Trial and testing (ibtila')

Ibtila is God's testing of people, as in the verse in al-Baqara 143 which speaks of God's knowledge of who follows the Messenger. Muhammad Rashid Rida presents two readings of the word "to know" in that verse: that the act is ascribed to God in the Arabic manner of attributing an act to the head of a group, and that knowledge here is knowledge of an event on which a reward follows. ^{1 2}

Rida relates from the Master Imam, Muhammad Abduh that the Arabs attribute an act to their leader even if he did not do it himself, as when they say that the emir conquered the city. So the testing may be ascribed to God in the plural form, and its meaning is to inform people of what will come from them. On this reading, the meaning is that God tests them so that the steadfast and the hypocrite become visible. ^{1 2}

The other reading is that God knows things before they occur, that they will occur, and knows them after they have occurred, that they have occurred, and the reward follows what has occurred. The change is in the object of knowledge, not in the knowing. Rida cites verses of al-Kahf and Luqman on the division of God's knowledge and His words, and prefers the expression "knowledge of the unseen and knowledge of the witnessed". ^{2 3}

Rida holds that God purifies what is in hearts through the trials with which people are tested, and cites verses of al-'Ankabut. In his account, the trial does not lie in the matter itself, but in what follows from it: the denial of the ignorant and the steadfastness of believers. ² Al-Baqara 143

The Sheikh explains that the original sense of fitna is putting a piece of gold mixed with impurities into the fire to refine it, and notes that those before us were tested in their turn ⁴.

He relates that the Companions asked the Prophet ﷺ to pray for them, and that he told them one of those before them would be sawn from the parting of his hair to his heels and it would not turn him from saying there is no god but God; the Sheikh asks whether we took the religion with such hardship ⁵.

He recounts from Sa'd about the expedition to Tabuk that they marched until they ate the qatad, a thorny desert tree, and when their provisions ran out they would pound its thorns with stones, swallow them and drink water over them ⁶.

He says that the world is a house of trial, not of honour, and that people are tested to see who gives thanks and who is patient. ⁷ He likens God's trial to a loving father's surgery on his child, which the child may see as harm but which is mercy. ⁸ He holds that trial comes from the Creator, the Wise, the All-Knowing, who lifts it only by His decree. ⁹ He says that God tests a servant in order to bring him back to Himself, and contrasts this with Pharaoh's arrogance. ¹⁰

He tells every afflicted person not to think that he alone is afflicted, to rejoice in trial as nearness to God, and to know that the angels say amen to his prayer. ¹¹ He cites a hadith that the prophets are tested most, then the righteous, and that trial is in proportion to a person's faith. ¹² He distinguishes the one who gives thanks in ease from the one who gives thanks in trial, and holds the second to be of higher rank. ¹³ He holds that the portions are apportioned in advance, and that the rich are tested with gratitude and the poor with patience. ¹⁴ He says that God tests people with wealth and poverty, health and illness, and that calamities may remove sins. ¹⁵ He says that life never lacks the alternation of ease and hardship, so one should thank God in ease and be patient in hardship. ¹⁶

He calls the belief that illness brings death closer, and that health keeps it away, a mistaken belief. ¹⁷ He says that illness does not bring death, and that the afflicted should rejoice in God's favour and know that God loves him. ¹⁸ He says that the illness of a relative brings the family together, so that those who were separated draw close and visit the sick. ¹⁹ He says that a child's illness may be a test or a purification, and that a parent should not assume the illness is the final word. ²⁰ He cites a hadith on visiting the sick, in which the visitor is enveloped in mercy. ²¹ He says that the sick person is nearer to God, and cites a hadith that one should supplicate with humility rather than with conditions. ²²

He lists the trials of everyday life: a disobedient child, a spouse with a harsh tongue, a difficult neighbour, and an oppressive boss. ²³ He mentions the trials people face from others' tongues, from unjust employers, and from neighbours who hide good and spread evil. ²⁴ He holds that a narrowed livelihood teaches a person to call on God, unlike a secure salary, which makes its owner forget his Lord. ²⁵