Are You Patient?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Patience in Arabic, sabr, is an active word. It is withholding yourself from what you want to do in view of a greater advantage.

In the morning you want to sleep in but you don't carry out your desire to sleep in in view of the greater advantage of the reward from Allah. You get up and pray a few raka'as of tahajjud prayer. You feel a desire to not give charity but you withhold that desire and reach deep down into your pockets and give the charity. It is also carrying out what you intended to do. You resolve to memorize the entire Qur'an, so rain or shine you keep memorizing that 3 lines after each prayer, that you resolve to do to reach your goal, until you memorize the entire Qur'an (for example). This is the essence of sabr about human.

The higher patience is avoiding the bad and disobedience. You want to look at something unlawful, but you restrain that desire in view of a greater advantage, i.e. avoiding Allah's anger. You want to eat something doubtful but you hold what you want to avoid getting into the unlawful territory.

The patient is a very strong person. He is the one who have a grip upon himself.

The highest level of patience and the hardest is patient of bearing things which are disliked. People are insulting you or slandering you, or somebody put you in jail, or you lose someone beloved to you to cancer or some fatal illness, or you had a stroke which paralyzed one side of your body. You want to complain, you want to be bitter, you want to say "I can't believe this is happening to me!" or "Why me?", but you grip all that very tight and bear your difficulty with your face up strong. You are not complaining because you know this is the destiny of Allah. This is the highest rank of the patient. Those who don't complain about the destiny of Allah, they have a tremendous reward with Allah.

In the world of the Divine, the Sabur is the One who delays punishment on sinners to a determined time and then seizes them or relents, it is up to Him.

You give your children everything and you are kind to them but then they shout at you, or they might insult you, or they might swear at you, or they break your things, or they defy your every instructions. You might get upset and angry. You might shout at them or hit them or punish them. You might ground them or take their favorite things away as a punishment but you would still feed them, clothe them and shelter them. You don't destroy them because you are stronger than them by virtue of being a parent.

Allah has given us much more than we could ever give to our children and Allah's power is much greater than our power over our children. Our crimes against Allah are much greater than the crimes of children against their parents. If Allah wanted to take everyone because they are bad, He would have destroyed everyone and there would not be anyone left on this earth. But Allah has given everyone a respite despite what they are doing and that is His Sabr. He leaves us alone for a time. He still feeds us, shelters us and answers our prayers. Some of us come back to Him and feel His kindness but some of us continue the way they are. Then Allah will come at the appointed time and show the reality of our actions.

Whoever knows that Allah is Al-Sabur, he loves Him for His gentleness with His slaves and is not safe from His planning in any of his states, because He delays but does not ignore.

So how do we know that we are doing something right or wrong? It is by measuring ourselves against the Prophets, against their teachings and we follow that as our rule. We make that our guideline as where we stand.

When difficult times come we should not be complaining, but we should control ourselves. Likewise, in times of well being, it is also a trial. We shouldn't look at people whose houses have been destroyed in the Tsunami and think they have been tried and we are not being tried. We all are being tried. Some are tried in the worship of Al-Sabr while others are tried in the worship of Al-Shakur. Worship of Al-Shakur is even harder than worship of Al-Sabr. If the Tsunami victims have Faith/Iman in their hearts, they will naturally come back to Allah but somebody who live in houses that dazzle people's eyes, even if they believe in Allah, they might forget to be grateful.

We should fulfill our resolve even in times of well being. We should constantly strive to attain patience. We show patience in acts of obedience, in avoiding sins, in tribulations and punishments until patience become a state and a trait which is always with us--there is no more bitterness, no more asking why. You are satisfied and content with the Will of Allah. In this case tribulation becomes blessing and trial transforms into mercy.

Patience is not that you don't mention the tribulations through words or utterances but you don't object in your heart to what was destined. You complain your sorrows to Allah but not to people or to yourself.

A great imam once said, "The patient with the command of Allah should be like the dead body in the hands of the washer, turning as he wills."

The dead body being washed cannot say, "Excuse me, you missed a spot!", "Excuse me you haven't washed this side!" The dead body just turned whichever the washer turns him. That's how the patient should be with Allah's destiny.

May Allah give us sabr in obeying Him, in avoiding acts of disobedience, and make us extremely patient (sabur) in trials and well being. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. JazakAllahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam