Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says in the Qur’an:
“When Taloot (the king chosen by Allah for Bani Israel) marched forth with his army (to fight the tyrant Jaloot and his men), he cautioned: ‘Allah will test you with a river. So whoever drinks ˹his fill˺ from it, is not with me, and whoever does not taste it – except a sip from the hollow of his hands – is definitely with me.’ They all drank ˹their fill˺ except for a few! When he and the ˹remaining˺ faithful with him crossed the river, they said: ‘Now we are no match for Jaloot and his warriors.’ But those ˹believers˺ who were certain they would meet Allah reasoned: ‘How many times has a small force vanquished a mighty army by the Will of Allah! And Allah is ˹always˺ with the patient.’” [Al-Baqarah 2 : 249]
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When Taloot and his army marched out to fight Jaloot, Taloot cautioned them in advance that Allah would test them with a river. Taloot said that whoever drank from it would not belong in the army. What was permissible was just a scoop of water from the cup of one’s hands. However when they reached that river, they all drank to their fill, except only a few.
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Some scholars said that the river mentioned in the ayah is like the dunya – so take from the dunya what is necessary and never at the expense of our Deen. Don’t fill our hearts too much with dunya, because we will be obsessed by it. We need to have self-control.
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How do we have self-control? How can we overcome tests from Allah?
By believing that we can pass the tests! Because Allah will not give you tests which you could not pass. He subhanahu wa ta’ala says:
لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفۡسًا إِلَّا وُسۡعَهَا
Laa yukallifullaahu nafsaan illaa wus’aha.
“Allah does not require of a soul something, except that it is within its capacity.” [Surah Al-Baqarah 2: 286]
Allah commands us to pray Fajr – that means we can wake up and pray.
Allah prohibits backbiting and slandering – that means we can quit from doing those things.
And there are so many examples regarding this.
One of the best ways to be able to have self-control, is to believe that you CAN HAVE self-control! Allah will never assign you something that you cannot withstand.
