This is the third 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’.
This write up is a companion to the video majlis (sermon/lecture) found below:
Contents
Majlis - Patience - Part 3
Nasheed - Ya Imam Mahdi
Ziyarah - Ziyarat Aal-e-Yaseen
Patience in Islamic Codices
The idea of ‘faith’, can be defined as something which is made up of concepts such as ethics, legislation, rights and instructions. This is the same as is the case for any constructive social organisation, school or community.
Therefore, we can classify faith into the following points:
Worldview - The basis for understanding of humanity and the world.
Ideology - On the basis of these principles, the overall direction for the movement human action.
Guidelines - Within these boundaries, guidelines, regulations related to the relationship of the human with Allah, with the self, with fellow humans, with other creatures and with the environment
Ethical Standards - A series of moral guidelines for maintaining the requirement and necessary momentum or endeavour for achieving perfection and being successful in the various fields of the human condition, of life so to speak
Off course, this is vast and complex, and includes personal matters, related to the personal interests of individuals, as well as social matters relating to various types of groups, large and small, of families and above all the wider community (known as the Ummah by way of Islamic terminology).
Let us examine what the role of patience is, in the aforementioned complex of faith. To put it another way, a person committed to religion will act as follows:
He must believe in religious principles
He must obey the religious regulations
He must be familiar with the special clauses dealing with ethics
If one fulfils the above three, in his conduct, it would be fair to consider such a person as a true believer.
We will now examine the role of patience in the life of a believer, one who follows religion in the true sense.
Consider, in a geometric figure consisting of lines and angles, each point, each arc, and each semi-circle creates a special effect.
Let us examine the influence and role played by patience in the geometrical figure representing the faith of the true believer.
Consider the example of an automobile, which is supposed to move someone together with his household belongings to a certain location. As we say from point A to point B.
After traversing some streets, the automobile reaches the desired final destination.
What is responsible for moving this automobile? Is it the engine? What is responsible for providing this strength, this power to the engine? Off course it is the petrol (or in contemporary times perhaps we can say it is the electricity in a battery for electric vehicles).
Therefore, in the life of the believer, patience can be understood as somewhat analogous to the electricity in the battery or the fuel in the tank. It is that which gives life and strength to the engine.
Without patience, the truth, the steadfast logic of the exalted school of religion is impossible to understand correctly. The divine learnings (revelations) of this school which blessed humanity would lose its colour with the passage of and indeed ravages of time.
The ultimate hope of victory of Truth over falsehood, which provides fresh life giving blood for the powerful hands and steadfast steps of the believers, which otherwise would have been silenced. The laws and guidelines of the religion, which provide the checks and balances to ensure that the human tendencies of transgression would have ceased to function, would have become inactive.
The heroic field of valour and martyrdom for the sake of God and religion, would have been relegated to a mere graveyard of ideologies. The international congress of Hajj would have remained as a void.
The humming, sensational and confidential communications of the burning lovers - the believers - in the middle of the night with the Beloved (God), would have been silenced.
The beautiful scene of the Greater Struggle (Jihad al-Akbar) with the self, made up of concepts and activities such as fasting, reflection, introspection, and self-improvement would have lost all its charm and joy.
The arteries of the economy of the Islamic community would have dried up, the notion of giving charity, of giving alms for the pleasure of God would have been ignored and discarded.
Without patience all the high educational and ethical values of Islam - such as piety, trust, righteousness, etc - would have been forgotten; and in essence, each component, each parameter of religion which requires action and efforts would have remained deprived of such.
Because religion requires practice, and practice is not possible without patience.
Consider, if a person is for example, learning a new skill, a new language, a new art, the most important component for their success in their learning would be to constantly practice, to revisit the instructions, to keep practicing, to keep persisting, no matter how - perhaps monotonous - such a task maybe, no matter how many obstacles and distractions might present themselves in order to prevent this practice.
Therefore, what provides this life-giving fresh blood to this giant complex, this giant undertaking, what provides the ability to move to the car, or the train, or the caravan; this is patience; nothing other than true patience.
Even in writing this paper, or having a regular majlis (gathering), every week, without fail, this requires patience.
Understanding this short discussion above, gives us an ever clearer understanding, as well as providing clarity on the substance of what this divine inspiration is.
According to some documented narrations (ahadeeth) of the Prophet Muhammad and his pure family, may the peace and blessings of God be upon them all; the importance of patience as been defined as:
“Patience with regard to faith, is like a head to the body”
The head of a person holds the most critical importance as far as life is concerned. A person might be able to tolerate the absence of other parts, such as their hands, legs, eyes, ears and such. However, if the head - which is the control room for the entire nervous system - does not exist or is crippled, then every part of the body - even though it may appear to be alive, will in reality be akin to a corpse.
Indeed in medical terms we have the term ‘brain dead’, at which point a person is considered essentially deceased.
