فَإِذَا مَسَّ الْإِنسَانَ ضُرٌّ دَعَانَا ثُمَّ إِذَا خَوَّلْنَاهُ نِعْمَةً مِّنَّا قَالَ إِنَّمَا أُوتِيتُهُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ ۚ بَلْ هِيَ فِتْنَةٌ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ (49)
(39:49) When an affliction befalls man, *65 he cries out to Us; but when We grant him a favour from Us, he says: 'I have been granted this on account of my knowledge.' *66 Nay; this (favour) is a test; but most of them do not know. *67
*65) "The man" : the one who has aversion to Allah and whose face is distorted on hearing Allah alone being mentioned.
*66) This sentence can have two meanings: (1) "That Allah knows that I stn worthy of this blessing; that is why He has given me All this, otherwise He would not have blessed me if I had been an evil and wicked person in His sight;" and (2) `that I have attained to this by virtue of my ability."
*67) People ignorantly think that whoever is being blessed by Allah in some way is being so blessed necessarily on account of his worth and ability and that the same is a sign or proof of his being a favourite in His sight; whereas the fact is that whoever is being given something here, is being given it for the sake of a trial by Allah. This is a means of the test, and not any reward for ability, otherwise many able and worthy people would not be living in poverty and many unworthy people would not be rolling in prosperity. Likewise, these worldly blessings arc not a sign of one's being a favourite with AIlah either. Everyone can see that many good people whose goodness is unquestionable arc living in hardships in the world, and many wicked people whose evil-doing is well known arc enjoying the pleasures of life, Now, can a sensible man take the affliction of the one and the life of ease and comfort of the other as an argument to say that Allah hates the good matt and prefers the bad man?