THE VIRTUES OF PATIENCE – 2

There are numerous ways to achieve contentment with the decree of Allah: The servant having certainty in Allah and a firm trust that whatever He decrees for a believer will be good for him. As such he will be like a patient who has submitted to the ministrations of a skilled doctor: such a patient will be content with his ministrations be they painful or not because he has complete trust that the doctor is doing only that which will be of benefit to him. Looking to the reward that Allah has promised for contentment. The servant could well be so engrossed in powering this that he forgets all about the pain he is facing. It is reported that a righteous woman from the Salaf tripped and broke a nail whereupon she laughed saying, ‘The delight of His reward has made me forget the bitterness of His pain.’ Immersing oneself in love of the One who sends tribulation, constantly being aware of His magnificence, beauty, greatness and perfection which is without limit. The potency of such awareness will cause the servant to drown in it such that he no longer senses pain much in the same way that the women who saw Yusuf forgot about the pain of cutting their hands. This is a higher station than those previously mentioned. The point here is that the Prophet, SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, enjoined ibn Abbas, RadhiAllahu Anhuma, to work deeds while in a state of contentment if he was able to do so. If not, he said, “If you are unable, know that great good lies in bearing with patience what you dislike,” this then proves that being content with decrees that are hard to bear is not an obligation but rather a recommendation, a state of excellence. Whoever is unable to be content must instead be patient. Patience is obligatory, it must be present, and it contains great good. Allah, Most High, has commanded patience and promised great reward for it: “The patient will be paid their wages in full without any reckoning.” (al-Zumar 39:10) “Give good news to the patient: those who, when disaster strikes them, say, ‘We belong to Allah and to Him we will return.’ Those are the people who will have blessings and mercy from their Lord; they are the ones who are guided.” (al-Baqarah 2:155-157)