As for the second verse, He—glorified be He—says:
“We will certainly test you with a measure of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth, lives, and fruits; yet give glad tidings to those who are patient” (Al-Baqarah 2:155).
This verse contains an oath from Allah—exalted is He—that He will try His servants by means of these matters.
His words, “We will surely test you,” mean: We will indeed put you to trial.
“With something of fear”—not with fear in its entirety, but with a portion of it, for complete fear would destroy and annihilate. Rather, He afflicts them with only part of it.
Al-khawf (fear) is the loss of security, and it is more severe than hunger; for that reason Allah mentioned it first. A person who is afraid—Allah forbid—finds no peace, neither in his home nor in the marketplace. The fearful is worse off than the hungry; hence Allah began with it and said: “with a measure of fear and hunger.”
The thing we fear most is our own sins, because sins are the cause of every calamity and the source of dangers, terrors, and both religious and worldly punishments.
“And hunger”—He likewise tests with hunger.
Hunger carries two meanings:
- Allah, exalted is He, may create among His servants an epidemic—namely, the plague of hunger—so that a person eats yet feels no satiety. Such a trial does befall people. In this land there once occurred a year commonly known as “the Year of Hunger”: a man would consume a great quantity of food and still not feel satisfied—Allah protect us. It is reported that someone would eat an entire platter of dates at one sitting and still not be full—Allah protect us—and he would eat copious amounts of bread yet