This article explores the Islamic view of hardship and the meaning of suffering by describing Satan’s role in the origin of mankind’s hardship, and clarifies the concept of suffering, tragic events, and calamities people tend to face as viewed in the Qur’an and hadith from the Ahlul Bayt.
This paper is based on the first part of two lectures delivered by the author in Dar al-Zahra in Qum in Fatimiyyah 2011.