Well, clearly the Qu'ran teaches that believers are rewarded in this life, including with material well-being. For the sake of consistency wouldn't that imply that unbelievers do not get these rewards or are even punished for their disbelief?
Let me rephrase. Does the Qu'ran teach that disbelievers or even 'evil-doers' get punished in this life as well as the next?
The Qu'ran teaches that some disbelievers will recieve a torment in this life so that they may ponder and perhaps be guided. I.E. they may wonder why their life is so difficult and unblessed, and search for God, and His help, whereby being guided. Other disbelievers, particularly the hypocrites [that is, people who claim to believe in one God, but in their hearts do not believe] are rarely tested with trial and affliction, all of their good deeds being wasted on this life, and in the hereafter, according to one Hadith, they will come to Allah [swt] on the day of judgement with good deeds behind them the size of mountains and everyone will be impressed, until Allah [swt] destroys that mountain, and sends them to hell in humiliation.
But there can be exceptions to either rule... for example, a hypocrite Allah [swt] may test hard in order to bring him to the right path, and so on. I understand the Qu'ran, when it mentions *groups* such as "disbelievers" and "Hypocrits" to be speaking in general terms, implying that there may always be exceptions according to the wisdom of Allah [swt].
As for the believers, the Prophet Muhammad [saas] said that there will be some Muslims who have an easy life, and an easy death, and an easy hereafter, and we should all pray to be among them. -The implication being that some Muslims will not have an easy life or an easy death. But even if their life isn't easy, Allah [swt] will make them content, because there is a Hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad [saas] said that Allah [swt] will make everyone's way easy for him... meaning, if it is written for you that your life will be harder than others, Allah [swt] will still give you the ability to handle that with contentment.
That being said, everyone's life will have ups and downs according to our perception. Repeatedly the Qu'ran calls us to witness the changing of the seasons as a sign, giving life to the dead vegetation, and so on, and says that it is a sign to those who ponder. The Qu'ran mentions the lives of various Prophets, and one of the things constant between all of them is that their life was very difficult when they first started preaching monotheism to their people, but eventually the help of Allah [swt] came and they were delievered from distress and difficulty.
That saying "Night is always darkest before the dawn" is a very Islamic way of thinking. The Qu'ran says, "With every difficulty there is relief" and also says that sometimes Allah [swt] will test people so hard that even Prophets and messengers and their righteous followers will wonder when the help of Allah [swt] will come, and it is at that moment that they are rescued from pain and grief, or as the Qu'ran puts it, it is at that moment that "verily, the help of God is nigh..."
), but because I believe that it is the best way to be in relationship with God, and to serve him.
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