Sometimes, it may be such that a part of the body may perform an outstanding task. Maybe the fist, a powerful hand, fingers, or the eyes of a person might conduct a task in an excellent manner, a person maybe very strong and able to lift great weights, which would help said person in discharging their duties or completing their tasks. But, the strength of the hands, of the eyes, of the fist even, of every action, is only on account of the head, a person without a head cannot do any of these things, as the control center has been removed.
Another interesting point here, is that have you considered why enemies and tyrants, when attacking those who are making resistance to them, move to cut the head, to decapitate their victim? This is not just some random power-play; rather it is specific; as when they decapitate their victim, they have destroyed that person fully, they feel there is no coming back from their victim.
When Yazeed ordered the decapitation of Imam Husayn, and then in the Umayyad Palace in Damascus, chose to poke and humiliate the head of Imam Husayn, this was as a means of him someone feeling that he had destroyed the entire revolution of Imam Husayn.
Indeed, without patience, the existence of monotheism would not be possible either. The prophethood and the prophetic mission would not have produced any fruits. The rights of the deprived people could not have been obtained from tyrants. Praying, fasting and all other rituals would have become meaningless.
Therefore it is patience which fulfils all of the aspirations of religion and humanity.
If at the beginning of Islam, if the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, had not offered resistance against all the tyranny and oppression that surrounded him, for the sake of Truth, then the most sublime of slogans:
“There is no god except God”
would have been suffocated within the bounds of his home from its very inception.
What kept Islam alive, intact and strong, was patience. If the righteous, pious people of God, and the great divine prophets had not been patient against the monumental opposition and obstacles that they were faced with, today, be certain, there would have been nothing left of monotheism (Tawheed).
The single factor responsible for keeping alive the system of monotheism, since the very start of human creation, has been patience, indeed it will be the flag bearer for this heavenly ideology from then, till today, and will continue to be so until the promise day (the day of judgement).
The most logical ideas and sayings of human beings, if no accomplished by the patience practices by those who espoused and founded them, would have died off in their throats, before even being articulated by their tongues. They would have disappeared into the turbulent waves of the ocean of history, permanently.
It is therefore, clear that patience holds a similar relationship with the religious body, as the position of the head relative to the human body.
The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah shower his blessings and peace upon him, in one of his most famous sermons (Sermon 234 in Nahjul Balagha - which is also referred to as Sermon of the Divinely Guided or Khutbat al-Qasi’ah) explains the victory of the deprived of history over the tyrants and the success of their noble ideas as follows:
“When Allah witnessed their patience in resisting the tortures and hardships, which were inflicted upon them, because of their love for Him and following the path of Truth, He opened over them gates of divine assistance in the midst of those difficult bottlenecks of misfortunes.
The deprived of yesterday after they find themselves as rulers and governors. Their glory, fame, prestige, reached to a point, which had never been imagined in their best of dreams.”
Nahjul Balagha, Sermon of the Divinely Guided (Khutbat al-Qasi’ah) #234)
And this is a lesson of history, a tradition of history, that is immutable. It will not change until the very end of time. Therefore, after the above detailed explanation one could describe in a nutshell the position of patience within the entirety, within the complex of Islam as follows:
Patience is responsible for the fulfilment of all the aspirations, and all the short and long term goals be they individual or social.
Indeed, when looking at the above sermon of Imam Ali, we can see that this can be understood by two important events in recent history. The first being the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and then the rise of the Party of Allah (Hizb Allah) in Lebanon.
We can also understand this understanding of patience by looking at all the truly revolutionary movements across the world - be they contemporary or ancient. All of them had a common point; that in order to achieve a given goal, that a person has to be patient, to persist, to make that resistance, and to never allow despondency or weakness to appear. Such negative things are attack vectors that Satan and the Satanic forces use to cripple those who are working towards the Truth.
Indeed, if we examine the famous saying of Imam Husayn where he said following the demand by Yazeed that he - Imam Husayn - pledge allegiance to him, and if he refused, then he would be killed and indeed beheaded.
Imam Husayn said something remarkable - that also encapsulates what has been discussed here:
“This person of illegitimate birth, son of a person illegitimate birth (Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad the governor of Yazeed in Kufa) has placed us between two paths, between salvation and humiliation. And we will never accept humiliation!”
Sermon on the Day of Ashura, Imam Husayn
For someone to be ready to stand firm for the Truth, regardless of the danger that may pose, to never accept humiliation, to never let the flag of Truth fall, this requires huge patience, and leaves a mark on the society and on humanity as a whole.
In future parts of this series, we will also discuss patience against concepts such as sin; which are related to all of this; as all of it is related and interconnected. Patience is what is the key component required to complete any task, any activity.
And patience is akin to resistance, because when doing any task, especially if that tasks helps the oppressed, and raises the flag of Truth, and moves towards Truth and stands firm against oppressors - regardless of how overpowering they might seem - this is the true patience.
And in that regard, Allah has said in Quran, that:
“O you who have believed, if you help God, He will help you and plant firmly your feet.”
