Everything about Islam

Difference Between Punishment and Tests

Difference Between Punishment and Tests

[Quranic Gems intro]

Arabic: (3:165)

عِندِ أَنفُسِكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌأَوَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا قُلْتُمْ أَنَّىٰ هَٰذَا ۖ قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ

Transliteration:

Awa lamma asabatkum museebatunqad asabtum mithlayha qultum anna hathaqul huwa min AAindi anfusikum inna Allaha AAalakulli shay-in qadeer

Translation:

Why [is it that] when a [single] disaster struck you [on the day of Uhud], although you had struck [the enemy in the battle of Badr] with one twice as great, you said, “From where is this?” Say, “It is from yourselves.” Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.

Assalamu Alaykum Quran Weekly,

I actually wanted to share this one ayah with you, ayah 165 of Surah Al-Imran for a very particular purpose.  A lot of people ask questions about why Allah (SWT) put them through difficulty and it’s a difficult question.  You know what did they do to deserve the difficulty.  And also people ask sometimes, you know, when something bad happens, is it because “I did something bad, is because it’s my fault, or is it because it was just decreed, Allah (SWT) is just putting me through a test.  How do I know which one it is?”

Then there are other people who whenever something bad happens, they blame themselves.  They just say, “Allah (SWT) is just… I must have done something bad, I must have been bad to my parents, I must have missed a prayer or something, and that’s why I got into a car accident or whatever.”  They correlate things from the unseen to the seen realm.

Now these are some of the ayahs that help understand because on the one hand Allah (SWT) says, like in this ayah,

أَوَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا

(Awa lamma asabatkum museebatunqad asabtum mithlayha)

When at the battle of Uhud, Muslims had difficulty, Allah (SWT) says, “When a calamity hit you, the likes of which you had already dished out to the enemy before”

قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا

(Qad asabtum mithlayha)

“Twice that, you did the damage to the enemy the year before.”

قُلْتُمْ أَنَّىٰ هَٰذَا

(Qultum anna hatha)

You said, “How could this happen?  How could Allah let this happen?”

قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنفُسِكُمْ

(Qul huwa min AAindi anfusikum)

Tell them, “This is because what is within yourselves.”  This came specifically from you.  This is your fault exclusively.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

(Inna Allaha AAalakulli shay-in qadeer)

Allah (SWT) in fact is capable of all things.  In other words, had Allah (SWT) wanted, this wouldn’t have happened.  Allah (SWT) is capable of stopping the calamity from happening but He let it happen.  And it is actually precisely because of you.  Other places in the Qur’an, Allah (SWT) will say,