(Or The Trials Through Prosperity And Poverty)
﴿كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ
وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ﴾
{Everyone is going to taste
death, and We shall test you with evil and with good by way of trial. And to Us
you will be returned} [Surah
al-Anbiyaa (21): 35]
Ibn Rajab رحمه الله commented,
saying:
“Allaah تعالى has made everything
that afflicts a person – either good or bad – a Fitnah (trial), meaning it is a
calamity by which everyone will be put to test.
(الجامع لتفسير الإمام ابن رجب الحنبلي)
2/210
Footnotes:
A burden
that one bears is also called a trial due to several factors:
1.
The burden – all of it – is hard on the body, physically and psychologically. In
this sense, it is a test of a person’s physical and mental strength.
2. It
is an examination of one’s Faith, firmness and determination, and truthfulness,
as Allaah تعالى said:
﴿وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ
حَتَّىٰ نَعْلَمَ الْمُجَاهِدِينَ مِنكُمْ وَالصَّابِرِينَ وَنَبْلُوَ
أَخْبَارَكُمْ﴾
{And
We will surely test you until We make evident those who strive among you [for
the cause of Allaah] and (make evident those who are) the patient ones, and We
will test your affairs (i.e. who is a liar and who is truthful)}
[Surah Muhammad (47):31]
3. Sometimes Allaah تعالى
tests His slaves with ease and prosperity so that they should be grateful to
Allaah and thank Him for His favors, and other times He تعالى tests them with adversities and
hardships so that they should be patient. So, the ordeals and favors are all
trials. During difficulties, a person is required to have patience; and during
good times a person is required to show his appreciation to Allaah for it
through obedience.
As the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ
said:
❝How wonderful is the case of a believer; for all his
affairs are good for him, and this applies only to a believer. If something
good happens to him, he is thankful for it and that is good for him; if
something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience and that is good for
him.❞
[Saheeh Muslim (7138), Kitaab al-Zuhd]
4. Fulfilling the rights of Allaah through patience during hardship
is easier than fulfilling the rights of Allaah through gratitude and
appreciation during times of prosperity. This is why receiving favors is a more
severe trial of the two.
5. Allaah تعالى has repeated this
many times in the Qur’aan, every time a person faces hardship, he calls upon
Allaah sincerely, standing or sitting or lying down. But the moment his
difficulties are removed by Allaah, he becomes disobedient, ungrateful, and
arrogant:
﴿وَإِذَا مَسَّ
الْإِنسَانَ الضُّرُّ دَعَانَا لِجَنبِهِ أَوْ قَاعِدًا أَوْ قَائِمًا فَلَمَّا
كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُ ضُرَّهُ مَرَّ كَأَن لَّمْ يَدْعُنَا إِلَىٰ ضُرٍّ مَّسَّهُ ۚ
كَذَٰلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلْمُسْرِفِينَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ﴾
{And when harm touches man,
he invokes Us, lying down on his side, or sitting or standing. But when We have
removed his harm from him, he passes on his way as if he had never invoked Us
for a harm that touched him! Thus it seems fair to the transgressors that which
they used to do.} [Surah Yunus (10):12]
Allaah تعالى also said:
﴿هُوَ
الَّذِي يُسَيِّرُكُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ ۖ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا كُنتُمْ فِي
الْفُلْكِ وَجَرَيْنَ بِهِم بِرِيحٍ طَيِّبَةٍ وَفَرِحُوا بِهَا جَاءَتْهَا رِيحٌ
عَاصِفٌ وَجَاءَهُمُ الْمَوْجُ مِن كُلِّ مَكَانٍ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ أُحِيطَ
بِهِمْ ۙ دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ لَئِنْ أَنجَيْتَنَا مِنْ
هَٰذِهِ لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ * فَلَمَّا أَنجَاهُمْ إِذَا هُمْ يَبْغُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ
بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ۗ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّمَا بَغْيُكُمْ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِكُم
ۖ مَّتَاعَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَنُنَبِّئُكُم
بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ﴾
{He it is Who enables you to
travel through land and sea, till when you are in the ships and they sail with
them with a favorable wind, and they are glad therein, then comes a stormy wind
and the waves come to them from all sides, and they think that they are
encircled therein, they invoke Allaah, making their Faith pure for Him Alone,
saying: "If You (Allaah) deliver us from this, we shall truly be of the
grateful. But when He delivered them, behold! They rebel (disobey Allaah) in
the earth wrongfully. O mankind! Your rebellion (disobedience to Allaah) is
only against your ownselves, - a brief enjoyment of this worldly life, then (in
the end) unto Us is your return, and We shall inform you that which you used to
do.} [Surah Yunus (10):22-23]
6. This is why `Abdul Rahmaan Ibn `Auf رضي الله عنه
said: ❝We were tested along
with the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ by adversity, so we were patient, then we were tested
after him with prosperity, but we were not patient.❞
Meaning: We could not fully thank Allaah, as was due to Him,
during times of ease and prosperity.
7. This is why, when a person receives the luxuries of the
world, he does not know whether this is good for him or a plot against him. He
is deceived beyond reason.
8. So, when Allaah prevents you from worldly luxuries, it is
for your own good. He تعالى knows best that were
He to bestow it upon you, it would lead to your destruction, and that you would
become ungrateful, and not fulfill Allaah’s rights as is due to Him.
9. So many people were granted the goodness (luxuries of
this world), but its end turned out to be evil for them! They were poor, used
to humble themselves to Allaah, invoke Allaah earnestly, and used to raise their
hands (in supplication). They had a close relationship with their Lord,
(supplicating to Allaah) all the time, “O Allaah! Provide for us!”, “O Allaah!
(Help us) repay our loans!” But when Allaah expanded for them and provided them
the luxuries, they hardly remembered Allaah except a little.
نسال الله السلامة والعافية
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