Confront Challenging Days With Beautiful Patience

Confront Challenging Days With Beautiful Patience

Imam Zaid Shakir

An Opportunity for Great Good Through Patience

With an opportunity to do great, great, great, immense good for our souls. According to all appearances, and sometimes appearances can be deceptive, there are many challenging days ahead for the Muslim community here in North America. Which means what? Which means that Allah has given us an opportunity to be patient.

Allah has given us an opportunity to be patient, and thereby to do great, great, great, immense good for our souls. Nothing in our religion has the reward of patience. With the exception of fasting, which in the view of many is synonymous with patience.

Seeking Help Through Patience and Prayer

Many of the exegetes mentioned commenting on this and a couple of similar verses : وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ - meaning وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصِّيَامِ وَالصَّلَاةِ - the month of patience.

The Unlimited Reward of Patience

In any case, why do we say there is no reward except that which equals the reward for patience? The Prophet ﷺ reminds us: (الْحَسَنَاتُ بِعَشْرِ أَمْثَالِهَا إِلَى سَبْعِ مِائَةِ ضِعْفٍ إِلَى أَضْعَافٍ كَثِيرَةٍ - al-hasanatu bi'ashri amthaliha ila sab'i mi'ati di'fin ila ad'afin kathirah) (Sahih Muslim 1151) - your good deeds, whatever you do, your prayer, your recitation of Quran, your awrads, your umrah, your hajj, whatever you are commanding the good, forbidding the wrong, your sadaqah, your assisting people, your visiting the sick, etc. All of these deeds are multiplied ten times over, seven hundred times over, many times over and beyond that, but they have a numerical limit. As we mentioned specifically, with the exception of fasting, in terms of our deeds directly.

(Sahih Bukhari 1904, Sahih Muslim 1151)

So Allah exempts from that multiplication of the deeds, the fast. Except fasting, that is mine, I will reward it. And they say that the reason fasting is exempted is because it embodies patience.

And the reward for patience has no numerical limit. As Allah reminds us in the Quran: (إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ أَجْرَهُم بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ - innama yuwaffas sabiruna ajrahum bighairi hisab) (Quran 39:10) - they will be given their reward with no numerical limits. بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ - so patience is rewarded with no numerical limits.

Tests and Trials: Glad Tidings for the Patient

In many instances in the Quran, we find the reward of patience mentioned after the mention of tremendous difficulty and struggles. For example, Allah mentions:

That surely you will be tested. لَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم - emphatically you will be tested. Some people are overwhelmed. Some people are apprehensive now, but they go about their daily business. They're not overwhelmed. بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ - and something of hunger. Some Muslims are tested with starvation right now, places like Syria or other places. But that's not the overwhelming, the dominant condition of the 1.7 billion Muslims on the face of this earth. Most Muslims are well fed. And the great cuisines of the world, most of them are Muslim: the Turkish, the Iranian, the Afghani. Look at the restaurants in the area: the North African, the Couscous, Shawerma, Doner Kebab - it's all Muslim. Lentil, Poulani, Ash, Qabili - it's all Muslim. Muslims eat well, generally.

give glad - وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ .and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits - وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ tidings to those who are patient in the face of those tests. Give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ

Patience and Taqwa: The Path of Resolve

Allah mentions elsewhere, in words that are incredibly precious in terms of our current situation:

That surely you will be tested from those who were given the scripture before you - not all of them, because some of them are friendly, wonderful people - and from some of the idolaters أَذًى كَثِيرًا - much abuse. So if you're hearing much abuse against your religion when you turn on the radio, if you hear much abuse on the tongues of some of your co-workers, the more ignorant amongst them, then know this is only something Allah has informed us about over 1400 years ago. That surely, directly addressing the community of the Prophet ﷺ, but it's relevant for everyone after their time.

وَإِن تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا - but if you patiently persevere in the face of that abuse, in the face of that foul language وَتَتَّقُوا - and you remain mindful of Allah and mindful of your duty to Allah فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ - then that is a demonstration of resolve in your affair. And that places you or adorns you or allows one to adorn himself or herself with one of the characteristics of the greatest of the messengers and prophets to walk upon this earth. They're called أُولُو الْعَزْمِ a characteristic befitting Noah, and a characteristic befitting Abraham, and a characteristic befitting Moses, and a characteristic befitting Jesus, and a characteristic befitting Muhammad ﷺ.

The Command to Be Patient Like the Great Messengers

And what does Allah say to His Prophet ﷺ in the face of the abuse, the persecution, the hardship and difficulties that he encountered?

