Allah, ta^ala, said in the Qur’an
(يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَعِينُواْ بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ إِنَّ
اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ)
Ista^inu bis-sabri was-Salati innallaha ma^as-sabirin.
Ayah 153 of Suratul-Baqarah means: {Strengthen yourselves by
patience and prayer, and know that God supports the patient people{
Patience is among the obligations of the heart. It is of three
kinds:
- Patience in performing what Allah made obligatory.
- Patience in avoiding what Allah made unlawful.
- Patience with hardships and calamities.
Patience in performing the obligations: is forcing oneself to
perform the obligations like praying on time, fasting the month of
Ramadan, attending the circles of knowledge to learn the Islamic
obligatory knowledge, and other obligations, even if one feels lazy
to do them.
Patience in avoiding what Allah made unlawful: is restraining
oneself from committing the sins. It takes a lot of effort to stop
oneself from committing the unlawful, like leaving out the prayer,
drinking alcohol, stealing, and other unlawful matters. It is one’s
nature to lean towards laziness and easy coming pleasures, even if
they are unlawful.
Patience with hardships and calamities: is being patient—seeking the
reward from God—with what bothers one, such as pain, hardship,
poverty, sadness, or other afflictions that befall the person in
this life, because this world is a place of calamities, tests, and a
workplace, while the Hereafter is the place for judgment. For this
type of patience to take place, one needs not to act or talk in a
way that reflects one’s impatience.
The Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said:
“إِنَّ اللهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يَقُولُ: إِذا ابْتَلَيْتُ عَبْدِي بِحَبِيبَتَيْهِ
فَصَبَرَ عَوَّضْتُهُ مِنْهُمَا الْجَنَّةَ.”
Innallaha ^azza wa jalla yaqul: idha-btalaytu ^abdiya bihabibatayhi
fasabara ^awwadtuhu minhumal-Jannah.
Which means: “If Allah inflicts on someone the calamity of losing
one’s sight and one is patient with it, then the reward of one’s
patience will be Paradise.” (Narrated by al-Bukhariyy.)
Subjugating oneself to Allah: It is obligatory upon the pubescent
person to refrain from objecting to Allah and to be content with
Allah’s Decree and Will. Subjugating oneself to Allah is among the
obligations of the heart. Objecting to Allah is a blasphemous act.
Many people fall into blasphemy because they do not subjugate
themselves to Allah, rather, they object to Him.
The Muslim should be patient and should make an effort to train
oneself in patience to get used to it. One should also rely on Allah
in all one’s matters.
I ask Allah to grant us Patience and to accept our good deeds.
