(O Muhammad!): If they do not believe in this message, you will perhaps torment yourself to death with grief, sorrowing over them. Surely, We have made all that is on the earth an embellishment for it in order to test people as to who of them is better in conduct. In the ultimate, We shall reduce all that is on the earth to a barren plain.
(Al-Qur’ān – 18:6-8)
The verse 18:6 refers to the condition of the Holy Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) at the time when he was inviting the Makkans to the Truth and they were rejecting it. It is evident that he was not grieved primarily because of the persecution to which he and his Companions were subjected. What really grieved him and caused him intense suffering was the realisation that while he sincerely wished to salvage his people from the doctrinal error and moral corruption in which they were steeped they, however, showed no readiness to get out of the rut in which they were in. The verse apparently states that the Messenger is so intensely concerned with the welfare of his people that he might lose his life. It also contains a message of consolation for the Messenger, for it also tells him that he is not to blame for the failure of his people to believe. The unbelievers fail to appreciate that the opportunities for enjoyment are in fact simply a means of testing how people behave. The day this test ends, this life will be brought to an end.