By Imam Numaan Cheema, Zubaida Foundation, Yardley, PA

Author’s Note: This reflection was inspired by a recent speech from one of our elders, who reminded us of the peril in seeking comfort while serving the dīn.

Some roses bloom through concrete. They split the cracks with quiet defiance, inching upward toward light that others long gave up on. Their beauty is not the result of comfort, but of struggle.  Ease would have killed it.

Faith grows the same way.  Not in gardens of comfort, but in soil made hard by trial, watered by effort, and held upright by trust in Allah. 

The Qur’an reminds us:

“Do you think you will enter Paradise without being tested like those before you? They were afflicted with suffering and adversity and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed with him cried, ‘When will the help of Allah come?’ Indeed, the help of Allah is near.”
(2:214)

We live in a time that worships comfort. Everything around us is built to make life smoother, faster, lighter. Yet the path to Allah has never been that way. It has always been narrow, uneven, and steep. The Prophet ﷺ knew that path well. His feet swelled in prayer. His heart ached for his people. His hunger was sharper than his sword. Yet his peace was perfect, for it did not rest on ease; it rested on surrender.

Those who serve this dīn, whether students, teachers, callers, or anyone wanting to become part of the truth, must remember that the robe of service is not silk. It is woven from patience, sacrifice, and unseen tears. Whoever sets out to work for Allah must expect the path to resist them. The early ones did not study in comfort or preach for praise. They carried their knowledge across deserts, walked until their sandals tore, and taught until their voices broke, not because ease was out of reach, but because the truth they carried was worth every hardship.

ʿIlm is not inherited through rest; it is carved through striving.  Conveyance of that ‘ilm is not spread through comfort; it is born in rejection and held firm by sincerity.

The rose that grows from concrete does not question the hardness around it. It simply keeps growing. It breaks the stone bit by bit until its color touches the world. So too must we keep working when hearts are tired, when results seem unseen, when people misunderstand. Allah sees. And that is enough.

“Do people think they will be left to say, ‘We believe,’ and not be tested?” (29:2)

Tests are not barriers; they are marks of selection. They separate those who speak about struggle from those who actually strive for it. So when the road feels heavy, do not envy those who rest in ease. They may have comfort, but you have purpose, that quiet and stubborn reaching toward Allah that keeps a believer alive.

For the flowers of Jannah do not grow in gardens of luxury. They are roses that bloom through the cracks of this world’s concrete.