In the Qur'an, Saul, the army leader tells his soldiers during their advance " God will test you at the stream: if any drinks of its water, he goes not with my army only those who taste not of it go with m: a mere sip out of the hand is excused, But they all drank of it except a few".
So victory in the battle is linked to victory over one's desires. Despite being thirsty, they were not to drink, they were allowed to sip only a handful of the river water. Yet, the result was, "But they all drank of it except a few".
Those few are the minority in every era and they uphold the motto:
"Resist your lust, tolerate what you hate."
The whole world is summed up in this motto.
The whole world is the river flowing below us, whereof each one of us takes some; one may only take a handful, while the other a whole pot.
Allah created this world to sort out those few people to pick them out of the whole majority.
After sorting them out, Allah admits them to His Paradise as they are the believers, the rest are fuel for desire in life.
May we be of those who resist what they just for and tolerate what they hate. =]
HAPPY RAMADAN =]