Why the Righteous Are Tested: Five Wisdoms of Divine Trial

The question arises, and it should arise, because it demands an answer: if the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is the best of all creation, if his companions were the best of all generations, if Allah loved them, why were they tested so severely? Why were they tortured, humiliated, killed? Why not immediate protection, immediate victory?

This is not a question unique to our religion. The followers of Mūsā عليه السلام suffered under Firʿawn. The followers of ʿĪsā عليه السلام suffered under the Romans. The Prophets themselves were never handed ease without effort. The question runs through all of revealed religion.

The answers are many, and they reinforce each other.

❧The first wisdom: This world is not the destination

Allah says:

خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا

"He created death and life to test you, which of you is best in deed." (al-Mulk 67:2)

And: وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَضْحَكَ وَأَبْكَىٰ, "It is He who causes you to laugh and causes you to cry." (al-Najm 53:43)

Every human being, regardless of their rank with Allah, lives through both. The world is the arena of test, not the arena of reward. The reward is the Ākhirah. Expecting permanent ease in this world is to misunderstand what it is.

❧The second wisdom: To identify who truly believes

Allah says in Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt:

أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ . وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ

"Did mankind think that they would be left merely because they say 'We believe,' without being tested? We tested those before them." (al-ʿAnkabūt 29:2–3)

A person who has never been tested does not know the quality of their own faith. Neither does anyone else. The trial reveals what was already there. Those who pass are distinguished from those who were only verbally committed.

❧The third wisdom: The blessings of Allah are earned through struggle

Allah says in Sūrat al-Baqarah:

أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِكُم ۚ مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ

"Did you think you would enter Jannah without going through what those before you went through? They were struck by poverty and hardship and shaken until the Messenger and those who believed with him cried: 'When will the help of Allah come?', Indeed, the help of Allah is near." (al-Baqarah 2:214)

The jazāʾ (reward) corresponds to the effort. Jannah is not earned by a lifetime of comfortable virtue, it is too magnificent for that. But Allah magnifies the small acts of those who sacrifice, and through that magnification, grants them His mercy, which leads to Jannah.

Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt رضي الله عنه once came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم while he was in Sajdah, or sitting against the Kaʿbah, and said: "Ilā matā (for how long)? Can you not make Duʿāʾ to Allah to give us relief?" The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sat up, came forward, and said:

"The people before you were persecuted worse. One of them would have iron combs driven through his flesh to the bone. Another would be cleaved in half with a saw, and neither of these turned them away from their faith. Wallāhi, Allah will complete this religion. A shepherdess will one day travel alone from Ḥaḍramawt to Ṣanʿāʾ, fearing nothing except Allah and a wolf attacking her flock. But you are hasty." (Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī)

From total persecution to total security. He said it will happen. Not "might." It will. And it did, many times in history.

فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا . إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا

"With difficulty comes ease. With difficulty comes ease." (al-Sharḥ 94:5–6)

❧The fourth wisdom: Proof of the Companions' superiority

Had the early Muslims not suffered, we, living fourteen centuries later, might say: "Well, they were the companions of a Prophet. Allah simply handed them victory." We would not be able to distinguish them from anyone else.

Because they suffered more than us, unambiguously, visibly, documented in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, their superiority over us is demonstrated raʾya al-ʿayn (with the naked eye). You don't just have to take Allah's word that He is pleased with them. You see why.

وَالسَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ

And even among the Sahābah: the earliest converts in Makkah have a higher degree than later converts. Those who converted in early Makkah have a higher degree than those who converted in late Makkah. And those who converted before public Dawah are the most exalted, al-Sābiqūn al-Awwalūn (the Forerunners, the First). Their trials are the evidence of their rank.

❧The fifth wisdom: Real role models for all later generations

When we face trial, every Muslim who has ever lived since, we can look back and say: "They faced worse. And they did not break." That is not empty comfort. That is evidence. Evidence that faith holds. Evidence that the help of Allah comes.

There is no human society that underwent the concentrated persecution of the early Muslims in Makkah. And therefore, no human society needs role models more than the persecuted. And no role models exist who better serve that need.