Sheikh-ul-Islam Ibn-ul-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

“And from its cure (i.e. the intensity of affliction) is that he (the slave) should know that were it not for the trials of the world and its afflictions, then the slave would be afflicted by that which would be the cause of his destruction in this world and the next, from the diseases of pride, vanity, haughtiness and hardness of the heart.

So, it is from the mercy of the One who is the Most Merciful of those who have mercy, that sometimes He keeps him (the slave) in check with types of remedies which are (actually) from the afflictions. They (these remedies from the afflictions) are a protection for him against these diseases, a preservation of the correctness of his servitude to Him (Allah ‘azza wa jall) and an emptying out of the foul, bad and destructive elements from within him. So, free from all imperfection is the One who gives mercy with His affliction and who afflicts with His favour, as it is said:

قَدْ يُنْعِمُ اللهُ بِالبَلْوى وَ إِنْ عَظُمَتْ         وَ يَبتَلِيَ اللهُ بَعْضَ الْقَومِ بِالنِّعَمِ

‘Perhaps Allah bestows (His favour) with an affliction even if it was vast,

And Allah afflicts some of the people with favours’

So, if He does not – free is He from all imperfection – treat His slaves with the remedies of trials and affliction, then they would have overstepped the bounds, done wrong and become insolent.

And Allah-  free is He from all imperfection – if He wants goodness for His slave, He makes him drink a remedy from the affliction and the trial, according to his (particular) condition, by which He empties out of him the destructive diseases. This is such that when He (then) rectifies him, cleanses him and purifies him, He (then) makes him suitable for the most noble ranks of the world, and they are servitude to Him (Allah ‘azza wa jall), and for the highest reward in the hereafter, and it is to see Him (Allah ‘azza wa jall) and to be close to Him.”

Zaad-ul-Ma’aad Fee Hadee Khair-il-‘Ibaad, Vol.4, page 179, Muassasatur-Risaalah, Beirut, 1^st Edition (revised and updated), 1433/2012. Translated by Abu Yusuf Sagheer bin ‘Abdir-Rasheed al-Kashmeeree.

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