Lesson 4 of 6 · Living with an open question
Being tested in this is the expected condition
The verse first, because it settles what being tried in your faith means, and it does not mean that something has gone wrong with you. Then the research on what is actually being aimed at.
Qur’an and Sunnah
What being tried in your faith means, and it does not mean something has gone wrong with you. Being tested is put as the expected condition rather than as the exception.
أَحَسِبَ ٱلنَّاسُ أَن يُتۡرَكُوٓاْ أَن يَقُولُوٓاْ ءَامَنَّا وَهُمۡ لَا يُفۡتَنُونَ
Do people think they will be left alone after saying ‘We believe’ without being put to the test
Qur’an 29:2
The verse that finishes the thought, and it puts the testing in a line stretching back rather than as something singled out for you.
وَلَقَدۡ فَتَنَّا ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡۖ فَلَيَعۡلَمَنَّ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُواْ وَلَيَعۡلَمَنَّ ٱلۡكَٰذِبِينَ
We tested those who went before them: God will certainly mark out which ones are truthful and which are lying
Qur’an 29:3
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Intolerance of uncertainty sits at the centre of chronic worry and separated people with generalised anxiety from others. What is hard is not knowing, rather than the particular thing not known.
Sets out intolerance of uncertainty as a central component of chronic worry, and found it distinguished people with generalised anxiety disorder from others. The point that carries over here is that the difficulty is with not knowing itself, rather than with the particular thing that is unknown.
Dugas MJ, Gagnon F, Ladouceur R, Freeston MH (1998). Generalized anxiety disorder: a preliminary test of a conceptual model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36(2), 215 to 226 doi
Fear of the unknown may sit underneath a wide range of anxiety problems rather than belonging to any one of them. If that is right, working on your relationship with not knowing pays off in more than one place.
Reviews the models built on uncertainty and argues that fear of the unknown may sit underneath a wide range of anxiety problems rather than belonging to any one of them.
Carleton RN (2016). Into the unknown: a review and synthesis of contemporary models involving uncertainty. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 39, 30 to 43 doi