Quran, Surah Muhammad (the Chapter of Muhammad) #47, Verse 7
We have to understand that this ‘helping God’ doesn’t mean help in the literal sense. God is perfect and has no need for help, support or anything. He is the perfect.
Therefore to understand this verse, the ‘helping God’ here, is to patient in his pathway, in the way of Truth, in standing against tyranny and oppress. And His promise is very clear; if you are patient, if you make that sacred resistance, if you ‘keep at it’ to quote a colloquialism, then He will help you.
Again, God’s help is always there, its about getting tuned into His help, and this requires patience, this requires us to make that movement towards God. Regardless of what Satanic forces and agents might be telling is.
A voice may whisper that ‘oh that’s dangerous’, or ‘oh that will take your time, you can do more if you do such and such’, or ‘well thats a very silly thing to do’, or ‘that’s a very boring thing’, the voice of Satan will whisper incessantly, never being quiet; especially when a person seeks to undertake a task that will move himself and/or others towards the Truth.
Satan hates when that happens; and so his machinations increase; he creates distractions. He may even create scenarios within your family, within your friends that distract you. He will use all his influence in this world to distract, and confuse.
After all in Dua Kumayl, that should be recited and reflected on deeply, at least every Thursday evening, we say:
“And the soul with treachery, My God, I ask You by Your Glory, not to let my evil works and acts veil my supplication from You, not to disgrace me through the hidden things You know of my secrets, and not to hasten me to punishment for what I have done in private: My evil acts, my offences, my slips, my ignorance, and my excessive passion.”
Dua Kumayl
This treachery of the soul that is spoken about, is when our patience falters with regard to the machinations, with the deceptions and manipulations of Satan and Satanic forces and agencies, and we weaken, and are deceived; we pray that such weakness, which can lead to sin or be a sin in and of itself, not be a blocker from our connection to God, not be something that disconnects us from God.
This too - by itself - is a monumental act of patience; to be aware of such, and that is a large part of the struggle.
After all it is said, that a person who does not acknowledge they have a problem, will not be able to remedy themselves, since they will not take the remedial action requires - because they feel they do not need it.
This is why introspection is so very important; and introspection requires patience; because sometimes the person that we find most difficult to be honest with to be open with is ourselves.
In light of that, and because there is great value in discussing the great heroes and lights that gave everything in the way of Truth on that fateful day of Ashura, it might be important to reflect on the commander of the army of Yazeed named Hur ibn Yazeed ar-Riyahi, may God send peace and blessings upon him.
Hur had initially stopped the caravan of Imam Husayn from creating their encampment near the stream known as al-Qamah (which is a small offshoot of the Euphrates river in what is now known as Kerbala, in Iraq).
He refused to let the Imam and his caravan camp near the banks of the stream, he had his instructions, but he also knew who Imam Husayn was. Indeed, when the Imam camped a little further away and without any easy access to water, and when it was prayer time, Hur chose to pray alongside the Imam’s caravan.
Now he was ranked against the Imam, he was part of the enemy encampment that had not only deprived Imam Husayn of water and were engaged in a massacre against all his companions, family and indeed himself.
In seeing this, in introspecting on himself, Hur realised that he was both on the wrong side of Truth and the wrong side of history. So he made a move, a dangerous move, one that that fraught with huge risk and danger. He escaped from the camp of Yazeed, where he was a senior commander, in some accounts the equivalent of a Major-General, and he made his way to the camp of Imam Husayn.
He begged the Imam for forgiveness, for having prevented him from camping near the banks of the stream, and he then took permission from Imam Husayn to fight on his behalf, and was ultimately martyred.
What is interesting, and what needs to be reflected on, is that 1400 years later, we still remember Hur, and we remember him as a hero, a light amongst lights, as one of the best of God’s creation. We remember his as one of the martyrs on the Caravan of Light and Truth.
All of this fondness, all of this beauty, is because of an important act of patience - both with his own self when he introspected and looked at his actions and when he realised he was in the wrong, he had the fortitude to make amends, to not just wallow in his despair, but to take action and make a change; and also with others in the army ranked against Imam Husayn.
He was a general, a senior person; when he made moves from one side of the camp to the other, the rest of the soldiers would have seen, and would have been following his moves; yet without any fear, and with great resistance and strength of mind; he chose to move himself physically - regardless of the consequences - from the camp of Satan, to the camp of God.
That itself bears great reflection.
We sometimes can’t see the importance of patience in every facet of the human condition; but as discussed here, if we are to understand patience as being how the head is to the body with regard to not just religion, but to the entire human condition, then we can understand how without patience, without the true patience we are like unto walking corpses, without any drive, without any ability, and we will - without patience - ultimately wither into the void.
For Sayyed Abu Hadi, you are always and will always be in our hearts, you inspired us, you taught us patience, you taught us what it means to be human, and you took us to Rasul Allah and to Allah, may the blessings and mercy of God be upon you.
