In His Name, the Most High
This is the first part in a detailed discussion on patience. The discussion is built on the seminal work (based on a series of lectures) by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khamenei. The book is published as ‘Discourses on Patience’
Introduction
Patience, in Islam is one of the most well known terms. It can be found frequently in all manner of Islamic literature, be it the Holy Quran, the Traditions of the Prophet and his family, and in other books of learning and Islamic thought.
The term is deemed a positive attribute, and when discussed carries a tone of encouragement, discussions of the rewards for those who possess this quality and act with it, and generally great praise is given to this concept.
In this regard, it is important, that Muslims, and indeed non-Muslims, become acquainted with this term, nay, become familiar with this term and understand what it means, such that they can work to incorporate and develop this quality within themselves.
However, the term patience has, due to manipulation, tampering, corruption and more, been distorted, and this is in our age, sadly a calamity, that has happened to many terms, and more so to many Islamic terms. The work of the enemies of humanity has left nothing untouched, and indeed it would be fair to say that this has left very little of its actual form, matter and substance, and has morphed it into something entirely antithetical to what it actually is.
The Common and Perceived Understanding of Patience.
Generally, when the term patience is used, the understanding is that of ‘tolerance of an unpleasant circumstance or thing’. Now, this definition, is laced with many ambiguities, and is extremely vague, and thereby it leaves itself open to manipulation and confusion.
Consider, for an oppressed society, steeped in corruption and decadence, patience as defined above becomes one of the most powerful tools for the oppressors and corrupters in their efforts to maintain the status quo. This understanding will keep a society in a state of backwardness, and of despondency.
When poor nations, who are exposed to all manner of problems and exploitation, or the oppressed masses crushed under brutal oppression, or societies faced with moral corruption, poverty, and suffering. Indeed, any individual trapped in a cesspit of misfortune and calamity.
If such a person is told ‘to be patient’; and if the prevailing definition is used (as mentioned earlier) the first result would be that person should simply take, they should simply 'tolerate these problems’, they should take the bitter pill and the fatal dose; rather than working to overthrow that which oppresses them.
In the face of terror inflicted upon them, this definition of patience, prevents the oppressed from saying no, from rising up against the oppressors.
Indeed, in such a scenario, not only will the people, not mobilise themselves against such tyranny and remove the negative state that enslaves them. No, on the contrary, when they are told, and indeed keep in mind the supposed rewards for ‘patience’ - for being indifferent, for tolerating the difficulty, for remaining naïve, they would in fact feel happy and content, such that they would regard such behaviour as a monumental victory. It would in fact engender a false sense of piety within them, that would enhance the delusion they are engulfed in.
The prevalence of such a mindset, such a mentality in a society, will, to a greater extent, be to the benefit of the class of exploiters and oppressors, and will be to the eternal detriment of the deprived and oppressed masses.
Sadly, this invalid interpretation, together with its tragic results presently constitutes the sorry state of affairs, not just in many Islamic societies, but in many societies across the world, and specifically within the collective West.
Individuals with open, free and unbiased minds may adopt an alternative definition and understanding of this term. However, the majority, habituated to a steady diet of an incorrect interpretation and enticed by the alleged 'rewards' of such a path, are often shocked and surprised when presented with a different meaning.
This reaction occurs as they begin to recognise the deceit and falsehoods they have been served by those they were led to believe were reliable.
Overall Views About Patience
When the meaning of patience is understood, and interpreted in light of the very clear, explicit, and illuminating verses of the Holy Quran, as well as in accordance to the reliable traditions and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his pure family, may God’s peace be upon him, and them all, then the result, would be a totally different understanding of patience, completely antithetical to the current common - and indeed extremely oppressive - understanding of the term.
This righteous definition, transforms patience into a means, a lever, capable of removing with ease the heaviest of obstacles and solving the biggest of problems, with fully positive results.
Therefore, for an oppressed society, patience is actually the key to prosperity and blessings, and it also serves as a strong bulwark against the oppressors, troublemakers and mischief mongers. Against all who seek to harm the society or individual.
In order to appreciate the true meaning, the true understanding of this term, this quality, the best methodology is to rely on the Holy Quran and the authentic traditions. A detailed investigation would allow us to reach a clear and decisive understanding.
Indeed, in the Holy Quran, there are more than seventy verses that discuss patience. They glorify the term, and glorify those who possess this virtue. The Holy Quran, details both the possessors of this virtue, as well as the results derived, and the circumstances wherein one can count on this virtue.
We also have many authentic traditions of the Prophet and his pure family, may peace be upon him, and them, that discuss this subject; and we will in the course of this discussion be discussing primarily from the traditions (which also help us to derive a clearer understanding of the Holy Quran).
Summary of the Meaning of Patience
On the basis of the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and his pure family, peace be upon him, and them, we can see that patience is defined as:
The resistance shown by a person, on the road towards perfection. Resistance against mischief, corruption, despondency and degradation.
We can try to understand this - in a more simplistic manner for now - when looking at the example of a mountaineer, who in order to reach the peak, has to face many obstacles and barriers; both internal and external.
The internal obstacles are within their inner self, and the external ones are those outside their control. Each of these, in their own ways interfere and work to impede the climbing efforts of the mountaineer.
Internal obstacles such as a love for comfort, fear, despair, and other such passions try to stop the mountaineer. They give him/her feelings of indecisiveness, they work to kill his/her determination, they make him/her feel that ‘the task is too big, what can they do’.
External barriers for their part, such as stones, weather, rocks, landslides, avalanches, wild animals, and such, all work to retard, to break his/her progress.
Now, someone when faced with such barriers, such obstacles, will have to make a choice.
Either they drop the journey, which is dangerous, difficult, and filled with hardships, or they move onwards, they offer resistance against these difficulties and problems, they overcome each barrier with their determination.
This resistance, this moving forward and not giving up no matter how difficult things are, this is the real definition of patience.
In his/her limited lifespan, the human being, from their birth to their death, is but a traveller on the road to his/her final destination. Indeed, humans have been created fundamentally to work towards bringing themselves closer to their final destination.
The Holy Quran says:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
I did not create the jinn and the humans except to worship Me.
- The Holy Quran, Surah adh-Dhariyah (the Chapter of the Scattering Winds) #51, Verse 56
Without getting into the definition of ‘worship’, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that at least a part of worship is to reach closeness to God, after all every Muslim, when they make their intent to do any activity, be it praying, fasting or even going for a walk, they say - ‘I am doing such and such a thing, to gain closeness to God’, therefore, it is not complicated to understand that worship, since it moves us towards God, is also a manifestation of patience.
But, and this is important, not mindless worship; not ritualistic meaningless worship, not worship that has become a panacea, that keeps the person weak and that prevents the person from standing against the tyrants. The worship we mean here is true worship, real worship, worshipfulness where the worshiper is aware of the one they worship; and they desire His closeness and He is their final destination.
A worshipfulness that empowers and strengthens the worshipper in their journey towards perfection, and that is an activity that terrifies the oppressors, tyrants and despots.
Worship that involves accepting oppression is not true worship. If a person accepts oppression without resisting it — even if the only resistance they can offer is within their heart — such ‘worship’ becomes meaningless. Instead of bringing them closer to their goal, it leads them away from the path of perfection and deeper into darkness.
Bear in mind the oppression may not necessarily be an external oppression, indeed it can be an internal oppression, an internal obstacle that weakens the resolve and breaks the will, and creates despondency and despair.
To allow that internal oppression to prevail is against the human condition, it is against the reason why God created humanity in the first place; and it shows weakness in front of the enemy.
If, weakness is shown to an enemy, internal or external, then said enemy will be empowered, they will smell the fear; and they will work harder to overpower their victim.
