Sometimes we wonder why we have to face hardships and challenges. Or why we often push ourselves so hard to achieve certain goals. In this article, I explore how trials and deliberate effort can deepen faith, build character, and turn personal struggle into a source of strength - not only for ourselves, but also for the people closest to us, and for the world around us.

There’s a saying often quoted:
“Hard times create strong people. Strong people create easy times. Easy times create weak people. Weak people create hard times.”

It describes a cycle - rise, comfort, decline, struggle - that repeats itself throughout human history. But what about faith?

It’s no secret that faith often grows in hardship. But what comes after?

Struggle is not the destination. It is the soil where something stronger can take root and grow - sometimes the only way real transformation can happen.

If faith, nurtured in hardship, endures, it can transform us and allow us to grow beyond ourselves - into something we never could have been without those trials. It shapes our character, our choices, and the way we show up for the people around us.

In Islam, strength is never only about endurance or resistance. It is about how the heart stays soft while the soul stays firm. It is about standing up without arrogance, showing courage without losing mercy, and choosing the right path even when comfort calls us back.

Above all, no matter what struggles we face, it is essential to hold on to our humanity - to treat others with respect, dignity, and compassion. Even if all that remains is a crust of bread and a sip of water, Islam teaches us to share it, to never let hardship strip us of good character. Even in moments of pain, we are not to shout at one another or abandon mutual respect; we are to remain cultivated, preserving the dignity of those around us and of ourselves. If everything else seems lost, this must remain - because this is Islam.

Once this inner foundation is protected, strength can unfold. From here the heart begins to rise - steady, patient, ready to carry what once felt unbearable.

True strength grows when we keep believing even as everything inside us trembles. When we hold on to Allah in confusion, pain, or fear - not perfectly, but persistently. This strength is quiet, but it carries weight: the patience to withstand family pressure, the care to break cycles of numbness and neglect, the courage to leave behind what is harmful for what is right - even when it costs us ease or safety. Sometimes it means leaving the comfort of the familiar, making hijrah for the sake of Allah to a place where life is harder, but faith can flourish.

This strength must not end with us. It is meant to shape our children. They see what we build on, how we act in times of abundance and under pressure, and how we treat others - even when no one is watching. They should not simply inherit our faith, but live it, carry it forward, and strengthen it - breaking the cycle of weak generations once and for all, through a faith that sees in struggle not despair, but the soil where true strength grows.

When we walk the path of faith sincerely, every hardship we endure - whether chosen or given - becomes a legacy that reaches beyond ourselves. It builds communities not driven by fear or comfort, but held together by trust, courage, and compassion.

Because faith, when lived in hardship or through challenges we embrace, shapes people who do not hide when trials come, but step forward and stand firm when courage and action are needed. They build. They repair. They protect. They give others hope and strength when everything feels dark.

In the end, hardship is not the enemy. It is the training ground. It teaches discipline without pride, generosity without expectation, and steadfastness without hardness of heart. It turns weak beginnings into strong foundations.

This is how Allah, in His wisdom, uses difficulty not to break us, but to make us into people who can carry more - for our families, our societies, and the ummah as a whole.

Every choice to believe, every effort to draw closer to Allah - whether through patience, mercy, compassion, self-control, thirst for knowledge, or by enduring and embracing challenges - every tear shed in the quiet of the night is not lost. It builds a strength that may not be immediately visible, but it lives on, within us, through us, and beyond us.

And what if times become easy, hardship lessens, and life feels comfortable? The cycle warns us: comfort can quietly weaken what struggle has built. Yet Islam calls us to remain awake. We are not meant to drift into softness. We are meant to stay strong - not by waiting for hardship, but by seeking challenges willingly: learning when it would be easier to remain ignorant, disciplining ourselves when comfort tempts us, standing for truth when silence feels safer, and giving when taking would be easier.

In this way, even in times of ease, we can choose the path of growth. Without letting up, we orient ourselves to faith as a source of motivation - always seeking the best path, not the easiest. In doing so, we shape our children and the generations to come: a generation whose principles forge strength - a strength that serves not only ourselves, but those around us.

Let me know your thoughts. Share how challenges have shaped your faith and who you are. Leave your comments on my Instagram posts @minsakinah.

Anna @ Min Sakinah