Living The Quran
From Issue: 478 [Read full issue]
Yusuf (Joseph)
Chapter 12: Verse 110
Lofty Affair
Till, when the Messengers despaired (of their people) and thought that they were treated as liars, then came Our help, and whom We would was saved. And Our wrath cannot be warded from the guilty.
This is Allah's way with regard to the Mission brought by the Prophets: there can be no escape from hardships and inflictions until nothing of the strength and energy is left for expenditure. It is only when every apparent means to which people cling, and depend on, have disappeared, that help comes, relieving those who deserve to be relieved, while others - the criminal minded, and the arrogant ones - have the destruction delivered on themselves, with no help and relief from any quarter.
This, in order that help and relief from Allah does not become cheap and the Mission and the Call treated lightly. The call to truth is a lofty affair that stands to transform the lives of the people. It must, therefore, be saved from false callers: those who cannot bear the hardships that accompany it. The false ones soon realize what it means to be in the field, and, usually, abandon it sooner than one would expect. Help comes to those who remain on the tracks, without losing heart, despite their realization that after all, Allah's help might not come during their own lives. But, a day will arrive, after a long or short struggle, when Allah will intervene, send His help, and the masses will enter His way of life enmasse.
Source:
"In The Shade of The Quran" - Sayyid Qutb