Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated that the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said in one of his sermons: If Allah the Exalted had willed, when He raised up the prophets, to place at their disposal treasures of gold, mines of pure gold, and lush gardens, and to place the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth at their command, He would have done so. But in that case there would have been no room left for trial and testing, reward and recompense would have been nullified, all the heavenly reports would have perished, those who accepted the call of the prophets (peace be upon them) would not have received the wage of trial and testing, the believers would not have deserved the reward of the righteous, and words would have lost their weight of meaning and value. Therefore, if Allah the Exalted willed to send down upon them from the sky a sign before which their necks would [involuntarily] be humbled, [He would do so], and if He did so, sedition and turmoil would subside from among the people. But Allah the Exalted made the will of His messengers strong, while outwardly He showed them as plain and unadorned, together with a contentment that fills hearts and eyes with self-sufficiency. Their poverty and want, and the hardships they endure, fill the ears and eyes. If the prophets had been so powerful that no one could stand against them, and had a might in which no defect could find a way, and a kingdom on which all eyes were fixed and which those who long would long for, then in that case people would have recognised the prophets easily and without any test, and would have had no way to rebel against the commands of the prophets (peace be upon them). But in such a state their faith would either be out of fear for their lives or out of hope of attaining the trash of the world, and in that case sincerity would not be found in intentions, and aspects other than Allah would have a share in their deeds. They would turn to good works with varied motives. But the will of Allah the Exalted was that obedience to the messengers, affirmation of the Book, humility before Him, submission to His commands, and surrender to obedience to Him, should be matters purely for Him, in which no motive other than Him has any part. And the greater and heavier the hardship and trial, the heavier will its reward be. Do you not see that Allah the Exalted has tested the earlier peoples, from the time of Adam (peace be upon him) down to the humans of today, by means of stones that bring neither benefit nor harm and have no power of sight? Allah the Exalted made those stones His Bayt al-Haram (Sacred House) and set the affairs of the people in order through it, and He founded the Bayt al-Haram, out of all the regions of the earth, in a harsh and rugged land — a land that had the smallest population among cities, where life was harder than anywhere else, and which had the least water among the regions of the Muslims. It lay between dry mountains, soft sands, low-yielding springs, and settlements with long distances between them, a place with the least rainfall throughout the year. Then He commanded Adam (peace be upon him) and his children to turn towards it. This very matter caused the Bayt al-Haram to become a place of coming and going for the children of Adam and the destination of their travels, so that they set out towards this sacred place from vast waterless and grassless deserts, scattered sea islands, and deep valleys, with hearts inclined towards it. They move their shoulders in humility and awe as they circumambulate the Kaaba, uttering the tahlil (declaration of Allah's oneness) and tasbih (glorification of Allah), and they run between Safa and Marwa while their hair is dishevelled and their clothes and bodies are covered in dust. They have cast aside their sewn garments, and they have prepared their heads for shaving the hair. All of this is a great trial, a severe test, a clear examination, a complete purification for the servants, which Allah the Exalted has made a cause of His mercy and of attaining Paradise. Had Allah the Exalted willed to found the Bayt al-Haram and the places of the Hajj rites among gardens and streams and green plains with dense fruit-laden trees, among numerous palaces and connected cities, choice wheatfields, verdant meadows, lush cultivated lands, and well-watered, well-travelled regions, then the reward would have been small in proportion to the ease and simplicity of the trial. If the foundations of the Kaaba and the stones used in it were of green emerald and red ruby, and had a special brilliance and light, then confronting doubt and hesitation would have been very easy, Satan's effort to influence hearts would have been useless, and no hidden whispering would arise in the people. But Allah the Exalted tests His servants with all kinds of hardships, makes them worship through various duties, and afflicts them with different troubles, so as to expel arrogance from their hearts and settle humility in its place, and to open the doors of His grace and mercy to them, and to place the means of His pardon and forgiveness easily within their reach — as He has said: الم* أَ حَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ یُتْرَکُوا أَنْ یَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَ هُمْ لا یُفْتَنُونَ* وَ لَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِینَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَیَعْلَمَنَّ اللهُ الَّذِینَ صَدَقُوا وَ لَیَعْلَمَنَّ الْکاذِبِینَ [Alif Lam Mim. Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, "We believe," and not be tried? And indeed We tried those before them, so Allah will surely make known those who are truthful and He will surely make known the liars].