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THE STAGE OF PATIENCE – II
Just as disobedience is the reason behind all forms of misery and wretchedness, patience with disobedience is the reason behind all forms of success and superiority. It is the patience of those who love Allah The Almighty and know His might and majesty. It is the patience of those young people beset by desires and evil objects that are beautified for them and the call, “Come! Everything is ready for you,” gets louder in theirears but they raise the slogan {I seek the refuge of Allah. Indeed, He is my Master, who has made good my residence. Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed.} Such people have rightly venerated Allah The Almighty and recognized His favors upon them and therefore they are too bashful to let Allah The Almighty watch them disobeying Him.
If they fall into the trap of disobediences that sullies them, they soon purify themselves with tears of repentance and regret. They are the pious people. In the Quran, Allah The Almighty mentioned that it is one of the characteristics of the pious people that they might commit immorality. Nevertheless, the difference between the pious and the wretched is that when the former commits an act of disobedience, he immediately asks for forgiveness, repents and returns to his Lord with hope and fear. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous. Who spend [in the cause of Allah ] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people – and Allah loves the doers of good; And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins – and who can forgive sins except Allah ? – and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know.} [Quran 3: 133-135]
We need to take into consideration the reality of life and not speak from lofty towers. This is because reality forces us to say that there are many evil things and desires and the youth easily find seduction everywhere. Do you not agree with me?
Hence, the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) told us that there will be days of patience and knew about the desires and seductive means that would follow, and therefore he promised the patient a double reward. Once, the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said to his Companions may Allaah be pleased with them: “‘After you there will come the days of patience (i.e., days which require patience). During those (days) the reward for the one who adheres to the Commands of Allah will be equivalent to the reward of fifty of you.’ They said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, the reward of fifty of them?’ He said: ‘Nay, it is the reward of fifty of you.’”
Does not this great reward eagerly urge us to be patient with this perishable life in order to attain the pleasure of the immortal life?
You should know that if you prefer desires, comfort, play and entertainment, they quickly end. Nevertheless, the consequences will be great, unrelenting pain whose suffering and torture are harder, more difficult and continuous than the suffering of keeping patience with the prohibitions of Allah The Almighty as well as obedience to Him and contradicting one’s personal desires for His sake. [Al-Fawaa’id by Ibn Al-Qayyim]
The rewards of those who are patient:
To those young people who are patient with obeying their Lords; to those young people who were called to disobedience and they responded, “We fear Allah” truly, your reward is great. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account.”} [Quran 39: 10]
The following are some aspects of their reward:
Being loved by Allah The Almighty: What would you do if you knew that Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, loves you? What would you do if you knew that the Prophet, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, loves you? What would you do if you knew that Allah, the King of the Universe, loves you? Have you not heard before the verse in which Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And Allah loves the patient} [Quran 3: 146]?
O you who are patient with obedience, Allah The Almighty loves you. He loves a person who wakes up from his deep sleep, removes the bedcovers, stands up with his limbs shivering from the cold, performs ablution correctly and responds to the call of Allah The Almighty for prayer. Allah The Almighty loves someone who severs his (unlawful) relationship with a girl and seeks a way of satisfying Him.
The prize of the heavens: Words cannot describe the great scene that will be granted to the person who was patient out of love for Allah The Almighty. You put your foot in a garden the vastness of which is like the heavens and earth and forget all forms of misery, trial, fatigue and tiredness that you experienced in this worldly life. The angels are receiving you from everywhere because you are the guest of The Most Merciful. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Gardens of perpetual residence; they will enter them with whoever were righteous among their fathers, their spouses and their descendants. And the angels will enter upon them from every gate, [saying], “Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured. And excellent is the final home.”} [Quran 13: 23-24]
Patience is better for the patient: In a Hadeeth (narration), the Messenger of Allah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: “Strange is the matter of the believer as all his matters are good, and this is only for the believer. If a good thing befell him, he would be grateful (to Allah) and this would be good for him; and if an evil thing befell him, he would be patient and this would be good for him.”
Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {But if you are patient – it is better for those who are patient.} [Quran 16: 126]
How to achieve patience?
There are several means through which a Muslim can achieve this noble value and great act of worship. The following are the most important means:
• Reflect on the great reward of patience. One has to reflect on the good reward for those who are patient in the two worlds.
• Seek help from Allah The Almighty who Says (what means): {Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate one when he calls upon Him and removes evil and makes you inheritors of the earth?} [Quran 27: 62]
Allah The Almighty is able to grant you this noble quality and make it one of your characteristics. So you should constantly ask Him to grant you this.
• It is something beautiful that the young man reviews the biographies of those who are guiding beacons in patience. There are also youths who live among us now steadfast on obedience and far away from disobedience. When you constantly reflect on them, your soul yearns to join them and become among those who are patient. So, you should not say that their way is difficult, because the Helper is Able. Rather, you should ask The One Who gave them, seek from Him because He is your Lord and theirs. It could happen that a poor man finds a treasure and an unimportant person obtains a great virtue. [Al-Mud-hish by Ibn Al-Jawzi]
Allah The Almighty Says (what means) through the words of Ya‘qoob, may Allah exalt his mention: {So patience is most fitting. And Allah is The One sought for help against that which you describe.} [Quran 12:
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