The Beauty of Being Patient When Tested

And seek help in patience and As-Salaah (the prayer) and truly, it is extremely heavy and hard except for Al-Khaashi‘oon [i.e. the true believers in Allaah — those who obey Allaah with full submission, fear much from His punishment, and believe in His Promise (Paradise) and in His Warnings (Hell)] — Qur’an 2[Al-Baqarah]:45

The last few issues of Juma’h Nugget has been revolving around life trials from an objective lens. It’s been an admonition to me first before it reaches you — our dear readers. The feedback has been electric as many of you have been able to connect the dots, Alhamdulillah! We all aspire to lead a happy life and in the pursuit of happiness, sometimes things fall apart. So one solution to many life challenges is what we are about to discuss today — patience!.

Of all human virtues, patience is the most beautiful and as well the hardest to implement. It is beautiful because patience solves all problems; you only need to give it time. Its difficulty stems from the fact that man is always in a state of haste. When he crawls, he quickly wants to stand and walk. After he starts walking, the next goal is to begin running. And this is the inherent nature of man, exploring the 'sharp-sharp' route.

Narrated Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him): The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

Whoever would be patient, then Allah will make him patient. There is no gift that is better and more comprehensive than patience. (Bukhāri)̄

Patience is at first strike

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed by a woman who was weeping beside a grave. The Prophet said to her: Be mindful of Allah and be patient. She said, “Go away from me, for you have not been afflicted by a calamity like mine!” And she did not recognize him. Then, she was told that it was the Prophet, so she went to the house of the Prophet and she did not find any bodyguards there. She said to him, “I did not recognize you.” The Prophet said: Verily, patience is at the first strike. (Sahih Bukhari)

Many of us would have found ourselves in situations similar to that of this woman. When we are tested, we feel we’ve been afflicted with a great loss. And sometimes, we even express ourselves with the wrong words. What calamity is greater than those which the men of God went through? When God loves His servants, he puts them through tests in form of afflictions. The messenger of God lost both parents before maturity and buried six of his kids in his life time. Mary’am the mother of Jesus was a pious and chaste woman, she single-handedly bore her son in pains; yet she was accused of adultery. Can we count how many times the children of Israel tried to frustrate Moses? These were all trials but they responded with patience and perseverance.

Narrated Umm Salamah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (S) say: “There is no Muslim who is stricken with a calamity and says what Allaah has enjoined — ‘Verily to Allaah we belong and unto Him is our return. O Allaah, reward me for my affliction and compensate me with something better’ — but Allaah will compensate him with something better.” — (Muslim)

The virtue of being patient

Patience is a comprehensive virtue in Islam, the life of a Muslim resonates around it. For it encapsulates: perseverance, endurance, forbearance, diligence, and restraint. This is a rare trait that develops only in the heart of a Mu’meen — the true believer. So patience is a treasure and beautiful patience is one without disquietude. It is vast in meaning and a virtue that was mentioned in the Qur’an over ninety times. This is a characteristic ascribed to the Prophets and the truthful servants of the Merciful Lord.

Al-Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim in his work ‘Uddat al-Ṣābirīn, mentioned that patience is divide into three components:

• Patience in worshiping Allah and adhering to His commands.
• Patience in avoiding sins and acts of disobedience.
• Patience with the decree of Allah and calamities.

The first aspect is to have perseverance in fulfilling the obligations of Islam such as prayer, charity, and fasting.

Allah said:

O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer. Verily, Allah is with the patient. — Qur’an 2[Al-Baqarah]:153

Regarding the second aspect of patience, it is to be diligent in avoiding sins and acts of disobedience.

Allah said:

So be patient as were those of determination among the messengers and do not be impatient for them. It will be on the Day they see that which they are promised as though they had not remained in the world but an hour of a day. This is a notification, and will any be destroyed except the defiantly disobedient? — Qur’an46[Al-Ahqaf]:35

And as for the third aspect of patience, it is to be content with the decree of Allah at the time of calamity.

Allah said:

Luqman said: O my son, establish prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over what befalls you. Verily, that is among the matters requiring determination. — Quran 31[Luqman]:17

Everything patience befalls is beautiful

The perfection of these three aspects together is called beautiful patience. This was the characteristic of the Prophets of God and His righteous servants who seek nearness to Him.

So be patient with beautiful patience. — Qur’an 70[Al-Ma’arij]:4

The prophet, peace be upon him told us in a beautiful hadith thus:

“…Be mindful of Allah, you will find Him before you. Get to know Allah in prosperity and He will know you in adversity. Know that what has passed you by was not going to befall you; and that what has befallen you was not
going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and ease with hardship.” — (Muslim)

Henceforth, see any delay or disappointment as a blessing. You never know where your story line is going to end. What exists between your current state and the change you seek is just a thin line. So find the strength to carry on, be consistent and have faith like the birds in the sky. Never compromise your standards for a piece of cake. Calmness comes right after the storm. So hold on to patience with a beautiful patience and in sha Allah you will smile to tell a good story in the long run.

Finally, let’s take solace in the golden words of Allah which has been a solution to all life challenges from time immemorial:

By the time, verily mankind is in loss except for those who have faith and perform righteous deeds and enjoin one another to truth and enjoin one another to patience. — Qur’an 103 [Al-Asr]:1–3

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