Surah Kahf Day: Patience is waiting

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

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

We cannot go through life without patience and we will miss out a lot by impatience. We learn this from the story of Musa and Al-Khidr in Surah Kahf. Al-Khidr had warned Musa that he would not be able to have patience to learn from him.

"Indeed, with me you will never be able to have patience. (67) And how can you have patience for what you do not encompass in knowledge?" [Qur'an Al-Kahf 18:57-68]

Nonetheless, Al-Khidr allowed Musa to follow him with a condition, "(Then, if you follow me, ask me not about anything) do not initiate any discussion of the matter."

But Musa was not patient when Al-Khidr did those things that were contrary to his law (of goodness, mercy and justice)-- damaging the boat belonging to some poor fishermen, killing an innocent boy and helping people of a town who were inhospitable to them.

[Al-Khidhr] said, "Did I not say that with me you would never be able to have patience?" (72) [Surah Kahf 18:72]

[Al-Khidhr] said, "Did I not tell you that with me you would never be able to have patience?" (75) [Surah Kahf 18:75]

Our religion is predicated upon humility. Mind and notions cannot reach the Divine. We cannot grasp Allah. We can't even understand so many aspects of a human being, let alone Allah, His decree, His actions, and so on. The mind and intellect has limits.

Al-Khidr told Musa that, "My knowledge and your knowledge, in comparison to Allah's knowledge, is like what this bird has taken out of the sea (with its beak)."

'Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn `Abbas that Ubayy bin Ka`b said: "Whenever the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, mentioned anyone, he would pray for himself first. One day he said: (May the mercy of Allah be upon us and upon Musa. If he had stayed with his companion he would have seen wonders, but he said, (`If I ask you anything after this, keep me not in your company, you have received an excuse from me.')

Before they parted, Al-Khidr said: "This is the parting between you and I, I will tell you the interpretation of (those) things over which you were not able to be patient." [Qur'an Al-Kahf 18:78]

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

وَدِدْنَا أَنَّ مُوسَى كَانَ صَبَرَ حَتَّى يَقُصَّ اللهُ عَلَيْنَا مِنْ خَبَرِهِمَا

We wish that Musa was patient so that Allah would have told us more about both of them.

Waiting (whether for answer or otherwise) is difficult for many people. But patience is waiting. No passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience. The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.

The bottomline is that Allah is merciful, compassionate, wise and beautiful. His mercy, compassion, wisdom and beauty permeate all of creation. Anything of that which we cannot appreciate in this life shall become manifest in full clarity in the next life.

And we be patient and do our job, worshipping Him and submitting to His Will. We respect Him because He Most High is worthy of all praise and respect, utterly transcendent above creation and independent of creation, while all of creation is in absolute need of Him.

May Allah increase us in His Knowledge and grant us patience. And Success is from Allah alone. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers and keep making du'as for MH370 and all on board and their families. Jazakum Allahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam