and al-ardhal: the superlative form derived from radhalah (baseness), meaning “the most wretched.”
– al-fitnah: plural fitan. One says: fatana – yaftinuhu – fatnan, futūnan (on the pattern of ḍaraba), meaning “he enticed him.” To say, “So-and-so was tried in his religion” (futina fī dīnihi) means that he turned away from it.
The root sense of fitnah is testing so as to distinguish the bad from the good. The word carries many meanings; here it denotes luring a Muslim away from his faith.
Points derived from the ḥadith
1 – The ḥadith recommends supplication immediately after the obligatory prayers, for duʿāʾ at that moment is more likely to be answered. When “prayer” (ṣalāh) is mentioned without qualification it refers to the five prescribed prayers.
2 – It also recommends seeking refuge with Allah from these blameworthy traits—miserliness, cowardice, senility, the temptations of this world, and the punishment of the grave—for they are either punishments in themselves or powerful causes that lead to punishment.
3 – The evils inherent in these traits include:
• Cowardice keeps its possessor from stepping forward in honorable situations: sacrificing his life in jihad for the sake of Allah, undertaking the duty to enjoin right and forbid wrong, and similar stands that uphold the honor of Islam and the Muslims.
• Miserliness prevents its possessor from paying the obligatory zakah, meeting the required and recommended expenditures, performing charitable deeds, and maintaining ties with relatives, neighbors, and all those who have rights upon him.
• The most abject stage of life is its worst and lowest phase, when a person’s mental faculties weaken and he resembles a child or someone of unsound mind, lacking discernment and understanding.
• Worldly temptation means plunging into its desires and pleasures, amassing them by lawful and unlawful means, and becoming so captivated by them that they divert one from the remembrance of Allah and distract him from what secures his salvation and happiness. Allah the Exalted says, “Your wealth and your children are only a trial” (At-Taghābun 64:15).
• With regard to the punishment of the grave, authentic reports affirm that a person is either punished in his grave, or