Remaining patient in the face of difficulties

“Therefore be patient with a patience which is beautiful..”  (Surat al-Ma’arij, 5)
 

Patience is one of the most important attributes of a believer. What renders patience so valuable is “to be  patient with a patience which is beautiful”. All Mighty Allah creates many incidents for a Muslim  for which he should display patience. Weaknesses and diseases peculiar to this world, unbelievers’ oppression and insults, people that Allah makes us encounter to test our lower selves are some of these. It is a great blessing to live in the hope of and willingness to attain Paradise, which is a manifestation of infinite beauties Allah relates us in the Qur’an and the hadith. While hoping to attain Paradise, a believer has  to show a beautiful patience towards the weaknesses of the life of this world.

One of the most important attributes of a beautiful patience is remaining patient with a serene heart. It is being assured that all incidents Allah shows us are created in the best way, in the most wise form. A convinced heart reveals itself from the expression of one’s face, the serenity in his soul and speech. In his face there appears peace in his face that patience gives. His statements reveal maturity and trust in Allah. A person who shows patience with a beautiful patience does this with the consciousness of the worship he performs and awareness that he is patient for Allah. Therefore he takes pleasure from showing this patience. Just as how a person gives thanks to Allah with his words and deeds when he receives a lot of blessings, and uses those blessings in the best form, he should likewise meet those situations towards which he should be patient and act in the consciousness that they are also blessings from Allah. He must act with the awareness that those incidents are created with many wisdom so as to lay the basis for beauties and experience its beauty while displaying patience.

Another purpose of showing patience is this morality’s rendering one draw closer to Allah and increase a sincere Muslim’s love of Allah. A person who shows patience towards hardship, trouble or a sickness for Allah’s good pleasure knows that every moment, every second of this patience is very precious in Allah’s Sight. In the Hereafter, the rewards of a deed done by showing a beautiful patience and the one done under very comfortable conditions or with no effort at all may not be the same. If a person engages in a deed while at the same time showing patience, his morality may render his deed more worthy. For instance showing self-sacrifice while one is sick and while he is perfectly healthy may not be the same. If a person makes sacrifice for Allah’s good pleasure while he is sick, he, by Allah’s leave, experiences the profound and candid beauty of showing patience. For this reason, until death comes upon them, Muslims always show the kind of beautiful patience Allah describes in the Qur’an when they encounter an incident, whether big or small. In return for their moral perfection and beautiful patience he shows, he lives in the hope of earning Allah’s good pleasure.