Purification and Advancement through Difficulty

When Allah ﷻ places us through difficulty, we wonder if He is angry with us, we wonder why the difficulty is happening to us, and we wonder why Allah ﷻ is testing us in this way. But if we understand the analogy of how a mother deals with her child, we can understand how Allah ﷻ treats those whom He loves. A mother loves her child, so she takes care of him. For the betterment and care of the child she will give him baths, which the child may hate to be put through and wonder why it is happening. Similarly, Allah ﷻ desires to clean us as well. In order for that cleansing to occur, Allah ﷻ sometimes sends difficulty our way, which is a means of purification. Other times, Allah ﷻ sends us a test or difficulty to advance us, as when a mother tries to teach a child to ride a bike but the child must go through the difficulty of balancing the wheels before mastering the skill. A proof of this is the life of the Prophet ﷺ — there was no one more beloved to Allah ﷻ than the Prophet ﷺ, yet there was no one more tested than him either. The Prophet ﷻ faced difficulties on a multitude of levels: hunger, discomfort, attack, threat, tragedy — from before his birth until his passing, the Prophet ﷻ dealt with the greatest of trials and tribulations. When Allah ﷻ, who loves all of us, wishes for us to become pure and clean before returning back to Him, or wishes to elevate us in rank, He sends difficulties our way. Our responsibility, irrespective of the situation, is to accept it with patience and gratitude.