by his own choice. His patience was greater than Joseph’s, for Joseph was only called upon to commit an indecent act, and the punishment for refusing was imprisonment. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions, however, were called upon to disbelieve; if they refused, their persecutors sought to punish them with death or lesser penalties. Confinement was the mildest punishment inflicted on him: the polytheists confined him and Banū Hāshim in the mountain valley for a time. Then, when Abū Tālib died, they intensified their persecution of him. When the Ansār pledged allegiance to him and the polytheists learned of this, they sought to prevent him from leaving, holding him and his Companions back. No one emigrated except in secret, apart from ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb and others like him. Thus, they had driven the believers to leave their homes, yet still prevented some of them from doing so and detained them.

The harm and afflictions that befell the believers thus resulted from their own choice to obey Allah and His Messenger. They were not divinely sent calamities that occur without a person’s choice. They were like Joseph’s imprisonment, not like his separation from his father. This is the nobler of the two kinds, and those who undergo it attain a higher rank—even though a person who suffers other calamities is rewarded for his patience and contentment, and his sins are expiated through his afflictions. For someone who suffers affliction and harm through his choice to obey Allah is rewarded for the afflictions themselves, and a righteous deed is recorded for him on their account.

Allah Most High says:

“That is because they suffer neither thirst, nor fatigue, nor hunger in Allah’s cause, nor do they tread any ground that enrages the disbelievers, nor inflict any loss upon an enemy, without a righteous deed being recorded for them on that account. Indeed, Allah does not let the reward of those who do good go to waste.”