The Quran

186

Preface

۞ لَتُبلَوُنَّ في أَموالِكُم وَأَنفُسِكُم وَلَتَسمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذينَ أوتُوا الكِتابَ مِن قَبلِكُم وَمِنَ الَّذينَ أَشرَكوا أَذًى كَثيرًا ۚ وَإِن تَصبِروا وَتَتَّقوا فَإِنَّ ذٰلِكَ مِن عَزمِ الأُمورِ

Yusuf Ali

Ye shall certainly be tried and tested in your possessions and in your personal selves;¹ and ye shall certainly Hear much that will grieve you, from those who received the Book before you and from those who worship many gods. But if ye persevere patiently, and guard against evil,-then that will be a determining factor in all affairs.

Not wealth and possessions only (or want of them), are the means of our trial. All our personal talents, knowledge, opportunities, and their opposites-in fact everything that happens to us and makes up our personality is a means of our testing. So is our Faith; we shall have to put up for it many insults from those who do not share it.