Joseph (Yusuf), the Prophet, was cast into a well by his step-brother. He was saved, however, by the Almighty who blessed him with prophethood and caused him to reach a high position in Egypt. His
step-brothers were at first unaware of his success. Later, when they realized what divine favour had been shown to Joseph, they exclaimed, ‘By God, Allah has made you superior to us. ‘This was how they expressed their acknowledgement of God’s greatness.

Exactly the opposite happened in the case of the Bani Israel. The Bani Israel and the Bani Ismail were the descendants of two brothers. In early times, most of the Prophets were born into the Bani Israel. But the last of the Prophets, Muhammad, may peace be upon him, was born into the Bani Ismael. The Bani Israel turned against him, refusing to accept him as a Prophet. (AI Nisa, 54)

There are two quite different examples, one of acceptance, the other of rejection and envy. This, in fact, is the most difficult test in this world. And it will continue to be applied until Judgement Day, when God Himself will appear to make the reality known to all mankind. After that there will be nothing left to reject or to feel envious about.

The process of testing began at the time of Adam’s creation, when God ordered the angels and Satan to bow before him (i.e. before Adam) The angels adopted the positive attitude of acknowledgement, but Satan was filled with envy, and chose to disobey God by rejecting Adam’s superiority. The same happened in the case of Adam’s two sons, Habil and Qabil. God accepted the sacrifice of Habil and rejected that of Qabil. Subsequently, Habil was humble and law-abiding, but Qabil turned envious and adopted the path of rejection, and became the loser. (AI-Maidah: 30)

Every man born into this world has to go through such a test. He faces situations of recognition and rejection in one way or another. Those who practise acceptance are the victorious ones, and those who favour rejection become the failures, the attitude of non-recognition being inconsistent with God’s will. There can be no greater culprit than one who opposes God’s decrees.