Does God Ever Give Us Tests We Can't Handle

Reflecting on God's Tests and His Merciful Nature This audio is brought to you by Muslim Central. Please consider donating to help cover our running cost and future projects by visiting www.muslimcentral.com/donate. Speaker 2 So the title, has God ever given us a test we can't handle? Or does God ever give us a burden we can't bear? And this is a subject that I want to reflect on Inshallah, because it's, it's on the minds of a lot of people. You know, have I gotten to a point where I've been tested too much? Or is this a test that I really can't handle? And I really want to speak to this for a bit and just share some reflections, inshallah, on how we approach this subject #1 fundamentally a view of God, how we look at Allah, how we look at God. Does Allah ever punish us or put us to test for no need or no benefit of our own? OK, so is God one who likes to see us go through hardship and suffering without purpose? And the answer to that is absolutely no. And so the first rule or the first way to sort of approach this and and get out of the way in approaching this discussion is that we know that a lot is Rahman Rahim most compassionate, most merciful. We know that a loss of Hannity is also Shadid Rehab, that some people are deserving of punishment and punished. But there are some people that are tested and some that are punished by the exact same thing. So I don't really want to get into the whole theology of punishment versus test, but certainly my Fr Allah become in Shakartum. You know, God does not like to punish, like to harm, like to hurt. And it is not for us to see God as one who is needlessly putting us to the test. OK, now with that being said, and you kind of get that out of the way, what I want to talk about is this ayahu khalif allahu nefsan ilahu Saha. Allah Does Not Burden a Soul Beyond Its Scope Allah does not burden a soul beyond its scope. God will not test you beyond your scope. And what that means and how you reconcile that with the idea that if God has given you a test, then He gave it to you knowing that you can handle it. And if God has given you a obligation, an obligation, then He gave it to you in accordance with your capacity. And how we sort of balance all of that when we're discussing this. And again, this isn't meant to be a lecture. This is more just a reflection on the subject and how it comes up #1 you know, there are multiple sayings that you'll often hear to this effect, that if God got you to it, then he can get you through it and that he gives tests to those who he knows can, can certainly excel and can certainly elevate themselves. This is a concept that the prophets Lyceum mentioned. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that the most tested people are the prophets and then the righteous and those that are in righteousness in order basically. So you'll often find tests that correlates with righteousness. So God gives his greatest test to his greatest servants and that yields the greatest reward for them. And these are things that we come to, right? That God has not given you a test that you cannot handle. And if God got you to a test, then God can get you through a test and God can ultimately give you the ultimate reward, right? So that's sort of the the common things that you will hear about the subject and they are true. It's not that, however I want to give some perspective I guess based on this aya of now you can be for long enough said in love Osaha when when Allah says in the Quran that he does not burden you beyond your scope. One of the arguments that the Muslim scholars use, the early scholars use to refute the idea of Allah not or Allah forcing someone. So there was the first movement of the Padilla which denied divine decree and said that Allah does not know what will happen tomorrow, Allah is not in control. And then there was the opposing movement, a counter movement, which was the other extreme, which was a jabariya that we are forced into whatever we do. So if we are wicked, then we're simply playing a role because we were forced into that role and we're put into the situation. And so we have to deal with the situation and there's no way to break it. And one of the things that the the companions and the early Muslims pushed back on was that if you look at how a lot of Subhanahu Ta'ala deals with us in regards to our obligations, we are forgiven for things that are out of our control. OK, so that's the first thing. So if we are forgiven for things that are that are out of our control. So you'll find some of the early Muslim scholars talking about, for example, a person that sleeps through the prayer, a person that the pen is lifted upon them because they haven't reached the age of puberty, a person that you know that's unable to pray standing up, a person that's unable to fast a person. So the point is, is that what's embedded in our jurisprudence is the spirit of God Forgives what is out of our capacity, OK? However, God will hold us accountable for what is within our capacity, what is within our capacity. How Spiritual Weightlifting Stretches Your Inner Strength OK. So if your wussa, if your capacity is this, then you're going