Page 24 - The Secret Behind Our Trials

THE SECRET BEHIND OUR TRIALS
They were very near to scaring you from the land with the
object of expelling you from it. But had they done so, they
would only have remained there a short time after you. That
was the pattern with those We sent before you as Our
Messengers. You will not find any changing of Our pattern.
(Surat al-Isra', 76-77)
This is one of the secrets of this world's trials. Allah has warned
Muslims of the many things that they will face, and has revealed
that they will be able to enter Paradise only if they face the same dif-
ficulties as the preceding believers did:
Or did you suppose that you would enter the Garden with-
out facing the same as those who came before you? Poverty
and illness afflicted them, and they were shaken to the point
that the Messenger and those who believed with him asked:
"When is Allah's help coming?" Be assured that Allah's help
is very near. (Surat al-Baqara, 214)

Submission to Destiny
Another important secret is the reality of destiny. All Muslims
know that Allah created everything with its own destiny and that
everything happens only by His will, for He created all the varied
components of human life. The Qur'an tells us that everything that
occurs in the world, without exception, happens by His will:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows
them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No
leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the
darkness of the soil, and nothing moist or dry, that is not in a
Clear Book. (Surat al-An`am, 59)
No person can know the future, because all people are bound
by time and can assess events only from the standpoint of the mo-

22