Whereas, the believer, knows that God is always in the arena, God is always aware, and we have but to call unto Him and He will reply, and assist, support and provide strength. He has promised that those who rely on Him, will find that He provides them with solutions to the problems they face, from places they expect said solutions from, and from those places from whence they had no expectations.
Indeed, we know that God has power over all things, and His love for His creation is profound, it is key that the creation acknowledge, recognise and trust in Him, for then they will see that he provides every solution for all that ails them.
Indeed, showing weakness in front of the enemies - internal or external - has been classified by some of the senior scholars of Islamic thought as a form of polytheism; that is in itself a long discussion that I will not go into here, but suffice it to say, that the only entity that is worthy of being shown fear in front of, is the one who actually has any power to do anything. That entity is God, and God alone.
The human being has been created by God, to endeavour and work tirelessly to reach that closeness to God, that final destination. The many duties, responsibilities, tasks that have been assigned, that have been placed upon his/her shoulders are a means to bring him/her closer to the ultimate goal, to the target.
The primary aim of all the great Prophets, of all the divine religions, was to build a society, to create a situation, where the people, where the human beings, can travel on this journey, and can ultimately reach their final goal.
Indeed, when we examine the salutations that are made to the Prophet, to the members of his pure family, peace be upon them both, to the saints and the like, we see a series of common lines in almost all of them:
اَشـهَدُ اَنَّكَ قَد اَقَمتَ الصَّلاةَ وَآتَيتَ الزَّكاة
وَاَمَرتَ بـاُلمِعروف ِوَنَهَيتَ عـَنِ المُنكرِ
وَاَطـَعـتَ اللهَ وَرَسـولَهُ حـَتّى اَتيكَ اليَقـينُ
I bear witness that verily you established the prayers and gave the zakaat (prescribed share, poor-due, alms, charity) to the needy
And commanded to do what is right and lawful
And not to do that which is wrong and unlawful
And obeyed Allah and His Messenger until the inevitable came unto you.
- Multiple Ziyaraat
When we understand these salutations; we can see that the key is that they established the prayer - we will discuss what this means in due course; that they established the ‘zakaat’, which in reality is a very difficult term to explain, as it is far more than just mere charity, and cannot be explained as a religious tax. We will in the course of this discussion, attempt to have an explanation of zakaat that will explain why it too is a key part of patience.
We say that they enjoined that which is good, they commanded to do that which is good, and indeed lawful from the perspective of Divine Law, and Truth (not the satanic laws created by the worst of the worst that plague and oppress societies today), and they forbade that which is evil, that which we see being promoted in society, on our television screens, on various social media platforms and more besides.
These key tasks are core to patience; as without these, a person cannot reach their destination successfully; they cannot traverse their journey towards perfection, as they will be blocked at every instance; they will be pushed back, they will be humiliated, and the believer never accepts humiliation.
The pathway is very straightforward, very simple; it is a case of determining if a person wants to have eternal bliss, or eternal damnation coupled with perhaps some pseudo bliss in this temporal and highly transitory domain.
So, the purpose of the Prophets, the divine religions, as we can see, was to ensure that people can travel on this pathway, and ultimately reach their destination; they provided the provisions for said journey, and drew us a map, and ours is but to follow that map, and persevere through the difficult weather, the rough terrain, the many obstacles. This is the pathway to salvation, to success, and indeed to eternal bliss.
If, we throw the stones at the Satan, as the great Patriarch Abraham (Prophet Ibrahim) did, when accosted by Satan with a view to prevent his following the command of God, and sacrificing Ishmael (Prophet Ismail), if we are strong, and don’t waver, then have no doubt, we will be from the successful.
But never forget, even with all of these provisions, the path is difficult, it has many problems, many barriers, and the endpoint is different for each person; what is key is that we stay upon the path, and do not leave it, moving to the alleys and tributaries that we may find, that we not go looking for a proverbial ‘short-cut’.
Indeed as we traverse this path, we should be aware of our brethren who are also on this journey. If we see our brother or sister faltering, we must go to their aid, and they too must come to our aid should we find ourselves in a problem.
