life is a test

one thing you have to remember in being a Muslim; life is nothing but a test. yes. in Quran, people in the day of resurrection are asked "How long do you live in the world?" and they answer "no longer than a day" and some say "no longer than an evening or morning".

yes, it is like your examination; the duration to take the test is not long, maybe 2 3 hours? some might be 50 minutes. but the consequences or the result can be felt as long as a lifetime. same goes to your life. you may live long enough to do this and that (and some can be wrong) and by the time comes, as a result, you pay or are paid for your doings.

why test? i have many answers in mind. ok, why are we being tested? in order to know which slave is sincere and which one is not, the best medium is a test. it is hard to explain it this way. take high school semester as an example. let say you have mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry and history. when the result is posted, you learn that we get B+ for mathematics, biology A+, chemistry A, physics C and History B. for sure you have cut off point to pass and let say it is 2.5. oh great, you pass it but not as good as you wish for. one student got 4.00. another one got 1.25. the smart one goes to the top class (5ib yeaaayyy), you go to class-for-bright-but-not-elite, and the fail goes to E-class (it is not exclusive class even if the teacher says so).

now you see the point? living in this world, you may be given different kind of test (assume that as subjects) and get different results like fail, pass, succeed (A+, B, C and etc). surely, you will be put on different level of heaven or hellfire (5ib yeaaaaahh, 5E and 5 not-the-best-among-the-best).

i want to share one more thing about being test. life is a process of learning. learning? yes, learning, studying, being taught. how can you take a test without being taught? i don't how much people in this world going to examination hall with an empty brain (i did it once). you will be taught by the real Rab in different kind of ways. He puts you in one situation so that you can learn how to face it and how does it feel. let say you ask for brain, He will give you a problem to solve. you ask for money, He will provide you way to make money; or, He will show you people living in wealth and drought. to short the story, all praises to God, say thanks to Him.

one more answer for why we are being tested. have you ever heard the term upgrade? yes, a test is to upgrade you. it is like an engineer working on this engine to run a car. he knows the maximum potential of the engine. at first he might be satisfied with the performance of the engine that can run the car for 60mph maximum speed with 50mpg gas usage. then, he will test the engine with replacing a brand new carburetor. he finds out that the engine works better. and then he gives some more testing. some results can be categorized as fail; and some success. by the end of the test, the engine now is the best engine in the world. it is sophisticated and able to run a car in a speed of light with most-likely-to-be-endless power source.

same goes to you and me. He says "oh this kids is now comfortable with his life, why don't I test him with some panic situation" He continues "let see how this kids deals with it". so He tests us with giving this and that. sometime, we do it wrong (but please not all the time). and as a result, we, the upgraded version of us, will run His beautiful world with kindness IF WE UNDERSTAND. iza faqahu...

i guess that is all for today. this is a reminder for you and me in case we forgot. and please, correct me if i'm wrong. =)