so many different ways.

Make a brief visit to accident
and emergency wards in hospitals, and cancer wards, and other wards, then
praise Allah for your good health, O slave of Allah.

The types of calamities are too
many to be counted, so beware of thinking that all people are better off
than you. You have probably not been afflicted with their calamity, so you
cannot understand the reality of the pain and sickness that they are
suffering, for which they cannot find any treatment or even anything to
soothe and relieve their pain. We are reminding you – and ourselves – of all
of that, so that we will not be overtaken by despair and thus lose our
ability to reflect and ponder, and become controlled by evil thoughts, then
we blame ourselves and our religion.

We realise that no matter how
many words and lines of advice we write for you, that will not be of any
real benefit to you unless you yourself make the decision and truly want to
change, and begin by erasing the word despair from your vocabulary, leave
behind all notions of weakness, helplessness and failure, and carry on
searching and looking for means of success and sources of hope. But this
time, you should try to vary your approach and look for different ways; be
content with little and persist in following the path to the end. Perhaps
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, will open to you the treasuries of
goodness in this world and the Hereafter.

Our advice to you – whilst you
are striving to save yourself – is not to focus all your concern on feelings
of inadequacy that you are trying to rid yourself of by means of wealth and
work. Rather your concern should be to make yourself happy as you are, with
peace of mind, and be content with little, and live with tranquillity and
calm, whether you live in a palace or you live in a slum; it makes no
difference. What matters is that you fill your heart with contentment and
connection to Allah, and for the sake of Allah you think little of all the
pain and misery of this world, taking appropriate measures to help you
achieve that, knowing for certain that they are but means, and you take
those measures carefully and with sincerity, but without being unduly
attached to them or relying on them, for reliance should be only on Allah,
may He be glorified, and not on anything other than Him.

You should realise that we
receive questions similar to yours from some rich people, whose wealth and
property is almost uncountable, but at the same time they are lacking the
most important means of attaining happiness, and they do not find in their
hearts that which we have spoken of above, namely contentment, love of
Allah, and hope for the Hereafter.

The one who is seeking eternity
in the gardens of Paradise will not be harmed by the sorrows of this world,
and the one whose heart is filled with concern about the Hereafter, will
think little of all the pain and suffering of this world. The one who is
preoccupied with love of Allah will find no room in his heart for love of
anyone or anything other than Him. Allah, may He be glorified and exalted,
says (interpretation of the meaning):

{But seek, through that which Allah has given you, the home of the
Hereafter; and [yet], do not forget your share of the world. And do good as
Allah has done good to you. And desire not corruption in the land. Indeed,
Allah does not like corrupters.} [al-Qasas 28:77].

And the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: “He has succeeded who becomes Muslim and
is given sufficient provision, and Allah makes him content with what He has
given him.” Narrated by Muslim (1054).

And he (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever among you wakes up feeling safe and
healthy, and has sufficient provision for the day, it is as if he has gained
the whole world.” Narrated by al-Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad (no.
300); and al-Tirmidhi in as-Sunan (2346) – he said: It is hasan
ghareeb. It was classed as hasan (good) by al-Albani in as-Silsilah as-Saheehah
(no. 2318).

We will end our advice by
encouraging you to connect with good and righteous people among those who
frequent the mosques and those who call people to Allah. These people can
help you to adhere to the truth and follow the path of goodness, and to
focus on that which will benefit you in both religious and worldly terms, so
that you can fill your life with acts of obedience and worship and
beneficial actions, in the hope that one day you will be able to influence
people and help them to overcome their circumstances and improve their
situation.

Perhaps Allah will grant you a
way out and relief, and He may bless you with that which will make you
happy.

Who knows?

And Allah knows best.