(186) “You will surely be tested in your wealth and yourselves, and you will surely hear much abuse from those who were given the Scripture before you and from those who associate others with Allah. But if you are patient and fear Allah, that is indeed among the matters requiring firm resolve.”

Allah Most High informs the believers, addressing them directly, that they will be tested in their wealth through obligatory and recommended expenditures and through the risk of losing it in Allah’s cause. They will also be tested in themselves by being charged with duties that weigh heavily upon many people, such as striving in Allah’s cause and thereby exposing themselves to fatigue, death, captivity, and injury, as well as illnesses that may afflict them or those they love.

“And you will surely hear much abuse from those who were given the Scripture before you and from those who associate others with Allah”—including attacks against you, your religion, your Book, and your Messenger.

There are several benefits in His informing His believing servants of this:

One is that His wisdom, Most High, requires it so that the sincere believer may be distinguished from others.

Another is that Allah Most High decrees these things for them because of the good He intends for them: to raise their ranks, expiate some of their sins, increase their faith, and perfect their certainty. For when He informs them of something and it then occurs just as He said, they say: “This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us. Allah and His Messenger spoke the truth.” And it only increases them in faith and submission.

Another is that He informed them of this so that they might prepare themselves for its occurrence and patiently endure it when it comes. Because they are prepared for it, bearing it becomes easier, its burden is lightened, and they resort to patience and fear of Allah. Thus He says: “But if you are patient and fear Allah”—that is, if you patiently endure the trials and tests that befall your wealth and yourselves, as well as the abuse of the wrongdoers, and if you fear Allah while exercising that patience by seeking His Countenance and drawing near to Him through it. You must not, however, exceed the limits of patience prescribed by the Sacred Law by patiently enduring a situation in which endurance is impermissible; rather, in such a case, your duty is to exact retribution from the enemies of Allah.

“That is indeed among the matters requiring firm resolve”—that is, among the matters upon which one must be firmly resolved and in which one should strive to excel. None are granted success in them except people of firm determination and lofty aspirations, as Allah Most High says: “None are granted it except those who are patient, and none are granted it except one possessing a great share.”