Allah- the Exalted – tests His believing servants with various types of crises and disasters in order to:
Reveal the patient from the impatient
“And certainly; We shall test you with a bit of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits. But give glad tidings to the patient ones who, when afflicted with calamity, say: “truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return. ”they are those upon whom are the blessings, descend from their Lord, and they receive His Mercy, and it is they who are guided.”” [al-Baqarah; 155-7]
“And among mankind is he who worships Allah as if he were upon the very edge (i.e. in doubt); if good befalls him, he is content with it; but if a trail befalls him, he turns his face. He loses both this world and the Hereafter. That is the evident loss.”” [al-Hajj;11]
Sayyid Qutb – rahimahullah – said:
“So, it is a must for the souls to be nurtured by way of tests, and to be severely tested during the course of the battle between truth and falsehood with hardship, and with hunger and decrease in wealth and life and fruits. This testing is a necessity so that the believer can give his share of what his believe requires; so that it becomes dear to him in accordance with what he is willing to give for its sake! The bearers of worthless beliefs that do not require any type of sacrifice will not hesitate to abandon their beliefs at the first sign of hardship. So, the burden here is the personal price that one pays so that this belief becomes dear and valuable in the hearts of its bearers before it becomes dear to the hearts of anyone else. Whenever they experience pain for is sake , and every single time they are forced to give something up for its sake, it becomes even dearer and more valuable to them, and they become even more honoured with it. With this, nobody else will realize its value until they see how its bearers are tested because of it and how patient they are upon such tests.” [Fi Dhilal al-quran;1/145]
Remove Our Sins and Reward the Righteous
““And, when he was old enough to walk with him, he said: “O my son! I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering you, so what do you think?” he said: ”o my father! Do that which you are commanded, if Allah Wills, you will find me to be of the patient.” Then, when they had both submitted, and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead, and we called out to him:” o Ibrahim! You have fulfilled the dream! ”verily! such do we reward the good-doers.”” [As-Saffat; 102-7]
Sa’ad bin Abi Waqqas reported that he asked the messenger of Allah: “Which of the people are tested most severely?” The Prophet replied: “The Prophets, then the righteous, then those who are most like them, then those who are most like them from the people. A man is tested according to his religious commitment. So, if his religious practice is sound, then his testing is increased, and if his religious practice is weak, then his testing is reduced. A servant continues to be tested until he walks the earth without a single sin on him.” [Narrated by Ahmad (1/172) and at-Tirmidhi (2398), and it is authentic]
Purify the Ranks and Distinguish the Righteous from the Wicked
{“Allah will not leave the believers in the state in which you are now until He distinguishes the wicked from the good.”} [Al ’Imran]
{“And when the believers saw the confederates, they said: “This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us, and Allah and His Messenger had spoken the truth, “and it only added to their faith and submissiveness.”} [al-Ahzab;22]
Sayyid Qutb – rahimahullah – said:
“Allah might make easy the affairs of the people of evil so that they may increase in sin and corruption, and so that they might increase in their build-up of sins and crimes. Then, He may deal with them in this world or the Hereafter –depending on His wisdom and Decision – on account of this sinister build-up of deeds! On the other hand, He may also prevent them from ease so that they would increase in evil and sin and crimes and suffocation, eventually losing hope in the Mercy of Allah, resulting in an increase in their build-up of evil and misguidance. Likewise, Allah can make easy the affairs of the people of good so that they may become established in their righteous actions and carry out as much of them as they can while increasing in their sustenance, so that they may thank Him for these blessings with their hearts, tongues, and pleasant actions. With all of this, they increase in a buildup of good deeds that they rightfully deserve with Allah because of their righteousness and because of the good that Allah knows is in their hearts. On the other hand, he may also prevent them from ease in order to observe their patience upon this state, as well as their confidence and hope in their Lord, their relaxation at the realisation of His Power, their being pleased with Him as their only Lord – and He is better than all others – resulting in an increase in their build-up of good.” [’Fi Dhilal al-Qur’an ’; 5/291]
Emphasize the Hardships of This world in Comparison to the Hereafter
{“Blessed is He in Whose Hand is the kingdom, and He is Able to do all things. The one Who has created death and life in order to test you and see which of you is best in deed, and He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving.”} [al-Mulk; 1-2]
Expose the Reality of the Human Being
