Preparing For Ramadhan -- Master The Art Of Patience

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate 

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam. 

When we console the afflicted, we would not tell them they are lucky. The Quran flip it around by telling those who are afflicted they are lucky.

 

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ ﴿١٥٥

And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, [Quran, Al Baqarah 2:155]

Allah blessed those who are being afflicted and patient. When Allah loves somebody, He afflicts them with some calamity. The more He loves them the more they are tested. When you are undergoing misfortune, rather than feeling depressed, flip it around because Allah has chosen you.

 

Patience is a tool to cope with the problems around us. Allah is telling us that patience is our way out -- to get to that light at the end of that long tunnel. Don't look at it as something negative but rather your life line that can pull you out. 

 

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن نَّبِيٍّ قَاتَلَ مَعَهُ رِبِّيُّونَ كَثِيرٌ فَمَا وَهَنُوا لِمَا أَصَابَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ وَمَا ضَعُفُوا وَمَا اسْتَكَانُوا ۗ وَاللَّـهُ يُحِبُّ الصَّابِرِينَ ﴿١٤

 

Many a Prophet there has been, with whom thousands manifold have fought, and they fainted not for what smote them in God's way, neither weakened, nor did they humble themselves; and God loves the patient.  [Quran, AleImran 3:146]

Those who are troubled, struggling, in pain, feel abandoned and that no one loves them. But Allah tells them Allah loves those who are patient. The Quran comes and Allah counsel the believers explicitly,

 

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ ﴿١٥٣

 

O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient. [Quran, Al Baqarah 2:153] 

 

And Allah praises those who are patient. 

 

 وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ ۗ أُولَـٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا ۖ وَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ ﴿١٧٧ ....

 

....and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous. [Quran, Al Baqarah 2:177]

 

Linguistically الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ (ba'sa', dharra', heenal ba'as) have similar meanings yet each one takes a diffient connotation. Ba'sa' is difficulty of financial tightness -- you are in debt, you owe people; dharra is diffculty when in sickness, when body is in pain; heenal ba'as is diffciulty during times of actual battle or civil war. And Allah mentions these three in order of difficulty because out of them financial difficulty is least worrisome, sickness much more difficult than financial, and then civil war is not doubt the worst of them -- when you have bombs dropping, people attacking and you are driven away o ut of your homes (in case of refugees). Some of us have all of them. You need patience to cope with any of these.

 

Allah is telling us, as we are going through financial problems or battling sickness or deteriorating political situation, not to worry, that He will take care of us. Allah reminds us that leadership and nobility is arrived by the mechanism of patience. The struggle must be with patience.

 

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا لَمَّا صَبَرُوا ۖ وَكَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا يُوقِنُونَ ﴿٢٤

 

And We made from among them leaders guiding by Our command when they were patient and [when] they were certain of Our signs. [Quran, As-Sajda 32:24]

 

The only way Allah will raise you to become imam is when you are patient in calamities. You are not alone and you are not abandoned but you are being raised up by Allah to become imam.

 

فَاصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ وَلَا تَسْتَعْجِل لَّهُمْ ۚ كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ مَا يُوعَدُونَ لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلَّا سَاعَةً مِّن نَّهَارٍ ۚ بَلَاغٌ ۚ فَهَلْ يُهْلَكُ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ ﴿٣٥

 

So be patient, [O Muhammad], 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] except an hour of a day. [This is] notification. And will [any] be destroyed except the defiantly disobedient people? [Quran, Al Ahqaf 46:35] 

 

The most elite of the prophets (the ulul adhmi) are five (Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa alayhimussalaam, and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam). What have made them people of fortitude? Because they displayed patience. When you are undergoing struggle and you display patience, you become role model for others. 

 

Patience is the crux of iman (faith in Allah). We can't have iman without patience. 

 

Allah reminds us that He is the One who gives patience (sabr). Nobody say sabr is easy. You have to control youself, you have to control your tongue, you have to control your anger, you have to control your desires, and you don't act immaturely. 

 

وَاصْبِرْ وَمَا صَبْرُكَ إِلَّا بِاللَّـهِ ۚ وَلَا تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا تَكُ فِي ضَيْقٍ مِّمَّا يَمْكُرُونَ ﴿١٢٧

 

And be patient, [O Muhammad], and your patience is not but through Allah. And do not grieve over them and do not be in distress over what they conspire. [Quran, An-Nahl 16:127] 

 

Remember always, sabr can only come from Allah. If you are suffering but still displaying patience, this means Allah has opened the doors directly for you. This means Allah is shovering you with sabr. The fact that you are still keeping your solat, your fasting, your charity, your iman, your taqwa and accepting Allah's Qadr, while going through the pain and suffering, the door is open for you. 

 

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was told to be patient. Allah is the One who put you in that situation and has done it for the wisdom known only to Him, and He is the One who give you the sabr. He wants to raise your rank higher and higher and He wants to make you a leader. 

 

How to gain patience? 

 

You will get patience by simply desire patience. Your heart has to want to be patient. Always ask Allah for forgiveness and patience. Of the ways to maintain patience is through fasting. Patience and fasting are interlinked. Fasting is half of sabr. Ramadhan is the month that you can master the art of sabr. Make sure you fast properly. Look into Ramadhan to perfect patience so that, in shaa Allah, we have this tool of patience for the rest of our lives to utilize to overcome trials and tribulations. Understand that at the end of the day, this is the world of tests and calamities. It is not a place of eternal peace. The ultimate happiness is not in this world. That will be in the next world. This world is one problem today and another problem tomorrow. Only through our sabr that we will attain ultimate blessings in the next and raise our ranks in Jannah. That is the goal. To attain that goal we have to master patience. Fast this Ramadhan and fast properly. 

 

May Allah allow us to reach Ramadhan. May Allah grant us patience and raise our ranks to the highest. Aameen.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam. 

And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all. 

Wassalaam