فَاصْبِرْ - patiently persevere, O Muhammad. That's not mentioned but the address is directly to the Prophet ﷺ. Endure. كَمَا صَبَرَ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ - as those great messengers who preceded you endured and persevered and were patient. وَلَا تَسْتَعْجِل لَّهُمْ - and don't be hasty in dismissing your people, writing off your people, in turning

your back to your people, in responding to hatred with hatred towards your people, or bigotry in the face of bigotry.

Lessons from the Poetry of Kipling

As Kipling says: "If you can be hated not yet give way to hating. If you can keep your head when all about are losing theirs and blaming it on you" - very appropriate for our day and time. "If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, yet make allowance for their doubting too. If being hated, not give way to hatred."

These are the messages that we need to take to heart, brothers and sisters, because these are the times. And it's in times like this where the opportunity to manifest prophetic characteristics is called for: to have the patience that the prophets displayed, to have the good opinion of people that the prophets displayed.

The Prophet's Mercy Toward His Enemies

Was the opinion of the Prophet ﷺ toward the people of Ta'if, when they stoned him, when they humiliated him, when they turned the imbeciles and the children of the city and unleashed them against him in a humiliating tirade of abuse? "Perhaps there will arise from their progeny those who will worship Almighty God." When the angels invited him to call upon them to bring the great mountains down upon his enemies, he refused to do so.

When at the height of the Battle of Uhud, a very desperate situation where victory rather was snatched away and then a very psychologically traumatizing defeat was inflicted upon the Muslims, and in the thick of the fray when so many good people are falling - Hamza and Mus'ab ibn Umair and others - and they implored the Prophet ﷺ, he's desperately wiping his blood from the injuries on his cheek and his mouth. And they asked him why. He said, "If the blood of the Prophet hits the ground during the battle, then God will bring His wrath down upon his enemies." And then they asked him to pray against them, and he said:

(Sahih Muslim 2599)

He said: "I wasn't sent to curse people. I wasn't sent to damn people. I wasn't sent to invoke the wrath of God down upon people. I was sent as a mercy."

A Call to Patient Perseverance

So brothers and sisters, patiently persevere despite the trials and the tribulation, no matter how difficult they might seem to be, no matter how daunting they might appear. Persevere and forge on. And know that you have a righteous cause, that you embody the very best of human behavior and characteristics if that characteristic reflects the prophetic virtues that we've been taught.

Our Prophet ﷺ said in explaining his mission - and there are other explanations, but this was one he emphasized:

"I've been sent as a teacher."

Teaching in the Face of Ignorance

And so in the face of ignorance, what better thing can we do than to teach people? In the face of ignorance, what better thing can we do than teach people? Ignorance only exists in the absence of truth. Darkness only exists in the absence of light.

Falsehood perishes. Falsehood reigns, especially falsehood concerning the Muslims in our community, because we have not brought the light of truth to our neighbors, to our co-workers, to our fellow citizens.

Our Calling: To Share the Truth

We have a calling, brothers and sisters, and it doesn't involve something glamorous or something that requires focused groups to determine what to do. Just be yourself and tell people who you are. Just be yourself and share your religion with people. Be yourself and explain to people how this or that fallacy relating to Islam is not true. Invite people to your homes. Invite people to the library. Invite people to the mosque, to the masjid, so that you have an opportunity to explain yourself for yourself and not to have yourself misrepresented by someone else.

The Amazing Affair of the Believer

So patiently persevere.

(Sahih Muslim 2999)

The affair of the believer is amazing. His affair, her affair, all is good for them. And that's for no one except the believer. If some good befalls him, if some good befalls her, he or she, they thank God for His graces and that's best for them.

Gratitude for Our Blessings

Every good you enjoy, brothers and sisters - the freedom you enjoy, the food that you enjoy, the clothing that you enjoy, the shelter that you enjoy, the safety and security that you enjoy - despite all of the tension in the air, no one's fearing right now that some lunatic will run in here and perpetrate some ghastly crime against us. We sit here in safety and security. That's a great blessing. Thank Allah for that blessing. Thank Almighty God for that blessing.

Let them worship the Lord of this house. And an aspect of our worship is shukr - is thankfulness, is gratitude. فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَٰذَا الْبَيْتِ - let them worship the Lord of this house الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ - the one who has fed them and driven hunger away from them, وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ - and made them secure from fear.

Absorbed in Worship and Gratitude

Brothers and sisters, we should be absorbed in our worship as gratitude to our Lord for feeding us and driving

hunger away from us, and for blessing us with safety and security in our homes, in our places of worship, as we go to and fro, back and forth in the streets, conducting our business. And there are exceptional incidents that happen here and there, but they're statistically insignificant: four, five, or six incidents, seven, eight, ten incidents in a country of 319 million people since the election. People are tense and uptight that the elections have unleashed all of these nasty and putrid forces that we thought we'd overcome by and large.

