Do you think you will enter Jannah (Paradise) and not be tested?
Source for Shaikh Ad-Dosiri's statements: Masjid Rahmah (Newark, N.J.) CD under the heading:
"Do you think you will enter Jannah (Paradise) and not be tested?"
Transcribed by: Maher Attiyeh
Shaikh Taraheeb Ad-Dosiri (hafidhahullaah) said:
"As for the one who makes the trial of the people like the punishment of Allaah, and he allows it to hinder him from Allaah's Path, and he's held back by the test and trials and tribulations, this person is "kaadhib" (he's not telling the truth). His eeman is not true, it's not a firm eeman. So therefore the statement of a person is only given confirmation - the truth is only shown - by the action, by a person's deeds, not what he says. So therefore his deeds make tasdeeq (prove his statement to be true), so therefore - and Allaah has informed of this - that true eeman is proven by action.
يَأْتِكُمْ مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ مَسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّى يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَه مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ أَلاَ إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيب
Or think you that you will enter Paradise without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty and ailments and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed along with him said, "When (will come) the Help of Allaah?" Yes! Certainly, the Help of Allaah is near!(Al-Baqarah 2:214)
Allaah putting the people through trials and tribulations is something that happened to the previous generations. Allaah says:
مَسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ
al-ba`saa` - this means poverty. al-ba`saa` came to them; this means they were afflicted with poverty. And then Allaah said:
وَالضَّرَّاءُ
wa-dharaa`a - this means sickness and illnesses in their bodies. They went through problems. They were put through trials and tribulations in their wealth and their physical bodies.
وَزُلْزِلُو
wa-zulziluu - this means they were shaken severely, and put through fear and threat, threatened to be killed or banished from their countries or hometowns, or their money oppresively taken. They were put through all types of harms, afflictions and turmoil.
So therefore, it got so severe and Allaah's trial was so intense, that they looked at Allaah's Help as something that was slow, delayed. And they asked:
مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ
"When (will come) the Help of Allaah?"
[They asked] even though they had certainty it was going to come. The sahaaba and the (righteous) did not doubt the Promise of Allaah (subhanahu wa ta'aala). But the trial was so intense that they saw Allaah's Help as something long to come.
So therefore this proves the intensity and severity of the trials and tribulations that happened to previous nations and generations. So therefore the Messenger of Allaah (salallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) - along with the companions - and those who believed along with him - said:
مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ
"When (will come) the Help of Allaah?"
So therefore, whenever the affair gets tight, and the problems get severe, you know that the Help of Allaah 'Azza wa jall is close - going to come. So this is a lesson, that anyone who carries out the truth will be tested by Allaah subhanahu wa ta'aala, and will be put through trials and tribulations. So if he's patient and bears patience and perseverance upon the difficulties and hardship, then these trials and tribulations will turn into gifts and endowments. It'll become a blessing for him.
That which some people look at as adversity will be a means of prosperity for this person - if he's patient and perseveres. And afterward, he'll be given victory over his enemies, and will be supported against his adversaries. And similarly, his heart will be purified and cleansed from any type of sickness or illness that may be found therein - once he's patient and perseverant upon the test of Allaahu subhanahu wa ta'aala, for indeed Allaahu 'Azza wa jall has said in the Qur`an:
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرا
So verily, with the hardship, there is relief, Verily, with the hardship, there is relief (i.e. there is one hardship with two reliefs, so one hardship cannot overcome two reliefs). (Ash-Sharh 94:5-6)
From the Sunnah, we have the narration of Khabbab ibn 'Arat, who one day said: Oh Messenger of Allaah, will you not help us, support us against these people? ["People" here refers to kufaar of Quraish, since companions were murdered, punished, banished from their wealth, homes.]
The previous ayah [ayah 214 from Surat Al-Baqarah] clarified to us that this is Sunnat Allaah fi khalqihi (Allaah's Sunnah with His creation) - to continuously test His slaves. And similarly, in this hadeeth, which proves the hardships and trials that happened to previous nations.
The Messenger of Allaah (salallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: Indeed before you there used to be people who were punished, the manner in which a saw would be brought and it would be placed at the top of his head til the bottom of his feet (split in half). Despite this, he wouldn't be hindered from his religion. (This would not be a means of hindering him from implementing and practicing his religion.)
The shaikh interjected: urging us to ponder upon this hadeeth and think about what's being said. That a man would be sawed in half, and others with an iron rake (comb) would have their flesh ripped off of his bones. Just stop and think about this. Even though we ask Allaah to protect us from this, and not to put us through the likes of this test. Just think if it happens to you. Aoodhoobillaah!
If the flesh were ripped off your bones, with your nerves and skin and everything, or if you were sawed in half for one reason only - because of your Religion.
So ponder upon the firmness of the person being punished. He was being punished, and he refused to return to kufr. He wouldn't leave his religion! So this shows the firmness of his eeman. He was only patient and only firm because he sought the good pleasure of Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic. It's the only reason: he sought the Jannah (Paradise)!
So despite the fact that we ask Allaah to not test us with this - we ask Him for Salaama wal 'afia (safety and well-being) - just think about this narration and think about what happened to these people.
