Page 66 - The Secret Behind Our Trials

THE SECRET BEHIND OUR TRIALS
O you who believe! Fear [and respect] Allah the way He
should be feared [and respected], and do not die except as
Muslims. (Surah Al `Imran, 102)

Those who Come to Belief but Later Reject It
Belief is one of Allah's greatest blessings, for it leads to happi-
ness and well-being in this world as well as to salvation in the next.
Therefore, as with every blessing, we must thank Allah for belief,
which He grants and withholds as He wills. Those to whom Allah
does not grant belief will never be able to acquire it, even if the
whole world tried to get them to believe, for the Qur'an states that:
However eager you are for them to be guided, Allah will not
guide those whom He misguides. They will have no helpers.
(Surat an-Nahl, 37)
So, believers are saved by His mercy from unbelief. Therefore,
every Muslim must give thanks by saying this prayer, which be-
longs to the people of Paradise:
Praise be to Allah, Who has guided us to this! We would not
have been guided had Allah not guided us. The Messengers
of our Lord came with the Truth... (Surat al-A`raf, 43)
To give thanks for a blessing means to praise Allah verbally and
to act in a way that earns His good pleasure. Since prayer is a
thanksgiving for belief, every Muslim must say their prayers with
great care and attention as a thanksgiving for this great gift, do all
that they can to earn His good pleasure, and devote themselves to
Him totally.
If they do not do so, mistakenly thinking that their current sta-
tus as believers means that they are already on the way to Paradise,
or if they forget that they are being tested, then these blessings may
be removed. As the Qur'an proclaims, their hearts may be hardened

64