But despite that, have any Muslims in this country been shot since the election? Killed or abused? There are incidents. But how many people have died in car accidents since the election of the president-elect? How many people have died in the strangest of ways that we don't even take note of? No Muslims have perished. We should thank Allah for that, as opposed to working everyone up into a frenzy that leaves them vulnerable to their faith being eroded.

Strengthening Faith in Times of Trial

We should strengthen people's faith and work to reinforce their faith so that if things do happen, they'll have the strength and the fortitude, the wherewithal to forge on and to be patient and to trust in Allah and to trust in Almighty God, that His promise is true, that His promise is true, and that this world is just a test. It's not the end of things.

The Believer's Perspective on This World

One of the terrible, terrible conditions or situations we see affecting many of our young people is that they're affected by an intellectual paradigm that's rooted in neo-Marxist atheism: that there's nothing beyond this world, therefore all justice has to be secured now, all good has to accrue to a person now, and that if justice is not forthcoming, if good does not accrue to the person, then one has to engage in desperate means to ensure that it happens because this is all there is.

If you're a Marxist, this is all there is: this world. If you're an atheist, this is all there is: this world. But if you're a believer, we believe that there's something beyond this world. We believe there's something greater than this world. We believe that this world is so insignificant it doesn't even weigh - it's significant, doesn't even equate the wing of a mosquito. This is the dunya.

The Insignificance of This Life Compared to Eternity

As we mentioned on several occasions, were you to take the hundred years, if you had a good long life - and hopefully a hundred healthy years and not sixty healthy years and then forty torturous years that you wish you never experienced, that it was all over at sixty - but a hundred healthy good years, what would that look like if we placed it on a continuum that started with the creation of the heavens and earth and extended into eternity? Because paradise or hell are realities that will extend into eternity with no end. What would that hundred years look like? You couldn't even begin to measure it.

But there are those who have jeopardized eternal bliss for some passing, fleeting gratification in this world. This is not how a believer sees it. A believer understands there's no perfect justice in this world. A believer understands perfect justice is with God. A believer understands that there is no unrequited suffering in the

world, that suffering will be rewarded, patience in the face of suffering will be rewarded. This is what a believer understands. A believer understands and believes to the very depths of his or her soul. May Allah give us patience.

Surah Al-Asr: A Complete Guidance

Imam al-Shafi'i, he mentioned: "If one chapter in the Quran only was revealed, it would have sufficed the people."

By the witness of time, or the passing ages, or the declining day, verily humanity is in loss. The only exception: except those who believe and they do righteous deeds and they counsel each other with truth and they counsel each other with patience.

Days of Patience at the End of Time

So brothers and sisters, be patient and understand that your patience, as we mentioned, has an unlimited reward. And understand these are days where patience is required. We say this in conclusion as we're reminded by our Prophet: at the end of time there will be days which are called days of patience, and one who holds on to their religion during that time is like one holding a smoldering ember, a red hot ember, like those charcoal briquettes when you barbecue in the summer and you just put the lighter fluid on and they're red and glowing. Imagine holding one of those in your hand. That's how difficult it will be to hold on to your religion.

The Immense Reward for Holding Fast

And the scholars teach us that the reward for an act is commensurate to the difficulty of the act. So if it's that difficult to hold on to your religion, what is the reward? And the reward for one who continues to practice, who continues to act, who continues to hold on, is like the reward of fifty men: fifty from them or fifty from us, fifty from you - fifty companions. The reward of the one who continues to hold on will be like the reward of fifty companions.

A Call to Hold Fast and Improve

So brothers and sisters, hold on. Be patient. Forge on. Continue to do the good things that you do. Work to improve your religion and to refine your religion. Work to grow closer to the Quran as each passing breath draws you closer to your death. Study the life of the Prophet ﷺ to understand the tremendous challenges he was faced with and how he patiently persevered through them.

The Prophet's Smile Despite Hardship

In the face of all of the difficulties and challenges our Prophet endured, he was able to smile. His sadness was in his heart and not on his face. So may Allah bless us to be able to smile. May Allah bless us to be able to celebrate life.

Life as a Struggle Punctuated by Celebration

It's a struggle, but it's a struggle punctuated by many opportunities for celebration. It's a struggle punctuated by many opportunities for leisure. May Allah bless us to take advantage of those opportunities with families, with friends, to share a meal, to share the outdoors, to hike and to ski - and ah, the good skiing this winter - and to do other things that bring happiness into our hearts and that rejuvenate us so that we're better prepared to go back into the struggle. And that's what life is: it's a struggle punctuated by moments of leisure and celebration, and then those rejuvenate us and invigorate us and we jump back into the fray with greater resolve and greater energy, and then we celebrate again.

Closing Du'a