Material Blessings and Limited Perfections of the World Are Divine Tests
The Almighty God has many laws in managing the universe, one of which is the law of trial (ibtila). This means that God intends to test everyone in this world in various ways; no one is exempt from this divine examination. However, each person’s test may differ from another’s. Just like all students must take exams during their education, with no one being exempt, some may have an exam today, others tomorrow, and some next week. Additionally, one may have a math exam, another physics, one literature, and another geography.
The system of the world is designed to constantly evaluate us. This assessment sometimes comes through difficulties, hardships, and illnesses, and at other times through the abundance of material blessings and worldly perfections such as wealth, beauty, power, fame, and status. For example, seeing the possessions of others can create feelings of envy and competition, testing our inner peace. Conversely, a wealthy person may be tested by losing their wealth to see how their happiness, peace, and behavior towards others change with altered circumstances.
In this article, we aim to explore one of the greatest divine tests: how we are tested with material blessings and limited perfections of the world, and how we can turn the results in our favor.
Our True Existence Is in Conflict with the World and Its Material Blessings
From previous lessons, we learned that we are inherently in love with the infinite due to our supra-rational, and transient, limited matters cannot satisfy us. Our infinity-seeking nature cannot tolerate being left behind or humiliated and despises weakness, incapacity, limitations, and negative responses. We desire each material blessing and worldly perfection—such as power, wealth, life, comfort, knowledge, and beauty—in their absolute and infinite forms. This leads us to constantly crave and feel constricted, pressured, and small when lacking various things.
No one on this planet can fully accept the limited nature of the world; even figures like the President of the United States, Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Muawiya, and Yazid sought an absolute truth, a higher life and pleasure, and the removal of limitations to achieve infinite perfection. Many wars, conflicts, pressures, and massacres stem from our infinity-seeking nature when faced with the limited space and resources of the world. Each of us has tasted infinity before and is now temporarily trapped in this world. Until we return to our homeland and essence, we will not find peace; for the world is a place of deficiency and weakness and cannot satisfy our perfection-seeking nature. Moreover, the world is full of change and loss; every blessing we receive here always comes with anxiety. For instance, if we have a good spouse, we constantly worry about when we might part ways. Other blessings like children, health, homes, jobs, status, youth, beauty, and vitality are also always at risk of being lost.
Our eternal existence and infinity-seeking nature can only find peace through eternal life and reaching our True Beloved, Allah, who is the Infinite Perfection. Many individuals who have acquired all worldly blessings and perfections ultimately reach a state of emptiness and resort to suicide because what is embedded in their essence cannot be satisfied by any of these things. Sometimes, we do not realize what our soul is truly seeking and mistakenly search for peace in imaginal, inanimate, and estimative perfections. For example, we may pursue knowledge and high academic degrees, believing this is what our soul desires; yet, with each academic milestone, we feel no fulfillment. You have likely realized by now what the main reason for the pressures and conflicts we face in relation to worldly perfections is.
Material Blessings and Limited Perfections of the World; Tools for the Growth of the Supra-Rational Dimension
We established that the world is limited, and its blessings and perfections do not last, thus cannot satisfy our infinity-seeking nature. The pleasures, perfections, and material blessings of the world, no matter how abundant, come with afflictions, calamities, weaknesses, illnesses, and problems. Furthermore, they cannot be precisely calculated or predicted regarding when these pleasures will end or when calamities may strike.
What do you think is the wisdom behind these conflicts and pressures in our lives?
Do these pressures serve a purpose in our journey toward our creation’s goal?
The world is like a large gym where all its blessings or hardships are our training opponents, created by God, the Powerful Coach of this great gym, to strengthen our soul and supra-rational. This is similar to the calculated hardships that athletes endure according to their coach’s instructions to gradually prepare physically and become more like their coach.
All events in the world, whether poverty and wealth, ignorance and knowledge, or immorality, exist so that we can progress in the human dimension of our existence. Life in this world, with all its limitations, bitterness, and sweetness, is merely a test to determine the quality of our character. In this world, nothing is serious or final. Wars, conflicts, disputes, failures, and victories, wealth and poverty—all exist so that we can grow and, through correct decisions, become more like God each day.
The world is our testing ground. God tests us in various situations until we acquire divine names and become like Him. When we recognize the world as a place of constant fluctuation, transformation, and explosion, we will not become attached to it. In this case, it does not matter how much we acquire material blessings or the inanimate, vegetative, animal or intellective perfections, whether we are poor or wealthy, beautiful or ugly, married or single, parents or childless. We remain joyful and peaceful because we know that life in this world is only temporary, and soon we will leave it for eternal life and the meeting with our True Beloved. All worldly statuses fade in the eternal realm, and what we were and what rank we held in this world will hold no value in our eternal life.
Moreover, what in this world is considered torment, hardship, or calamity—whether due to our own actions or imposed by the system of destiny and decree—counts as wealth and assets for us in the hereafter, and whatever we lack in this world will be compensated in the hereafter.
In this article, we discussed the conflicts and contradictions our infinity-seeking soul faces when confronted with the limited space and resources of the world. We noted that the pressures and hardships we encounter in the pursuit of material blessings and limited worldly perfections are among the greatest tests from God, which ultimately cease with our departure from this world. Therefore, we should only utilize them for the growth of the human dimension of our existence and to achieve our creation’s purpose. What has been the hardest test God has given you in life, or what are you currently facing? How did you deal with it? Please share with us.