وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۖ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا۟ وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ ٱلْكَٰذِبِينَ
Commentary:
The verse means to say that believers are made to pass through great hardships and privations and that their belief is put to a severe test, and after they come out of the ordeal successful the fact becomes established that they are true and sincere servants of God, and thus they are distinguished from the hypocrites and from those who are false in their profession of faith. علم (‘Ilm) which means knowledge, is of two kinds. One kind of knowledge consists in knowing a thing before it comes into existence. This kind of knowledge is not meant here because God is عالم الغیب و الشھادة i.e. He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen (59:23). The other kind of knowledge consists in knowing an event after it has actually taken place. It is in this sense that the expression فلیعلمن has been used in the present verse. The expression signifies that the primeval knowledge of God will take the form of matter-of-fact knowledge. Or it means that God will distinguish between the liars and the truthful as the word علم (‘Ilm) also possesses the sense of distinguishing between two things, particularly when it is followed by the particle من i.e. from. See also 2:144 & 3:141.
‘Ilm (knowledge) is of two kinds: (a) That which consists in knowing a thing before it comes into existence. This kind of knowledge is not meant here because God is the Knower of the seen and the unseen (59:23). (b) The kind of knowledge which consists in knowing an event after it has actually taken place. It is this knowledge which is meant here. The verse signifies that the primeval knowledge of God will take the form of the matter of fact knowledge. Or, it means that God will distinguish the liars from the truthful as the word ‘Ilm also possesses the sense of distinguishing between two things, particularly when it is followed by the particle min (from). See also 2:144 and 3:141.
Believers are made to pass through great hardships and privations and their belief is put to a severe test, and it is after they come out of the ordeal successfully that the fact becomes established that they are true and sincere servants of God. It is in this way that they are distinguished from t