Relief after hardship (al-faraj ba'd al-shidda)

The Sheikh opens his Ramadan programme by saying that everyone in this world suffers in his measure: the sick hoping for cure, the fearful hoping for safety, the wronged hoping to be helped against his oppressor, the grieving over a lost loved one; he promises to speak to them all month, and that the fearful will be safe, the sick healed, the grieving gladdened and the wronged helped if they say 'O Lord'. ^{1 2 3}

He holds that people live through changes in this world, joy and sorrow, ease and straits, wealth and poverty, safety and fear, that whoever trusts the world is like one grasping water, and that the believer finds safety with God and takes refuge in the strong support. ^{4 5} He quotes a saying that a servant has not completed faith until he counts affliction a blessing and blessing an affliction, since affliction is followed by ease and blessing may be followed by affliction. ⁶

He holds that the believer lives by 'the art of hope', sowing good in his heart and awaiting relief, and that awaiting relief is a kind of worship. ⁷ He recites lines by one he calls 'our optimistic sage' on the light the believer carries in his heart, and tells of a man cast by his ship on an island shore for days with no rescuer, who recited verses that behind distress there is near relief (needs_source: the verses and the story as the Sheikh tells them). ^{7 8 9 10}

He says God wrote for every person in the womb his lifespan, provision, misery and happiness; that He sees the tears of the grieving on his pillow at night as He sees a black ant creeping on a solid rock on a dark night; and that when all ways are closed the gates of heaven stay open twenty-four hours to whoever says 'O Lord', obedient or sinful, who then receives help, relief of heart or patience. ^{11 12 13 14} He quotes Ali that the distance between heaven and earth is one answered prayer. ¹² See also: hope and optimism.