The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 140
PREFACE ESSENCE OF ISLAM 139 not been used here in its primary sense. Here, it only means that God will make it clear that the believers were 'saved' people and that they had reached their goal after having been safeguarded from a place of extreme pain and sorrow. It is the practice of Allah in the Noble Quran to use certain words in a sense other than their primary meaning, such as in the verse: وَأَقْرَضُوا اللهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا meaning that, ‘Lend to Allah a goodly loan. ' Obviously, the primary meaning of loan' is that someone asks another for something at a time of need or helplessness with a promise of returning it at a later time, but Allah, glorified be His eminence, is free from need. Hence, in this context there is only one sense intended to be taken from the wording of ‘loan'—namely, in the sense of taking something that one then holds himself responsible to return at another time. In the very same manner, this verse: ولنبلونكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ strays from the true meaning because in common usage, one who ‘tries’ another is oblivious and unaware of the outcome which arises subse- quent to the trial, but here this is not the intended meaning. On the contrary, the purpose behind God Almighty's putting someone to trial is to expose the internal vice or internal virtue of the individual under trial. In much the same way the word 'salvation' has been used in a sense different from its primary meanings, and this explanation is established by another verse, which is: 1. Surah al-Hadid, 57:19 [Publisher] 2. And We will try you with something of fear and hunger (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:156). [Publisher]