Islam is not a ‘private’ religion, rather it is a collective system, a pathway that all of God’s beautiful creatures traverse, and as a result, we have a duty of care to each other - to all of His beautiful creation.
We must be aware of the condition of our brethren, and if we find this troublesome, or difficult, or ‘I don’t watch the news because its depressing’, well then, if you don’t offer to help your brothers and sisters, how can you expect them to help you?
Indeed, it is an Islamic quality; and a key part of patience, and also of our journey, for us to be aware of the situation of our brethren, be they next door, or on the other side of the planet. We must be ready to provide support and assistance, even if it is difficult, as that is part of the patience, that resistance against ourselves - if we give our help, or funds or whatever, to help others then perhaps we won’t have. Without digressing, the reality is that we actually don’t have.
Everything we have is a trust, and is apportioned for us by God as part of our sustenance, and is not ours per say. Therefore, when we have teachings in Islam, that if a person eats, while their neighbour is hungry, this is unacceptable, and this is a way that deviates us from the path towards perfection. So to be there for our brethren, this is core to our journey, and this requires us to make that resistance, to have that patience, to ensure that we are aware of the needs of others, and that we help as much as we can, and put our trust in God, that He is the Lord Sustainer of the universes.
An important part of this, and a key point to understand is that on this path; it is not the destination that is important, it is the journey; it is how we get there, that will determine if we are from the successful, or the decrepit.
All manner of forces will accost us as we traverse this pathway, internal forces, fear, apprehension, anxiety, exhaustion, despair, sadness, and so on. Negative forces with in each of us, evil passions, problems within the environment we live in, thorns, potholes and sinkholes, will confront us on our journey.
Patience means, to be able to stand firm against all these obstacles - and to conquer them, to prevail over them, with determination, with enthusiasm.
We must understand that all our obligations as Muslims, are a means to help us on this journey, to give us the resolve, the power of resistance, the strength of will, to be able to confront them, for we must understand that if we are successful, if we continue to resist, whether we prevail or whether we perish; as mentioned earlier, the destination is fixed, it is the journey we take that determines our place in the destination.
All our duties are a manifestation of the Justice of God, of the Love of God, just like the love of a caring mother or father, who when their child goes on a journey, they provide the child with provisions, enough food, water, maybe a spare set of shoes, maybe clothes, maybe an umbrella and so on; the mother or father (or both), provide the provisions. It is however, on the child to use them, and to use them correctly.
If the child is to use the bottles of water he was given as playthings, or to use the bread as something to throw and kick around like a game, then if said child was to perish due to thirst and hunger, it is the fault of the child, the child failed to make the appropriate resistance, to have the required patience, to continue on his/her journey with responsibility and was ultimately destroyed by their own negligence.
Please note, that here I use the term ‘child’ figuratively, I don’t mean a child in the common understanding, I mean a child in the sense of a subordinate to. Naturally in Islam, and in all the divine faiths, a child is innocent until they reach the age of obligation, of maturity. My inference here is a child who has reached that age of maturity; and has then gone out on a journey with their given provisions.
The strength that allows us to persevere and resist the obstacles that come to break us down, to block us from reaching that divine perfection, that weaken our resolve. They are that which we must make that sacred resistance against. They seek to move us away from the path that God has given us, they seek to steal or squander the provisions we have been given to help us on our journey.
This power, this ability to continue, to persist, even when the entire world is falling apart around you, this is what patience is.
And when thinking of patience, in the scope of Islamic History, I am reminded of the patience of, the resistance of, Imam Sajjad, the fourth Imam of the Muslims, and the grandson of Imam Ali, and son of Imam Husayn.
I see someone, who witnessed the most difficult of scenarios, when He saw the blood of God spilled on Ashura, when he saw the tents burn, and when he heard he aunt, one of the greatest people to ever have existed, the lover of God, Lady Zaynab, who when taunted about the massacre of her brother, his family and companions by the worst of the worst; said “I saw nothing but beauty”.