to find that a lot will hold you accountable to that capacity. The question is though, do we really know our capacity until our capacity is stretched? And I want you to think about this like a person that's in that's in the gym, that's working out, right? You learn to push yourself to the next one and then the next level and the next level and the next level. And sometimes as you're pushing yourself with weights and you're physically exerting yourself, you're realizing that your capacity is greater than what you thought it was and that you are actually expanding your capacity. The same thing is true for our spirituality. What that means is that a test that you might have handled very poorly initially, as your capacity grows through your proper response to that test, which is your spiritual weightlifting, your capacity will actually get greater and the greater reward will equal that expanded capacity, even if you're not tested according to that full capacity, OK. So you'll never be tested beyond your capacity, but you also will will will not necessarily be tested to the maximum of your capacity, right. So a lot customizes blessings, he customizes trials, they come our way in proportion, OK. So just as you're physically trying to move to the next level, to the next level, to the next level in this situation, when it comes to hardships and tests and things that come our way, then sometimes we will actually rise in a way that we would not have thought we were capable of rising. And you meet people that have been tested in very severe ways. And they did not think that they would be able to realize or reach the the level of patients that they were able to exhibit in those moments. They didn't think that they were able to reach this level, but to have a lot. They were empowered and they reached that level, and there was an enormous character building in the process as well as of course, the reward is with the loss of Hanoi Ta'a, the reward is with God, and the capacity expands, right? The capacity expands. Now we talked about this in the previous night. We don't seek out those tests, OK, But sometimes the tests will come as well. Sometimes the tests will come regardless. And we have to trust that those tests will not go beyond our capacity. The Spirit of Law in Handling Life's Obligations Now, of course, by the way, to, to get to the, to at least address the core of this. But just as we said in the spirit of our jurisprudence is, is a greater understanding of how we're put to the test. The what's out here is referring to what's within our obligations, what's within our within our our responsibilities. OK, so it's up Allaha muscle Tartum means do the best that you possibly can. So if you can't pray standing up, then you pray sitting down. And if you can't pray sitting down, then you pray laying down. What that means is that just because you can't pray standing up doesn't mean you immediately go to praying laying down. You go to praying sitting down, and then if you can't pray sitting down, then you go to prayer laying down. Now sometimes people mistake these two, a hadith or this hadith with another hadith, and it'll help us get some more perspective on the subject. There's a difference between a person that prays sitting down because they can't pray standing up. That person has the full reward of someone who's praying standing up because they can, because that person is not sitting down as a matter of choice. There's another hadith where the Prophet Slyson said that the one who prays sitting down gets half the reward of the one who prays standing up, and the one who prays laying down gets half the reward of the one who prays sitting down. This is referring to a voluntary prayer. This is referring to the Noathan, not to the obligations. This is not referring to a person whose capacity only allows them to pray sitting down. That person has the full reward as someone who's praying standing up. So just as you know, the early Muslims sort of, you know, used the spirit of our jurisprudence, the spirit of the way that Allah legislates within fifth within jurisprudence to understand the theology better in this situation, We look at we look at it the opposite way, OK, We look at it the opposite way. You have a capacity in regards to your obligations in regards to the things that God has legislated upon you. You act to the best of your ability and you have to be able to stand on the day of judgement and say that you did your best, right? You're standing before God on the day of judgement is that I did my best. I tried with what was given to me. I did my absolute best. And Inshallah Ta'ala, may Allah accept from all of us. Recognizing Blessings and Trials as Customized Divine Tests The second level of that, though, with the trials and hardships where it's not as it's not as spelled out as if you can't pray standing up, you pray sitting down. We often will wonder after a test whether we actually did pass that test. We'll actually wonder, did we respond in the best way? Some people actually will have regret and say, you know, I wish I would have had more patience. I wish I could have done this better. I could have said this instead. And they'll go back and