Patience

The Most High God says on the tongue of Luqman in his recommendation to his son, ﴾…and bear with patient constancy whatever befalls thee; for this is firmness (of purpose) in (the conduct of) affairs﴿¹

Also, The Most High God says, ﴾…but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere * Who say, when afflicted with calamity, “To God we belong, and to Him is our return”﴿²

It is related that Abou Abdullah (God’s peace bestowed upon him) said, “The patience is to faith as the head is to the body. Once the head is lost, the body is lost. Likewise, once the patience is lost, the faith is lost.”³

What Is Meant by Patience

Patience can be defined to be the forbearance of the bitterness, pains, and harsh conditions imposed on someone.

It can also be defined to be the resistance of the man who is following the path of perfection and happiness against the evil corrupting motifs.

An Illustrative Example: We can set forth as an example about patience a man who wants to climb a mountain. Along his climbing to reach the high summits, there are obstacles and difficulties, a part of which has to do with the climber himself and thus originates from within him, and the other part has to do with the external factors. Both parts collaborate to produce an end to his move.

As regards the part which is related to the human being himself, it includes the need for rest, fear or despair from reaching the aim, and the personal fancies which work at preventing him from going on climbing. Then, the motif decreases because of the continuity of these ideas and insinuations.

As regards the part which is related to the external factors, it includes the huge rocks, the wolves, the thorns, the highway men, and the like. All of these conditions threaten the human being and prevent him from continuing his move. Such a man facing these troubles and difficulties will either decide not to go on because of the risks and pains and hardships, or it will be just the opposite i.e. his determination will become stronger and more steadfast and he will thus decide to resist all the internal and external preventions (love of rest- rocks) and will, through relying on persistence and forbearance, remove these obstacles from his way and go on. The second alternative is equivalent to patience.

Patience Is to Belief As the Head Is to the Body

From here, we will be able to understand the meaning of the discourse stating that the patience represents the head of faith i.e. the life of belief in the soul of the human being.

Going back to the reality of the belief which the human being may carry, we will recognize it to be man’s movement towards attaining The Most Glorified and High God’s Pleasure by means of following the path of slavery to The Most High God.

The path of slavery is summarized by the group of laws and religious responsibilities which are decreed by The Most High God and which include: performance of the duties and abandonment of the forbiddances.

Some of these laws are easy to be carried out or to be abandoned. Still, there are some which need the exertion of efforts and the forbearance of hardships, such as: the fight for God’s sake or the abandonment of some forbiddances like the backbiting, the forbidden looking, etc.

Prayer and Patience

The most important religious responsibility which establishes the strongest connection with The Most High God is the performance of the prayer. God ordered us with it and with the forbearance and struggle in order to perform it because it is the base column of the religion; and so that we will be from the real prayer performers, we must insist on the prayer.

The Most High God says, ﴾Enjoin prayer on thy people, and be constant therein﴿⁴ Also, He says, ﴾Seek (God’s) Help with patient perseverance and prayer: It is indeed hard, except to those who bring a lowly spirit﴿⁵

Therefore, the belief in The Most High God can not be achieved unless patience is its leader; and unless one forbears and tolerates the performance of deeds and abandonment of forbiddances, then the belief in The Most High God will not be achieved, and then one can not follow on the path of slavery to The Most Glorified and High God.

Kind of Patience

The factors preventing man’s perfection and following the path of slavery to The Most High God can be divided into the following three:

1- The factors leading to the abandonment of duties
2- The factors leading to the performance of forbiddances and to the commitment of sins
3- The factors resulting in a state of spiritual instability and irregularity

Patience means the resistance and not giving up in the confrontation of these three factors which are doubtlessly the cause of evil and fall. Through this illustration, we can come at understanding the depth of the following discourse which The Prince of the Believers (God’s peace bestowed upon him) related in ascription to God’s prophet (God’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household): “Patience is of three kinds: tolerating the adversity, tolerating the obedience, and tolerating the disobedience.”⁶

At every situation from the three and when the painful events impose on the human being to carry out a certain religious responsibility or when he is exposed to the trial of the performance of a certain disobedience, here arises the role of the power and heroism and firmness in front of these tempests and temptations.

Tolerating the obedience is like praying, fasting, performing pilgrimage, fighting for God’s sake, and paying the fifth. Next, tolerating the disobedience is like tolerating the abandonment of backbiting and lying and the forbidden looking. Then, tolerating the adversity is like when the human being is afflicted with his sustenance, with the death of one of his relatives and beloved ones, or with a certain disease.

Consequences of Patience
The Soon Consequences

The soon consequences are the ones which are received in this life, as The Most High God says, ﴾…If there are twenty amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the unbelievers: for these are a people without understanding﴿⁷ Therefore, man’s triumph over himself with patience is the most important achievement he can do; and The Most High God will be always with him as He states in His Saying, ﴾…God is with those who patiently persevere﴿⁸

The Hereafter Consequences

As regards the consequences in the hereafter, we will be satisfied with the mentioning of the following narrative: It is related that Abou Abdullah Al-Sadik (God’s peace bestowed upon him) said, “When the believer enters his grave, the prayer will be to his right, the almsgiving to his left, and the benevolence in front of him; and the patience will be aside. When the two angels who will query him enter, the patience will say to the prayer and almsgiving and benevolence, ‘Help your companion. If you can not, I will.’”⁹

The Signs of Patience

It is related that The Noblest Prophet (God’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) said, “The sign of the patient lies in the following three: The first one is not to get lazy. The second one is not to get bored. And the third one is not to complain about his Most Glorious and Reverent God. This is so because if he gets lazy, he will waste the dues; if he gets bored, he will not pay the thanks; and if he complains about his Most Glorious and Reverent God, then he will have disobeyed Him.”¹⁰

For Reading

Learn the Patience from an Insect

One Muslim scholar said,
“I learnt a lesson on perseverance from an insect. One day, I was sitting in Al-Masjid Al-Jameaa [the Mosque] in Damascus next to a column. I saw an insect trying to climb the column in order to sit beside the lamp which was laid on it. I remained sitting next to the column all the night till the dawn rose while I was just watching what that insect was doing. I counted its attempts to climb the column; they were seven hundred attempts, all of them failed because it was falling down in each attempt because the soft surface of the column did not help it climbing.”

He went on saying,
“I was astonished due to the wonderful will of that little insect. Then I moved from my place in order to perform the prayer. Having done with the prayer, I found that it had reached its aim. That was due to nothing save the steadfastness, patience, and perseverance with which it was characterized; consequently, it reached its aim at the end.”

1- The Noble Qur'an/ Luqman Chapter/ Verse 17
2- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Baqara [The Cow] Chapter/ Verse 153
3- Ousoul Al-Kafi [The Principles of the Sufficient]/ Part Two/ Page 87
4- The Noble Qur'an/ Taha Chapter/ Verse 132
5- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Baqara [The Cow] Chapter/ Verse 153
6- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Anfal [The Spoils of War] Chapter/ Verse 46
7- Al-Kafi [The Sufficient]/ Part Two/ Page 91/ Discourse 15
8- The Noble Qur'an/ Al-Anfal Chapter/ Verse 65
9- Al-Kafi [The Sufficient]/ Part Two/ Page 90
10- Wasael Al-Sheeaa [The Means of the Shiite]/ Part Sixteen/ Page 23