Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 30 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:30

إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَـٰتٍ وَإِن كُنَّا لَمُبْتَلِينَ

“Indeed in that are signs, and indeed, We are ever testing [Our servants].”

Saheeh International

Essence

The flood story closes with two claims: it is full of signs for anyone who stops to read them, and Allah is always testing.

A reflection

Tested, but not so that He can find out

A football academy keeps a fifteen-year-old on trial for six weeks. The coaches watch him in training, in matches, when he wins and when he loses. They do this because they cannot see inside him. The trial is how they find out who he is.

The ayah ends with a statement about Allah: wa-in kunnā la-mubtalīn, and indeed We are ever testing. It is natural to picture this like the academy. A watcher who does not know, gathering evidence.

One commentator rules that picture out firmly. The testing is to make plain who obeys and who does not, he says. It is not that the Lord acquires some knowledge He lacked. Another explains it as Allah dealing with people in the manner of one who tests. The knowledge was complete before the test began.

So who is the test for? It is for us, and for the record. The test brings into the open what we are made of. It shows us ourselves, and it leaves no room to claim later that we would have done otherwise.

That is humbling in a precise way. Most of us carry a flattering picture of ourselves that has never been tried. I would be generous if I were rich. I would be patient if I were ill. I would stand firm if it cost me. The ego is very comfortable with untested virtues.

The root of the word has a striking picture. The lexicons say a garment baliya when it grew old and thin with wear. To test someone is pictured as trying him so often you almost wear him through. That image is established. Wear shows the weave.

Allah does not need the trial to know you. You need it to know yourself. When a hard week comes, ask: what is this showing me about what I am really made of?

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.