وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ ١٥٥
We will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and fruits. Give good news to those who patiently endure
[Surah al- Baqarah, The Heifer (2):155]
- Fear
- Hunger
- Loss of wealth
- Loss of life
- Loss of fruits
This Ayah mentions the greatest categories of loss that a person can endure. The first is the loss of safety or comfort. Next is the loss of basic needs, such as food. Next is the loss of wealth, which puts a person into perpetual fear and hunger. Then there is loss of life, death.
Finally there is loss of fruits. Loss of fruits of labor is worse than loss of life. That is because fruits are something which often take years to develop, generations, centuries – involving the sacrifice of dozens if not hundreds of people. The loss of fruits of labor is the most devastating loss, as it is something built on the blood of possibly thousands.
There are fruits of labor within a life – within a day, a month, a year, a decade, or a life time – then fruits of labor that span across a family’s lifetime, those that span generations, those that are the products of communities, and ultimately fruits of labor that are civilizations in entirety themselves.