at the very least—an admission of imperfect patience and of your dislike for what has happened. A person should not express himself that way. Instead, he ought to use the wording the Prophet ﷺ used, saying: al-hamdu li-llah ʿalā kull ḥāl (praise be to Allah in every circumstance), or: al-hamdu li-llah alladhī lā yuḥmadu ʿalā kull ḥāl siwāh (praise be to Allah; no one but He is praised in every circumstance).

To say, however, “for what is disliked” plainly states that one is at odds with what has come from Allah and resents it.

I am not saying that a human being never dislikes the calamities that befall him—by nature he does—but you should not voice that dislike when you are praising Allah. Rather, phrase it as the Prophet ﷺ did: al-hamdu li-llah ʿalā kull ḥāl.

He ﷺ then said, “The prayer is light.”

Prayer is light: light for the servant in his heart, on his face, in his grave, and when he is resurrected. Hence those whose faces shine the brightest are usually the ones who pray the most and who are the most reverent in their prayer to Allah.

It is likewise a light within the heart; it opens for a person the door to knowing Allah, to understanding His rulings, His actions, His names, and His attributes. It is a light in the grave, for the prayer is the pillar of Islam: if the pillar stands, the building stands; if the pillar collapses, there is no building.

And it is a light at the gathering on the Day of Resurrection, as the Messenger ﷺ informed us: “Whoever safeguards it will have light, proof, and deliverance on the Day of Resurrection; whoever neglects it will have no light, no proof, and no deliverance on the Day of Resurrection, and he will be raised with Pharaoh and Haman.”