Faith has a sweetness and delight in the heart that nothing whatsoever can equal. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever possesses three qualities will experience through them the sweetness of faith: that Allah and His Messenger are dearer to him than all else; that he loves a person solely for Allah’s sake; and that he hates to return to disbelief, after Allah has rescued him from it, as much as he hates to be cast into the Fire.”

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both recorded this in their Sahīh collections. In Sahīh Muslim, it is narrated:

“He has tasted the sweetness of faith who is content with Allah as his Lord, Islam as his religion, and Muhammad as his Prophet.”

Just as Allah forbade His Prophet to feel grief or distress over those who did not enter Islam in its early days, the same applies in its later days. The believer is forbidden to grieve over them or be distressed by their plotting. Many people, when they see wrongdoing or widespread changes in the condition of Islam, become distraught, lose heart, and wail as those stricken by calamity do. Yet this is forbidden to them. Rather, the believer is commanded to be patient, put his trust in Allah, remain steadfast upon the religion of Islam, and believe in Allah together with those who fear Him and those who do good. He is also to believe that the final outcome favors the God-fearing, and that whatever befalls him is because of his sins. Let him therefore be patient, for Allah’s promise is true; let him seek forgiveness for his sin and glorify his Lord with praise in the evening and the morning.

The Prophet’s words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,

“Then it will return to being a stranger, just as it began,”

allow for two interpretations: