Can a true believer be subjected to humiliating calamities and scandals that make him an object of people's ridicule? And can a believing woman fall victim to rape? And can a believer be forced to beg? And how does that reconcile with the texts regarding God's preservation of and defense of the believer?

There is no impediment to a believer being afflicted with calamities and tribulations in this worldly life, for it is a realm of trial and test. The trial may be through good or evil, due to divine wisdoms. Many prophets, imams, and scholars, such as Jurayj and Imam Malik, were afflicted and they endured patiently, thus attaining elevation in this world and the hereafter. Tribulation remains a divine custom and is a means for expiating sins and elevating ranks. Believers deal with it through patience, supplication, and steadfastness.