Allah the Exalted said:

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

Alif, Lām, Mīm. (1) Do people imagine that they will be left to say, “We believe,” and that they will not be tested? (2) Indeed, We tested those who came before them, so Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful and will surely make evident the liars. (Sūrah al-ʿAnkabūt 29:1–3)

And Allah the Exalted said in Luqmān’s counsel to his son:

“My dear son, establish the prayer, command what is right, forbid what is wrong, and patiently endure whatever befalls you; surely that is of the matters that require firm resolve.” (Sūrah Luqmān 31:17)

There are other verses besides these that carry the same meaning as what we have recorded.

Imam Aḥmad—the one who was put to trial—narrated in his Musnad (1): Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar told us, from Shuʿbah, from ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdalah, who said: I heard Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd relate from his father Saʿd, who said:

I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, “Which people face the severest afflictions?” He replied:

“The prophets, then those most like them, then those most like them. A person is tried according to the strength of his religion: if his religious commitment is fragile, he is tested in proportion to that; if his religion is firm, he is tested in proportion to that. Tribulation continues to come upon a servant until he walks the earth free of every sin.”

Muslim also recorded this ḥadīth in his Ṣaḥīḥ (2).

He also said (3): ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī told us, Ayyūb told us, from Abū Qilābah, from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“There are three qualities whoever possesses them will taste the sweetness of faith: that Allah and His Messenger are dearer to him than anything else; that he loves a person only for the sake of Allah; and that being cast into the Fire is dearer to him than returning to disbelief after Allah has delivered him from it.”

Both al-Bukhārī and Muslim included this ḥadīth in their Ṣaḥīḥs (4).

Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī said: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated to us; Abū al-Mughīrah narrated to us; Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr al-Saksakī narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Sukūnī narrated to us; ʿĀṣim ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, who said: I heard Muʿādh ibn Jabal say:

“You will see nothing of this world but affliction and trial, and matters will only grow more severe, [and souls only more covetous] (5).”