Chapter: On Trial and Tribulation

بابٌ فی الابتلاء — آزمائش کے بارے میں

بَابٌ فِي الْاِبْتِلَاءِ

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوْعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْاَمْوَالِ وَالْاَنْفُسِ وَالثَّمَرٰتِ ۔

(al-Baqara 2:155)

Vocabulary: wa-la-nabluwannakum — and We will put you into trial, We will afflict you, We will examine you, We will test you; bi-shayʾin mina al-khawfi wa-al-jūʿ — with some fear and hunger; wa-naqṣin mina al-amwāli wa-al-anfusi wa-al-thamarāt — and with loss of wealth, lives and fruits, with their diminution. By "fruits" offspring may also be meant. We will see whether We are beloved to them, or their lives and wealth, or the fruits and produce of their gardens.

Translation: Allah Most High says: And We shall certainly test you with something of fear, with something of hunger and want, and with loss of some wealth, lives and produce, and a lessening of yield.

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ حَتّٰى نَعْلَمَ الْمُجٰهِدِيْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَالصّٰبِرِيْنَ وَنَبْلُوَا اَخْبَارَكُمْ ۔

(Muḥammad 47:31)

Vocabulary: wa-la-nabluwannakum — and We shall surely put you into afflictions, We shall examine you, you will be tested, the genuine will be distinguished from the false; ḥattā naʿlama — until We distinguish, until it becomes known to all; al-mujāhidīna minkum — which of you are those who strive (wage jihād); wa-al-ṣābirīn — and which are those who are patient under the hardship of battle; until those who strive are [distinguished] from those who do not strive …

… will be distinguished by hardships; wa-nabluwā akhbārakum — and We shall also test your reports and your circumstances, We shall examine and scrutinise them. In nabluwā the alif is the alif of the plural, so it is pronounced.

Translation: Allah Most High says: And We shall certainly test you (examine you) until We distinguish the mujāhidīn (those who strive) and the patient from the others; and We shall also test your reports and your circumstances.

Gentlemen! The knowledge of Allah Most High is of three kinds. The first is ʿilm dhātī (essential knowledge): at this level Allah Himself is the Knower, Himself the knowledge and Himself the known. The second is knowing in order to create: distinguishing one thing from another thing; this is called ʿilm fiʿlī (active knowledge). The third is knowing after creating; this is called ʿilm infiʿālī (receptive knowledge). ʿIlm infiʿālī remains subordinate to ʿilm fiʿlī: as Allah knows, so He also creates, and the thing remains just so. That Allah should know one thing and something else should come into being — this is not possible. The distinction of things and realities from one another in knowledge is one matter, and their being distinguished in external reality is a separate matter.

Remember also that Allah Most High attributes to Himself the action of His Prophet and of His khalīfa (vicegerent). Some people say that by naʿlama ("[until] We know") the generality of mankind is meant. Allah Most High attributes universals to Himself.

[reading uncertain]

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَلِيُبْلِيَ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ مِنْهُ بَلَآءً حَسَنًا ۔

(al-Anfāl 8:17)

Vocabulary: wa-li-yubliya al-muʾminīn — and so that He may test the believers; minhu — from His side; balāʾan ḥasanan — a good testing: this testing, this trial, produces a good result. After a test the result comes out either good or bad [because ʿinda al-imtiḥāni yukramu al-marʾu aw yuhān — at the time of testing a man is honoured or disgraced: after the test a man is either successful or unsuccessful; if he succeeds he gains honour, and in the case of failure, disgrace]; inna Allāha samīʿun ʿalīm — indeed Allah hears your prayers and has knowledge of your state.

Translation: Allah Most High says: And so that a good test may be taken of you from Allah's side (and He make you successful). Indeed Allah hears and knows everything.

لِلْمُؤْمِنِ اَرْبَعَةُ اَعْدَاءٍ مُؤْمِنٌ يَّحْسُدُهٗ وَمُنَافِقٌ يُّبْغِضُهٗ وَشَيْطَانٌ يُّضِلُّهٗ وَكَافِرٌ يُّقَاتِلُهٗ ۔

(al-Daylamī, al-Firdaws, from Abū Hurayra; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl, p. 27.)

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: He [the Prophet ﷺ] said: The believer has four enemies: (1) a believer who envies him; (2) a hypocrite who bears him malice; (3) Shayṭān, who leads him astray; and (4) an unbeliever who fights him.

مَا كَانَ وَلَا يَكُوْنُ اِلٰى يَوْمِ الْقِيٰمَةِ مُؤْمِنٌ اِلَّا وَلَهٗ جَارٌ يُّؤْذِيْهِ ۔

(al-Daylamī, al-Firdaws, from ʿAlī; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl, vol. 1.)

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him): Until the Day of Resurrection there has not been, nor will there be, any believer but that he will also have a companion who keeps on causing him harm.

لَوْ كَانَ الْمُؤْمِنُ فِيْ جُحْرِ ضَبٍّ لَقَيَّضَ اللّٰهُ لَهٗ فِيْهِ مَنْ يُّؤْذِيْهِ ۔

(al-Ṭabarānī, al-Awsaṭ, and al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-Īmān, from Anas; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl, vol. 1.)

[reading uncertain]

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): If a believer were to hide even in the hole of a lizard, Allah would appoint someone or other for him there who would keep on causing him hardship.