Allah has decreed that, in this life,
hardships and disasters strike both believers and non-
believers. For a non-believer, they are inconveniences that hinder him from proceeding with his normal involvement in the worldly life. For a believer, on the other hand, they are instances of rest and remembrance, tests that promise great rewards, and indications of atonement and expiation of sins. Regardless of how little is the harm that strikes a believer, it carries with it good news of forgiveness and elevated rank (in Jan-nah). The Righteous Predecessors used to be pleased when a hardship afflicted them, seeing it as a token of Allah’s
forgiveness and
benevolence.
