Allah knows what is best for us

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

      عَسَى أَن تَكْرَهُواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَعَسَى أَن تُحِبُّواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ وَاللّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ

Part of Al-Baqara  2:216,   It may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: and Allah knows, whereas you do not know. !.


The Chinese Farmer (from a Tao/Zen tale)

A farmer who lived somewhere near the border in medieval China was somewhat wise. He had only one mare, and one day it ran away. The neighbors came to console him over his loss. The farmer said, "Who knows the wisdom behind it?". The people were rather surprised to hear his response, as they could not fathom how this could be in any way good.

A month later, the mare returned home,  accompanied by a pack of prize wild stallions. The neighbors were amazed, and somewhat jealous at the farmer's good fortune.  The farmer responded by saying, "Who knows the wisdom behind it?"

Few days later, the farmer's son, while trying to tame one of the wild stallions, was thrown off and broke his leg. The neighbors were distressed and felt sorry for the farmer, and his son. The farmer, even then, said, "Who knows the wisdom behind it?"

A week or so later, a war broke into the neighboring areas, and the Emperor summoned every able-bodied man to be sent into battle. All the youth in the village were conscripted for a potentially deadly battle, except the incapacitated son of this farmer. What do you think he would say now?


The Optimist Friend (from an African tale)

An African king had a close friend who was an eternal optimist, and would say "Alhamdulillah, it is for the best" at about every occurrence in life no matter what it was. Many people thought that it was bound to get him in trouble eventually. Since he would accompany the king everywhere, he was with him during a hunting expedition when an unfortunate mishap happened.  The weapon the king was holding misfired, and accidentally blew his thumb off. "Alhamdulillah, it is for the best", his friend exclaimed.

The king was rather upset at the suggestion, and feeling insulted and angry, ordered him to be sent back with a battalion and imprisoned while the king camped to be fit for travel back home.

Sensing the limited presence of soldiers, a tribe of cannibals attacked the camp and kidnapped the king under cover of darkness as a royal sacrifice for their gods (and followed by a royal meal).
They took him to their village deep into the forest, where they tied him up while readying a good fire to roast him with.  As their witch doctor came near to sacrifice him, he noticed that the king was missing a thumb, thus imperfect and not whole, and hence not fit to be sacrificed to their gods. So they untied the king and sent him on his way.

On the way back, the king had plenty of time to think, and full of remorse the king rushed to the prison to release his friend.

"You were right, that accident was for the best" the king said, while explaining what happened. He then apologized "I feel bad that I ordered you to be locked up.That was bad"

"Don't say that! Alhamdulillah,  it is for the best!" responded his delighted friend.

"Oh, how could that be good my friend, I did a terrible thing to my best friend?".

"Don't you see?" said his friend, "if you had not imprisoned me, I would have been hunting with you and they would have sacrificed me instead."