I am reminded of the way Imam Sajjad, even though he was under great pressure, from both the Umayyads and the Zubayris and more besides, I remember how he continued his resistance; how he continued, how he had patience and gave the believers deep lessons through his supplications, through his prayers, through his whispered, and intimate conversations with God that even at the darkest of times, even when the enemy, the forces of despair and despondency, the forces of Satan and his minions, appeared to be prevailing; the light that is the love of God always shines.
For when he says in his whispered prayer of the Complainers:
إِلـٰهِي أَشْكُو إلَيْكَ عَدُوّاً يُضِلُّنِي
وَشَيْطانَاً يَغْوِينِي
قَدْ مَلأَ بِالْوَسْواسِ صَدْرِي
وَأَحاطَتْ هَواجِسُهُ بِقَلْبِي
يُعاضِدُ لِيَ الْهَوىٰ
وَيُزَيِّنُ لِي حُبَّ الدُّنْيَا
وَيَحُولُ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ الطَّاعَةِ وَالزُّلْفىٰ
إِلـٰهِي إلَيْكَ أَشْكُو قَلْبَاً قاسِياً
مَعَ الْوَسْواسِ مُتَقَلِّب
وَبِالرَّيْنِ وَالطَّبْعِ مُتَلَبِّساً
وَعَيْنَاً عَنِ الْبُكاءِ مِنْ خَوْفِكَ جامِدَةً
وَإِلَىٰ ما تَسُرُّها طامِحَةً
إِلـٰهِي لا حَوْلَ وَلا قُوَّةَ إلاَّ بِقُدْرَتِكَ
وَلا نَجاةَ لِي مِنْ مَكارِهِ الدُّنْيا إلاَّ
بِعِصْمَتِكَ
فَأَسْأَلُكَ بِبَلاغَةِ حِكْمَتِكَ
وَنَفاذِ مَشِيَّتِكَ
أَنْ لا تَجْعَلَنِي لِغَيْرِ جُودِكَ مُتَعَرِّضاً
وَلا تُصَيِّرَنِي لِلْفِتَنِ غَرَضاً
وَكُنْ لِي عَلَىٰ الأَعْداءِ ناصِرَاً
وَعَلَىٰ الْمَخَازِي وَالْعُيُوبِ ساتِراً
وَمِنَ الْبَلاءِ واقِياً
وَعَنِ الْمَعاصِي عاصِمَاً
بِرَأْفَتِكَ وَرَحْمَتِكَ يا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ
My God, I complain to You of an enemy who misguides me,
and a satan who leads me astray,
He has filled my breast with tempting thoughts,
and his suggestions have encompassed my heart
He supports caprice against me,
embellishes for me the love of this world,
and separates me from obedience and proximity!
My God, to You I complain of a heart that is hard,
turned this way and that by tempting thoughts,
clothed in rust and the seal,
and of an eye too indifferent to weep in fear of You,
and eagerly seeking that which gladdens it!
My God, there is no force and no strength except in Your power,
and no deliverance for me from the detested things of this world save through Your preservation,
So I ask You by Your far-reaching wisdom,
and Your penetrating will,
not to let me expose myself to other than Your munificence
and not to turn me into a target for trials!
Be for me a helper against enemies,
a coverer of shameful things and faults,
a protector against afflictions,
a preserver against acts of disobedience!
By Your clemency and mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful!
- Munajaat ash-Shakeen, Whispered Prayer of the Complainer, Sahifa Sajjadiyyah
When Imam Sajjad teaches us these beautiful words, he is not only making his own resistance, but he is empowering us to make resistance, to be patient, to be resistive, to be strong in the face of all calamities, all difficulties, all misfortunes, all disasters; and to yield back, for when the beloved ones fall, they fall but into the hands of God.
And never forget, God is in the Arena.
In memory of Abu Hadi, may God shower His blessings on your pure soul.