The Believers are Tested so That it May Be Known Who is Sincere & Who is Lying

 

Allaah - the Most High - stated:

﴿أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُواْ أَن يَقُولُواْ ءَامَنَّا وَهُمْ لاَ يُفْتَنُونَ ﴾

(Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: "We believe,'' & will not be tested.)

Imaam Ibn Katheer - may Allaah have mercy on him - said in his Tafseer: 

This is a rebuke in the form of a question, meaning that Allaah will inevitably test His believing servants according to their level of faith, as it recorded in the authentic Hadith:

«أَشَدُّ النَّاسِ بَلَاءً الْأَنْبِيَاءُ، ثُمَّ الصَّالِحُونَ، ثُمَّ الْأَمْثَلُ فَالْأَمْثَلُ، يُبْتَلَى الرَّجُلُ عَلَى حَسَبِ دِينِهِ، فَإِنْ كَانَ فِي دِينِهِ صَلَابَةٌ زِيدَ لَهُ فِي الْبَلَاء»

(The people most severely tested are the Prophets, then the righteous, then the next best & the next best. A man will be tested in accordance with the degree of his religious commitment; the stronger his religious commitment, the stronger his test.) 

 This aayah is like the aayah,

﴿أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ جَـهَدُواْ مِنكُمْ وَيَعْلَمَ الصَّـبِرِينَ ﴾

(Do you think that you will enter Paradise without Allaah knowing those of you who fought (in His cause) and knowing those who are the patient).

(3:142)

There is a similar aayah in Surat At-Tawbah. And Allaah says:

﴿أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلِكُم مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَآءُ وَالضَّرَّآءُ وَزُلْزِلُواْ حَتَّى يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ مَعَهُ مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ أَلاَ إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ ﴾

(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 & ailments & were so shaken that even the Messenger & 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 says here:

﴿وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُواْ وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَـذِبِينَ ﴾

(And We indeed tested those who were before them so that Allaah will know those who are true, and will know those who are liars.)

-        meaning, He will make know which are sincere in their claim to be believers from those who are lying. Allaah, may He be glorified & exalted, knows what has happened in the past & what is yet to come, & He knows how that which will not happen would have happened if it were to happen. All the Imaams of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama`ah are agreed on this. This is the view of Ibn `Abbas & others concerning phrases such as the aayah,

﴿إِلاَّ لِنَعْلَمَ﴾

(only that We know)

(Al-Baqarah 2:143).

-        Meaning, only to see -- because seeing has to do with what is there, but knowledge is broader than seeing, since it includes what is not present as well as what is.