{“Verily, we created man from drops of mixed semen in order to test him, so We made him hearer, seer. Verily, we showed him the way, so he is either grateful or ungrateful.”} [al-insan; 2-3]
{“Verily We have made that which is on earth as an adornment for it so that we may test them as to which of them are best in deeds.”} [al-Kahf; 7]
{“And it is He who has made you generations replacing each other on the earth. And He has raised you in ranks – some above others – that He may test you in that which He has bestowed on you. Surely, your Lord is swift in retribution, and certainly He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”} [al-An’am; 165]
“A human being is tested so that he may come to know the reality of himself and others. Life is consist of constant testing; testing with what is bad, or testing with what is good. However, what is best for the believer may be found in what he hates, and what is bad for him may be found in what he likes. The true believer is the one who loves that which Allah has chosen for him. So, if He teats him with something that he loves, he thanks Him, and if He tests him with that which he hates, he is patient and thanks Him in this case, as well. And Allah – the Glorified- gives the believer in accordance with what will lead to his happiness in either this world or the next. So, if it is better for him to have something, Allah gives it to him. If it is better for him not to have something, Allah prevents him from having that thing, just as one who is sick is prevented from too much food or water. Therefore, it is upon a person to completely submit to Allah- Glorified- in regards to what He has chosen for him, and to be pleased with what Allah has given him, and to understand that if Allah prevents him from something, then it is because Allah wishes to save him from being tested with that thing. Allah knows best.”
Receiving tests and trials are actually a Rahma from Allah – Sub’haanahu Wa Ta’aala -, as He wishes through these afflictions to make the individual turn as valuable gold. The afflictions are like a furnace wherein the gold in its ore form with impurities is placed for refinement. A part of the gold becomes black and worthless at the end, and part of it still retains some of the impurities, and the remainder comes in pure shining form which is valuable. Similarly when afflictions befall some people lose their good expectation of Allah – Sub’haanahu Wa Ta’aala – and their reliance on Him, and contradict their Eeman directly by becoming apostates thus becoming like black gold, some will contradict their Eeman indirectly thinking that in doing so the afflictions will be warded off, and will thus end up as hypocrites/Fussaaq, and will be like the pure gold still having impurities, and some of the others when the trials hits them they remain steadfast on the right path, maintain their good expectation of Allah, and their trust on Him, and adopt Sabr/Patience like a date tree in the middle of a hot and arid desert, having the conviction that after this hardship there is ease, and after the decline of this bounty, there will be replacement with something of the like or better, just as what happened with Ayyub the prophet of Allah, and such people will be in attributes as excelled as a valuable gold of pure fineness.
So it is important to know that the proper sabr comes in the form of restraining/controlling the heart, limbs, and tongue and is expressed in terms of firstly avoiding the actions of sin/disobedience no matter how appealing they might appear, secondly being steadfast in pursuing the obliged actions, and those that have been recommended, no matter how hard it might look initially, and thirdly holding oneself calm when turmoil in worldly terms happen, like loss of wealth, or withdrawal of some blessing, and some bounty, or being hit some fear and persecution etc… of like, and pursuing ways and Asbaab to pull oneself out of those terrible situations with the Tawakkul/Reliance on Allah [swt], as the blessing comes in taking the steps, and being hopeful in His mercy as He would soon bestow His ease on the afflicted individual.
Patience is indeed one of those things Allah rewards in ways we will never be conscious of, and it is the foundation of faith. Whoever has no patience will never taste true faith, and as he will be of those weak believers who thank Allah if good befall him and shows ingratitude and turns his back when tested and tried [may Allah protect us].
Ibnul Qayyim, Rahimahullah, beautifully said that the best of lives is the one attained by the blessed through their patience, because their patience enables them to the highest of degrees through their gratitude, and they fly on the wings of patience and gratitude to eternal gardens of delight.
“And seek help in patience and As-Salaah (the prayer) and truly, it is extremely heavy and hard except for Al-Khaashi’oon [i.e. the true believers in Allah- those who obey Allah with full submission, fear much from His punishment, and believe in His Promise (Paradise) and in His warnings (Hell)” [al-Baqarah:54]
“Of mankind are some who say:” we believe in Allah, “but if they are made o suffer for the sake of Allah, they consider the trial of mankind as Allah’s punishment, and if victory comes from your Lord,(the hypocrites) will say: verily! We were with you (helping you).” Is not Allah Best Aware of what is in the breast of the ’Alamin (mankind and jinns)” (Al-Ankabut 29:10)
