Surah 25:20
Show Full Scripture Context (25:20) — 1 Verse
وَمَآ أَرۡسَلۡنَا قَبۡلَكَ مِنَ ٱلۡمُرۡسَلِينَ إِلَّآ إِنَّهُمۡ لَيَأۡكُلُونَ ٱلطَّعَامَ وَيَمۡشُونَ فِي ٱلۡأَسۡوَاقِۗ وَجَعَلۡنَا بَعۡضَكُمۡ لِبَعۡضٖ فِتۡنَةً أَتَصۡبِرُونَۗ وَكَانَ رَبُّكَ بَصِيرٗا
We have not sent any of the envoys before you, except that they indeed ate food and walked about in the markets. We have made some of you a test for others: ‘Will you be patient?’ Your Lord is seeing.
Allah tells us about the previous Messengers He sent: they all used to eat food needing the nourishment in it. They used to go around in the marketplaces seeking to engage in trade and earn a livelihood. This should not, however, affect their status as Messengers, for Allah gave them good characteristics and caused them to speak fine words and do noble deeds, and gave them miracles and clear proofs, from which any person with sound insight may see the confirmation that what they brought from Allah was true. This Ayah is similar to the Ayat,
{And We did not create them bodies that ate not food} (21:8).
means, ‘We test some of you by means of others, so that We may see who will be obedient and who will be disobedient.’ Allah says:
meaning, He knows who deserves to receive revelation, as Allah says elsewhere:
{Allah knows best with whom to place His Message} (6:124).
And He knows who deserves to be guided to the Message with which He sent them, and who does not deserve to be guided.
Muhammad bin Ishaq said: Allah is saying, “If I had willed that the world be such that no one would oppose My Messengers, I could have made it so, but I wanted to test My servants by means of them.”
In Sahih Muslim it is narrated from ‘Iyad bin Himar that the Messenger of Allah said:
«Allah says : " I will test you and test others by means of you." »
In the Sahih it is recorded that he, was given the choice between being a Prophet and king, or being a servant and Messenger, and he chose to be a servant and Messenger.