Surah Ale-Imran (The Family Of Imran ) 3 : 186

* For some people, it’s poverty. For some, it’s mental or physical disease. For some, it’s the loss of a loved one. For some, it’s prison. But for all, it’s a promise from Allah that each and everyone of us will have a test of one type or another at some point in life. It doesn’t matter if you’re as evil as a murderer or as righteous as a Prophet, Allah has set aside for your your portion of difficulty in life. In fact, if you look at the variety of difficulties that the Prophets faced, it will seem to you almost as if Allah is giving us precedents as to how to cope with every potential difficulty that could befall us today: 

1. Adam’s son murdered the other
2. Nuh's son was a disbeliever, and drowned
3. Ibrahim faced an oppressive father
4. Yusuf was falsely imprisoned for years
5. Ayyub was stricken with diseases of all kinds
6. Ya’qub lost two of his sons temporarily [Yusuf and Benyamin]
7. Prophet Muhammad [saw] faced poverty, threats to his life, lost children at an early age, lost Khadijah, lost his uncle, grew up without parents, was expelled from his land [peace be upon them all]

So, there is no difficulty or test any of us can face today that has not to some degree been faced by one of the Prophets. There are a number of benefits to this fact: 

A. We have a blueprint available for each type of test or difficulty as to how to deal with it and how to carry ourselves facing it;
B. By having the most beloved of people to Allah stricken with your same test, you cannot ask ‘Why me?’ while you are less beloved;
C. By having the most beloved of people to Allah stricken with your same test, you can deduce that facing this test successfully is an aspect of human perfection;
D. It gives you something in common with a Prophet;
E. Your love and admiration for the Prophets will grow when you have a firsthand taste of a difficulty that they tasted on a greater scale;
F. Your sense of reliance on Allah skyrockets because you know that He aided His Prophets while they faced the same test, and He will also aid you if you have taqwa of Him;
G. By confirming that even the Prophets are stricken with difficulty, the Lordship of Allah over all the Creation is further emphasized;

Explanatory Note

In this verse, God tells the believers in no uncertain terms that they will have to undergo tests and trials which will affect them and their possessions. They have to persevere and remain steadfast in order to prove themselves worthy of God’s trust and His great reward. It is the natural way of things when it comes to the establishment of any faith in real life that its advocates should stand a hard test. There is no escaping the fact that they will have to demonstrate their patience in adversity, their determined resistance and strong resolve as also their readiness to sacrifice whatever is required of their possessions and their persons. This is the only way to heaven which cannot be attained without sacrifice and hardship. Hell, on the other hand, is surrounded by easy pleasures and temptations. Moreover, there is no other way to mould the community which will become the standard-bearer of Islam and discharge its duties. This community must receive thorough education and cultivation in order to heighten its potentials and strengths. The only way is the practical discharge of the duties imposed by their faith and
by their gaining a true and practical knowledge of life and people as they are. The trials are needed so that only the strongest in faith continue to advocate the Islamic call. It is only such people that are worthy of its advocacy since only they are fully equipped to be so entrusted. Moreover, it is through trial and perseverance that faith becomes dearer to the faithful. The more they have to endure of hardship and the more sacrifice they have to give for their faith the more valuable it becomes to them. They do not turn their backs on it afterwards, not in any circumstances.
 
Trials strengthen those who are tried. It is resistance which sharpens potentials and consolidates them. A new faith requires that these potentials be heightened so that it can establish its roots deep in the most fertile soil of human nature.
 
It is also through trials that the advocates of a faith come to know themselves as they are. They will look at themselves as they struggle and fight for their faith. They become more aware of human nature in reality and its latent potentials, and they know the true nature of societies and communities. They observe the struggle between their own principles on the one hand and desires and temptations on the other. They become aware of how Satan works on man leading him astray and causing him to err.
 
Moreover, it is through the trials endured by the advocates of a certain faith that its opponents come to realise that there is much good in, it; its followers have stuck by it despite all the hardships they have endured for its sake. It is then that those opponents may themselves accept that faith en masse.
 
This is in the nature of faith and ideology: to withstand such trials while maintaining fear of God, so that repelling aggression by others does not turn into counter-aggression, and despair is not allowed to becloud one’s vision as one goes through the hardships. But this is far from easy: “That is indeed a matter requiring strong resolve.”
 
The methods of trial may differ from time to time, but the principle remains the same: “You shall most certainly be tried in your possessions and in your persons; and you shall hear much hurting abuse from those who were given revelations before you and from those who set up partners with God.” 
 
The sūrah gives many examples of the schemes adopted by people of earlier religions and the idolaters and their propaganda which aimed to cast doubt and confusion on the very fundamentals of Islam and on its followers and their leadership. These examples are always renewed and new methods and forms added to them as new means of communication become available. They are all directed against Islam and its principles of faith as well as against the Muslim community and its leadership. Hence, the same principle which God explains to the first Muslim community as He points out its way and the nature of its enemy remains always applicable.
 
This Qur’ānic directive remains valid for the Muslim community every time it takes upon itself to implement God’s method in practical life. It reassures the Muslims that God’s promise will come true. All that it has to endure of trials, abuse, false accusation and hardship becomes very pleasant, since it is no more than a confirmation that the community is going along the way God intends. It is fully certain that perseverance and maintaining its fear of God are all the equipment it needs. All enemy schemes are of little effect. Trials and abuse are of no consequence.