“(O Muhammad)! We never sent any Messengers before you but they ate food and walked about in the markets. We made some of you a means to test each by the other to see whether you remain patient. Your Lord is All-Seeing.”
(Al-Quran – 25:20)
This is a rejoinder to the objection made by the unbelievers of Makkah who would ask what kind of Prophet is this who eats and walks about in the bazaars. Makkan unbelievers knew that Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Moses and several other Prophets, even Jesus whom the Christians had taken as the son of God, ate like any other mortal as also walked about the bazaars.
The Messenger and the believers are a means by which to test the unbelievers, and vice versa. The unbelievers persecuted the believers relentlessly, but in the end this stance only served to further the cause of Islam. For after the believers had successfully passed through the crucible of persecution, the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) and his sincere followers would have been transmuted into pure, solid gold. As for those of his followers whose Faith had any element of insincerity, they would fail the test of adversity.
Once the underlying wisdom behind making the unbelievers a test for the believers and vice versa is grasped, the believers should be patient and appreciate that the hardships to which they are exposed are a very useful way of achieving the lofty purpose for which they are working. They would then be ready to face tests of even greater magnitude.