CHAPTER16

PATIENCE

Patience is Tower of Light

“Patience is a light.”(Muslim)

In the intricate paths of lifewhendifficulties and hardships confront a man, and the darkness ofadversities andsuffering becomes long, it is patience only that acts like a light foraMuslim, that keeps him safe from wandering here and there, and saveshim fromthe muddy mire of disappointment, desperation and frustration. Patienceis sucha basic quality that a Muslim needs it to shape his life in this worldand inthe next. On this basis only he should attend to all his work. Heshould makeit a torchlight for guiding his way, else he will be defeated in thefield oflife. He should prepare his self to tolerate the hardships anddifficulties,and should not holler or raise hell. He should not sit waiting for theresults,however late that may take. He should not run away fromresponsibilities,whatever they may be. No doubts and misgivings, no hardship of troubleshouldprompt his intellect to indulge in violence. He should have plenty ofself-confidence. He should not be frightened by the dark cloudsappearing onthe horizon of life, even  if they maybe appearing continually, nay, he should be fully sure that theseclouds ofadversities and hardships will disappear, and the clear and brightatmosphereof success and glory will appear again. Therefore, the demand of wisdomandfar-sightedness is that its coming should be awaited with patience,peace andconviction.

The Almighty God has stressedthis pointsufficiently that no man can escape tests and trials, so that man maybe alertand ready at the time when these hardship and difficulties descend on him, and he should not be frightened bytheseheavenly and earthly tribulations, and need not be disappointed anddisheartened.

“And verily We shall try youilltill We know those of you who still hard (in the cause of Allah) and the steadfast, and till We testyour  record.”

(Muhammed: 31)

The poet has expressed thesame idea inthese words:

“We had anticipated thehardships ofthe night before their coming. So when they descended, there was noaddition toour knowledge.”

Undoubtedly if accidents anddebacles arefaced with a clear sight and full preparations, it will proveadvantageous forman and this will help in stabilizing and consolidating his position.

The two Pillars of Patience

Patience relies on twoimportantrealities. The first reality is concerned with the nature of thisworldly life.Its details are: Allah has not made this world a house of peace andsatisfaction or of rewards and recompense, but He has made it a houseoftrials. The time that a man spends in this world is really a time forunendingexperiences. He comes out of one trial in order to undergo anothertrial whichis harder and different from the one through which he has alreadypassed, thatis man is tested once by one thing and again by its opposite, as ironis firstheated in the fire and then it is put in the water. Similarly man istested byfavorable as well as opposing means.

When Allah blessed HazratSulaiman with agrand and magnificent empire, he knew about these natural laws of theworld. Hehad said:

“This is of the bounty of myLord,that He may try me whether I give thanks or am ungrateful. Whoevergivesthanks, he only gives thanks for (the good of) his Own soul,’ andwhoever isungrateful (is ungrateful only to his own soul’s hurt). For surely, myLord isAbsolute in independence, Bountiful.”

(Nahl: 40)

 Thecauses of trial through sadness and hardships are vague andunfixed. However, we can understand them properly by the example of thesoldiers fighting in the battlefield. In the battlefield some groupsare made tofight till they have to lose their valuable lives, so that the lives ofothergroups may be saved. The security of other sections is dependent on theremaining groups being made to fight in new battles. This strategy isfollowedin the wider interest of the country and for- greater advantages, bythe greatleadership of the army In this fighting the life of a man has noimportance,because the problem is much wider.

Same is the position of luckor fate. Acertain man is put to different kinds of trials, till he falls downdefeated,as there is no other way for him, except that he should greet thehardship thathas arrived with patience and submission. Since this life is a testingground,we should strive hard for success in it.

What is the trial orexamination of life?It is not words that they can be written, or talks to which attentionmay bepaid. The questions of the examination are these hardships anddifficultieswhich confront a man, and which open before him the path of fright,terror, andfrustration. Examination is the name of the anti-reality defects whichprompt aman to be jealous and nourisher of rancor against his sincere friend;examination is the name of the tyrannies for which a nation occupiesthe placeof god and the other people offer their blood as sacrifice forretrieving theirusurped rights.

The history of life on thisearth fromthe first day tin today is very sorrowful. The right thing is that manshouldhimself make his own way in this life, and he should be sure that the way to his destination is fun of thornsandfilth.

The second reality isconcerned with thenature and  temperament of faith.

Faith is the name of therelationshipbetween man and his Lord. As in the relationship of men, the truefriendshipand sincerity can only be judged when it is confronted with unfavorableandbitter conditions, when they have to deal with the hardships broughtabout bythe vagaries of time, and when they are surrounded by various kinds ofproblems. At such a time a man’s real worth and sincerity is known.Exactlysimilar is the case of faith. To find out the truth and sincerity aboutfaithit is necessary that a Muslim be tried, he should be put in thecrucible offire to see whether he comes out glowing like the gold or whether hewill beburnt away with the impurities.

“Do men imagine that theywill beleft (at ease) because they say, We believe, and will not be testedwithaffliction? Verily, We tested those who were before you. Thus Allah knowsthosewho are sincere, and knows those who feign.

(Ankabut.. 2, 3)

 Undoubtedly,Allah’s knowledge covers all manifest and concealedmatters, and from this examination there will be no addition to Hisknowledge,because He knows all the conditions from the beginning till the end.The Divineknowledge cannot be made a basis for man’s reckoning. His reckoningwill be onthe basis of his own personal deeds. If some criminals deny theircrimes, thenon the Day of Judgment in what way proof can be brought against themexcept byputting them to trial in this world and man’s own parts of the body maygiveevidence against him?

About such people Quran has tosay this:

“ And on the Day We gatherthemtogether.. We shall say to those who ascribed partners (to Allah)..Where are (now)those partners of your make-believe ? Then they will have nocontentionexcept that they will say.. By Allah, our Lord, we never wereidolaters. Seehow they lie against themselves, and (how) the thing which they devisedhasfailed them /”

(AI-An’am.. 22-24)

How can the reckoning of suchcriminalsbe taken in the light of the Divine knowledge? Their justifiableretribution will be proper only when all their misdeeds areplacedbefore them. Their efforts and striving to create corruption andmischief amongothers and all their misdeeds will be repeated before them.

On these two bases thefoundation ofpatience has been kept. And for this reason religion demandsit, but hewho shuts his eyes from realities by force of his nature is dumbfoundedwhen hehas to face hardships and his hands and feet become inactive when hehas tofight difficulties. His rashness dislikes waiting and patience and heis unableto tolerate it, Therefore, when anything untoward happens, or he has tosuffersome kind of failure, or when he meets with an accident, the earth withall itsgreat vastness becomes narrow for him, and the conditions becomeexasperatingfor him. He wants to come out of these conditions in thetwinkling of aneye, but it is obvious that in this effort he will not ; be successfulfor itis against the temperament of the world and the religion, It is properfor aMuslim to learn to be patient and to wait and to wait for long.

“Man is made of haste. I shallshow’you my signs, but ask Me not to hasten,”

(AI-Ambiya.. 31)