Ordeals And Admonition

Imam Ali (AS) said, when he set out to pray for rain, ‘Allah tries His servants when they commit evil deeds, with shortage of crops, disallowance of blessings and closing the treasury of bounties, so that a repenting man may repent, a man likely to quit may quit, a man likely to remember may remember, and a man likely to be deterred may be deterred.

Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘No more than forty nights can pass on a believer without something that saddens him and causes him to remember [Allahs admonition].

Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘When Allah wants good for a servant who commits a sin, He follows it with a punishment and reminds him to ask for forgiveness. But if Allah, wants bad for a servant who commits a sin, He follows it with a favor that makes him forget to ask for forgiveness and continue sinning. This is the meaning of Allahs verse, “We will draw them imperceptibly [into ruin], whence they do not know”: with favors whenever they sin.