they'll regret those moments. That's not the point of this. The point is, is to think of our perspective in this way. Allah is going to give us our share of blessings and our share of trials, and we're not really going to be able to understand in this life why we got that customized selection of blessings and trials. I always hear people talking about how when it comes to trials and tests, you know, I don't understand why this is happening to me, but you know, somehow I do. Can I really come to terms? Do I really understand why I've been so privileged and so blessed with what I do have that others don't have? I can't understand that either. Is it because I'm more deserving than that person that's in a difficult situation? So, so just as I'm not going to be able to understand my blessings, I'm not going to be able to understand my tests. But what I can do is make the most of them and do with them what's best in terms of how I reach that next level. And so, yes, there's great wisdom. And if God brought you to it, then he'll get you through it. And instead of God doesn't, you know, So in the Arpeda perspective and the creedal perspective, God doesn't give you what's beyond your scope. But also God does not oblige you with what's beyond your scope. And that's where we start to hurt ourselves. So we start to hurt ourselves when we start to do more than what's beyond our capacity. So a person that's dying does not, you know, a person that's going to physically harm themselves by fasting should not fast, for example, right? Because God did not ask that or require that of you. That's not in your wussa, that's not in your capacity. That's not the point. Same thing is true that if a law legislates in that way with us, then of course, surely a law Subhanawata legislates his divine degree within the same spirit, right, That he's not going to give us what we can't handle. He's not going to give us tests that we can't handle. He's not going to give us blessings that we can't handle And that's the last point that I want to make here. Just because God gave you blessings or tests and you think you know that, that and you know, we come to the conclusion that there's no way that I can, you know, or I can't handle this because God does not test me beyond my scope. God also doesn't bless me beyond my scope. What that means is that if a person is blessed and then they become arrogant and prideful, that's not the fault of God for giving them too many blessings, right? It's not the fault of God that God gave that person so much money. And that's why that person is is prideful, conceited, arrogant, greedy, selfish, OK? Allah gave them enough perspective and blessings with that wealth for them to understand that that share of blessings was not meant to make them greedy, but to make them more generous was not meant to make them more arrogant, but to make them more humble. They failed that test, right? Same is true when it comes to hardship, OK, if I failed the test or if I'm not doing well by the test, that doesn't mean that I can't handle the test. That means that I need to figure out how to make the best of that test. I'm not going to figure out the wisdom, but I can see what's in my capacity with the understanding that Allah will not test me beyond my capacity because God does not burden a soul beyond its scope. Responding to Tests and Blessings for Greatest Reward So again, those are just some reflections on the subject. And, and I know that it's not as organized as a lecture, and I just wanted to sort of talk about it because I know it's going through a lot of people's minds right now. That if you're feeling like you have a great test in front of you, think about the great reward that can come with that great test. And that Allah finds me worthy of that test just as he finds me worthy of that blessing. And I'm going to do the best that I possibly can with that test and that blessing. Because Allah would not given me, have given me that blessing or that test unless He knew that I was capable of passing that blessing or that test in a way that would yield the maximum reward and not put me in a worse situation. If I if I do end up in a worse situation, that is my own weakness and not because Allah did not put the strength in me to be able to do well with what He has given me. So I pray that Allah allow us to respond to our tests and our blessings in a way that yields the greatest reward. And just as Allah does not burden us beyond our scope, I pray that we do not we do not minimize our own potential to please Him and to rise to the occasion. May Allah Subhana Tada allow us to find strength in what He has given us. May Allah Subhana Tada allow us to be humbled by what He has given us. And may Allah Subhana Tada allow us to ultimately gain the greatest rewards possible through those things, the greatest of all of those rewards being His pleasure. May Allah Subhana Tada give us the best of this life, the best of the hereafter as well. May I also accept this and again, I hope you all are doing OK through all of this and making it go out for you and looking forward to continuously connecting with you on a nightly basis. Gazakalo Hainos and I want you to come back.