Allah Ta'ala has told us that we will be tested in every aspect of our lives... family, wealth, health, work, etc. Everything about life is a test. He tests us through each other, and He tests us with lack as well as prosperity. The stories of past generations in the Qur’ân are about how they were tested, failed and the consequences of their actions, and are meant as lessons for us. (We as a nation and individually, are doing almost all of the deviant acts that the previous nations were guilty of.)
Sûrah al Baqarâh 2.155 - 157
Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere.
Sûrah al Baqarâh 2.245
…It is Allah that gives want/constricts (qabd) or plenty/expands (bast).
Sûrah al A’râf 7.168
We have tried them with both prosperity and adversity…
Sûrah al An’âm 6.53
Thus did We try/test some of them by comparison with others…
Sûrah al Ankabût 29.2
Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, "We believe", and that they will not be tested?
The nature of tests is such that it constricts and restricts, it stops us in the middle of our doings; all our energies become focused on the problem/obstacle. It throws us out of our comfort zone. We start looking for ways to deal with it, to make it go away fast. It takes a toll on our mental, emotional and physical resources. Our response to the problem depends on these resources. How we handle a problem depends on our coping skills and abilities.
Depending on the severity of the test eventually we deplete our resources and lose hope. We get to a point where nothing seems to work, nothing we do seems to pull us out of the mess. We whine and complain, we argue and resist, we bargain and cajole and we try everything to make the problem disappear.
When everything else fails, feeling helpless and hopeless, as a last resort, we turn to Allah Ta'ala. Then He, in His mercy relieves us and opens our way for us.
However, if we are mindful that tests are a part of life, that there is a purpose and wisdom in them, that they are meant as a lesson for us to bring out the best in us; our attitude toward them will be different. Instead of trying to avoid them we would confront them face on, to see what lesson it brings for us. This generates an attitude of acceptance and opens up our minds and hearts to learn.
Sûrah al Baqarâh 2.155 - 157
… But give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere.
Who say, when afflicted with calamity: "To God We belong, and to Him is our return"
They are those on whom (descend) blessings from God, and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance.
Sûrah al A’râf 7.168
We have tried them with both prosperity and adversity: In order that they might turn (to us).
Each trial teaches us to depend on Allah Ta'ala and to look to Him for all our needs. It teaches us humility and increases our faith/taqwâ (God-consciousness). It teaches us how to develop the right attitude of humility and trust toward Allah Ta'ala.
Human beings are an interesting species.... we don't learn unless we are put in dire straits... we are stubborn and self-absorbed in our own doings. We prefer to believe that we are right, we justify even the wrong actions as being right... we are quite delusional ;-) And Allah Ta’ala is aware of these mind-games we play with ourselves.
Sûrah al Najm 53.32 - 34
…Therefore justify not yourselves: He knows best who it is that guards against evil.
Do you see the one, who turns back,
Gives a little, then hardens (his heart)?
So each trial brings us closer to Allah and helps develop faith/trust in Him... that is the opening... opening our hearts for His love and mercy. Being forgetful we soon move on, get busy and forget Him and His lesson... so the cycle starts all over again.
Allah Ta'ala has told us that misfortune is cyclical; it comes and goes. Each test is for the purpose of our growth and purification. Each trial teaches us about ourselves... our level of faith and trust, our strengths and weaknesses. So each trial increases our taqwâ, reliance and awareness of God. On one hand it humbles us and on another it gives us incredible strength to bear difficulties with His help. Every mistake is worthy of learning our lesson from it as it highlights the weak areas and the loopholes that still remain in which we get hooked, and then dragged down repeatedly if we don’t learn from it.
Sûrah 3.138 - 142
Here is a plain statement to men, a guidance and instruction to those who fear God!
So lose not heart, nor fall into despair: For you must gain mastery if you are true in Faith.
If a wound has touched you, be sure a similar wound has touched others. Such days (of varying fortunes) We give to men by turns: that God may know those that believe, and that He may take to Himself from your ranks Martyr-witnesses (to Truth). And God loves not those that do wrong.
God's object is also to purge those that are true in Faith and to deprive of blessing those that resist Faith.
Did you think that you would enter Heaven without God testing those of you who fought hard and remained steadfast?
If we can keep this in mind our reaction to difficulties change... it becomes almost exciting to see how we grow and what degree of closeness/love/taqwâ we achieve. The focus shifts... instead of wailing and whining about the problem we look toward the reward, which is inherent in each difficulty. Allah Ta'ala says that 'with each difficulty comes ease' and that is the reward. Ease being the peace and contentment... not necessarily the problem being removed. But with this peace our attitude toward the problem changes... it is no longer a source of pain but of peace, contentment, faith and trust.
Just as doctors tell their patients to have faith in their treatment even if it hurts... how much more faith do we need to have in Allah Ta'ala who has all the power. To a patient the doctor may seem merciless when they ask them to explore their pains, their weakness... yet the doctor knows the relief that will come from it. In the same way Allah Ta'ala knows what good will come from the tests and trials He puts in our paths. So our faith should be in the tests and the good they bring in us... our inner selves.
Another way to understand is that He is Jamâl and Jalâl: the loving kindness and the awesome... it is said that we are in His two fingers and He turns our qalb (heart)... from closeness to distance... each opposite revealing more about the other. Without one we cannot understand the other. Without ugliness we cannot appreciate beauty, without darkness we cannot know light, without cruelty we cannot respect kindness/love, without constraints we cannot understand freedom, etc.
These kinds of tests don't happen only at the individual level, I believe they also happen at the social, national and global level. Allah Ta'ala tells us that we have been ‘created into nations to learn from each other, to compete with each other in goodness, not hatred or negativity’. He also says that each nation has a limited term, and that if they don't straighten up there will be negative consequences.
The Muslim nations have been deteriorating for a very long time, we are being tested in many different ways... poverty, emotional slavery, abuse, natural disasters, sickness, ignorance... and the worst of all is the 9/11 disaster in the US at the hands of Muslims. What could be more cruel, senseless and inhumane? Absolute abuse of Islam in the name of Islam by Muslims on innocent people... just goes to show how little Muslims really understand Islam. For Muslims it is a wake-up call to straighten up. Allah Ta'ala tells us that ‘He withdraws His blessings from us if we don't change from within’. Governments and politicians have been abusing Islam for a very long time; we have allowed it to continue and also participated in it by our continued silence. Granted it was a small group of people but even one is too many. Allah is constricting the life of Muslims to wake them up... I pray and hope we have the honesty, courage and insight to learn from our own stupidity and ignorance.
We cannot afford to forget that He is al Qâbid and al Bâsit; He constricts/restricts and expands/opens us for a purpose.
Sûrah al Najm 53.43
That it is He Who grants laughter and tears
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