This verse also provides evidence for the bliss and punishment of the intermediate realm, as is established by numerous revealed texts.

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(155–157) “We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger, and with loss of wealth, lives, and fruits. But give glad tidings to those who patiently endure—those who, when calamity strikes them, say, ‘Indeed, we belong to Allah, and to Him we shall return.’ It is they upon whom are blessings and mercy from their Lord, and it is they who are rightly guided.”

Allah Most High informs us that He will inevitably test His servants with hardships, so that the truthful may be distinguished from the liar and the impatient from those who patiently endure. This is Allah Most High’s established way with His servants. If the believers continually enjoyed prosperity without ever experiencing hardship, people would become indistinguishable from one another, resulting in corruption. Allah’s wisdom therefore requires that the people of goodness be distinguished from the people of evil. This is the purpose of hardships—not to strip the believers of their faith or turn them away from their religion, for Allah would never allow the believers’ faith to go to waste.

In this verse, He therefore informs us that He will test His servants “with something of fear” of their enemies “and hunger”—that is, with a small measure of each. Had He tested them with fear in its entirety or with absolute hunger, they would have perished; hardships are meant to purify, not destroy.

“And with loss of wealth.” This includes every form of loss that may befall wealth, whether through natural disasters, drowning, disappearance, seizure by tyrants—such as oppressive rulers and highway robbers—or other causes.

“And lives”—that is, the loss of loved ones, including children, relatives, and friends, as well as the various illnesses that may afflict a person’s own body or that of someone he loves. “And fruits”—that is, grains, the fruits of date palms and all other trees, and vegetables damaged by cold, hail, fire, or a heavenly blight such as locusts (1) and the like.

These things will inevitably occur, for the All-Knowing, All-Aware informed us of them, and they have occurred just as He foretold. When they occur, people fall into two groups: those who become impatient and those who patiently endure. The impatient person suffers two calamities: the loss of what he loves through the occurrence of the calamity itself, and the loss of something even greater—the reward gained by obeying Allah’s command to remain patient. His lot is therefore loss and deprivation: his faith is diminished, and he forfeits patience, contentment, and gratitude, while discontent arises [in him], indicating the severity of his deficiency.

As for the one whom Allah enables to remain patient when these calamities occur, he restrains himself from expressing discontent in word or deed, seeks his reward from Allah, and knows that the reward he will attain through his patience is greater than the calamity that befell him. Indeed, the calamity becomes a blessing for him because it serves as a means of attaining something better and more beneficial. He has obeyed Allah’s command and won His reward. Hence Allah Most High says, “But give glad tidings to those who patiently endure”—that is, give them the glad tidings that their reward will be paid in full, without measure.

Those who patiently endure are therefore the ones who receive this tremendous glad tiding and magnificent gift. Allah then describes them by saying, “Those who, when calamity strikes them”—meaning anything previously mentioned that causes pain to the heart, the body, or both.

“They say, ‘Indeed, we belong to Allah’”—that is, we are Allah’s possession, governed under His command and disposal. We possess nothing of ourselves or our wealth. Thus, when He tests us by taking any of these things, the Most Merciful of the merciful is disposing of His possessions and their wealth, and no objection may be raised against Him. Rather, part of the perfection of a servant’s worship is his knowledge that the affliction comes from the wise Owner, who is more merciful to His servant than the servant is to himself. This leads him to be content with Allah and grateful to Him for directing his affairs toward what is best for him, even if he does not perceive it.

Moreover, just as we belong to Allah, we shall return to Him on the Day of Resurrection, when everyone will be recompensed according to his deeds. If we patiently endure and seek His reward, we will find our reward preserved in full with Him. But if we become impatient and discontented, our only share will be discontentment and the loss of reward. A servant’s awareness that he belongs to Allah and will return to Him is therefore among the strongest causes of patience.

“It is they”—those described by the patience mentioned above—“upon whom are blessings from their Lord,” meaning praise and commendation of their condition, “and mercy,” immense in measure. Part of His mercy toward them is that He enabled them to remain patient, thereby attaining the fullest reward. “And it is they who are rightly guided”: those who recognized the truth—which here means knowing that they belong to Allah and will return to Him—and acted upon it, which here means remaining patient for Allah’s sake.

This verse also indicates that those who do not remain patient receive the opposite of what the patient receive: blame from Allah, punishment, misguidance, and loss. How immense is the difference between the two groups! How slight is the hardship borne by the patient, and how great is the suffering of the impatient!

These two verses prepare people to face calamities before they occur so that they will be lighter and easier to bear when they do occur. They explain how calamities should be met—namely, with patience—what assists a person in remaining patient, and the reward awaiting those who do so. The condition of those who are not patient may be understood as the opposite of the condition of those who are.

They also establish that such testing and trial is Allah’s established way, which has always prevailed, and that no change will ever be found in Allah’s way; and they explain the various kinds of calamity.