``Do people think they will be left alone if they say we believe without being tested?''

      The Arabic, ``YOF.TA.NOON'' from its roat word, ``FITNEH'' refers to a goldsmith who applies fire to his melting pot, in order to burn out the dross and purify the gold.

      When God puts a believer in trial or test, it is of course not for acquiring a knowledge; that, Allah is All-knowing and knows everything the best, even before they are created. Therefore, the word to know has been used here in the sense of test and trial, which means to make something known if it is hidden. Allah rather wants here to make something known. For such trials; much pain, sorrow, and trouble, might accompany, not because they are good things in themselves but because they will purify the soul of Man, and will reveal and make known the merits that are hidden in the believers and to improve their mental and spiritual capacities.

      On the other hand, faith and belief is a function of the heart, and not something to adorn the tip of the tongue. What of a thing, to say ``YES'' by the tongue and to reject it by all means. It must be tried and tested so as to be made known to all relevant people and things.

      This world of us here is like a university or similar to a farm-land. In a university the programme is to develop the abilities and talents of students.

      And in a farm land the plan is to sow a seed. It then has to sprout up and grow to show its inner world of the seed and to bring it from power to effect and to make it to bear fruit.

      Therefore, when a man tests a man, he intends to discover something unknown to him, but when God tests a man, He may intend to bring something to effect, or else to train.