Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 155 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:155

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ

“And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Hardship was promised in advance, in small measure, to the best of people, and the sentence that announces it ends in good news.

A reflection

Promised in advance, to the best of them

Two quiet assumptions sit under many of our hardships. The first: if this is happening, Allah must be angry with me. The second, closer to a hope: if I am faithful, life should go smoothly. A man starts praying regularly for the first time in years. Within a month his hours are cut and his mother falls ill. 'I finally turned back to Him,' he says, 'and this is what I get?'

The ayah takes both apart, starting with its first word. Wa la-nabluwannakum: and We will surely test you. The la- at the front and the doubled n at the end are the marks of an oath. One commentary spells it out: by Allah, We will test you.

And who is 'you'? The early commentators say: the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, the generation that got it most right. One commentary draws the plain conclusion. These trials need not be signs of punishment, because they were promised to him and to his Companions.

Notice, too, when it was said: before the hardships came. The commentaries give the reason. People told in advance can settle their souls; a blow that ambushes you is harder to bear. And when it arrives exactly as described, certainty grows.

Then the measure. Bi-shayʾin: with something of fear and hunger, a little. One commentary explains the smallness. Above every affliction, however large, there is a heavier one that did not come. The word also shows that His mercy has not left them.

So the man whose hours were cut has not been answered with anger. He has been shown, in advance, what faith looks like from the inside.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.