Trials are necessary for those who come to believe in the one appointed by Allah. God Almighty says:
اَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ اَنْ یُّتْرَکُوْۤا اَنْ یَّقُوْلُوْۤا اٰمَنَّا وَ ہُمْ لَا یُفْتَنُوْنَ1
Do men think that they will be left alone because they say, ‘We believe,’ and that they will not be put to trial?
Thus, trials and tribulations are a condition of faith. How the Noble Companions were tried with adversity! Their own people subjected them to all manner of difficulties. Their belongings were taken away, some were killed, and their loved ones were seized from them. If after acceptance of the Faith, a life of ease ensues, one should worry about his faith not being true, because it is against the practice of Allah not to try the believers.
Who can exceed the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him? When he came to believe in his own prophethood, a series of adversities began right from that instant. He was boycotted and separated from his loved ones. He had to leave the city of his birth. The enemies even attempted to poison him. He was wounded during wars.
This carried on throughout his life. Thus, when this happened to our guide and leader, what could be reason for those who believe in him to be saved from having to face adversity? When such trials come, one should face them with manliness.
Afflictions and misfortunes come to distinguish the faithful from the false. Allah is Merciful but He is also Self-Sufficient and stands in need of no one. If one does not support one’s own faith with steadfastness, Allah’s support is also cut off. Some people become atheists on account of some small occurrence such as their son or wife passing away, or because their means of sustenance become straitened, whereas this was a trial, which, if they had overcome successfully, they would have been blessed with far more. And it does not behove a believer and a righteous person to become troubled due to straitened circumstances with his provisions. This proverb: پراگندہ روزی پراگندہ دل—what it means is that the one whose heart is troubled, is the one whose means of sustenance remain troubled. And foremost what we learn from looking at the lives of truthful men is that they intentionally turned away from worldly wealth and made their worldly means straitened.
Look, Hazrat Abu Bakr was a merchant and very highly esteemed. After declaring his belief in the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, everyone became his enemy, his business suffered, and eventually he had to leave his city. Remember this well that true righteousness is such a thing that with it, all difficulties come to be resolved and one is delivered from all worries. Those who slander God Almighty are liars. All holy men and Prophets bear witness that there is none greater in showing mercy and graciousness than Allah.
One distressed beyond all limits becomes so as the result of his own mistakes. Either there is a lack of trust in Allah or he does not tread on the path of righteousness. To properly recognize a true believer is a difficult matter. A man may say that I am virtuous, I am devout, but in the sight of God he is an evildoer. Similarly, there are servants of God who are deemed evil by the people, but in the sight of God Almighty they are indeed virtuous.
Look, the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was considered to be a very evil person by Abu Jahl, but in the sight of Allah he was the greatest of creation. Abu Jahl was convinced of the Holy Prophet (sas) being evil and so he even had a prayer duel with him and said: أَللّٰہُمَّ مَنْ کَانَ أَفْسَدُ لِلْقَوْمِ وَ أَقْطَعُ لِلرَّحْمِ فَأَہْلِکْہُ الْیَوْمَ. [‘O Allah! Do utterly destroy in this field whichever party has caused disruption and severed ties of kinship.’]
It seems that he was totally convinced and that is why he said these words. What was the result of this? Was it not that God Almighty practically manifested who was truthful and pure and who was the liar and wrongdoer?
Allah the Exalted says:
لَوْ کُنَّا نَسْمَعُ اَوْ نَعْقِلُ مَا کُنَّا فِیْۤ اَصْحٰبِ السَّعِیْرِ2
True knowledge and sane reason are also signs of good fortune. An unfortunate one loses his senses and considers a virtuous one to be evil and vice versa.3
1 Surah al-‘Ankabut, 29:3 [Publisher]
2 If we had but listened or possessed sense, we should not have been among the inmates of the blazing Fire (Surah al-Mulk, 67:11). [Publisher]
3 Badr, vol. 7, no. 7, p. 3–4, dated 20 February 1908