Page 39 - The Secret Behind Our Trials

The Muslim of Difficult Times
above, the creation of Satan opened an arena of struggle, contest,
and trial to which prophets are sent and in which the secret of re-
sponsibility is revealed. If there were no struggle and contest, the
qualities within coal and diamonds would remain indistinguish-
able in the human ore. The exalted spirit of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and the
base spirit of Abu Jahl would remain on the same level. This means that the
creation of evil and wickedness is not bad and ugly because it leads to im-

portant results. 7
Another matter stressed here is the value of this world's trials. If
there were no evil or frustration, the good qualities in human char-
acter would not come to the fore, the high moral quality of devout
persons would not be displayed, and there would be no advance in
one's level of spirituality. This is why every eventuality that appears
to be negative in fact opens an unlimited horizon of opportunity to
mature one's moral character, strengthen and deepen one's spiritual-
ity, and raise one's rank and position in Paradise.
Bediuzzaman writes further that:

Religion is an examination, a test, proposed by Allah so that in the
arena of competition elevated spirits and base spirits may be dis-
tinguished from one another. Just as materials are plunged in the
fire so that diamonds and coal, gold and earth, separate out from
one another, so too religion is a trial concerning the obligations
placed on man by Allah and a driving to competition, which is
what this abode of examination consists of. In this way the ele-
vated jewels in the mine of man’s abilities become separated out
from the dross. ...the Qur’an was revealed in this abode of examina-
tion for man to be perfected through trial in the arena of competi-
tion. 8
According to this comparison, the good diamond-like qualities

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