The Prayers of the Faithful for Patience
Musa said to his people: "Seek help in Allah and be steadfast. Earth belongs to Allah. He bequeaths it to any of His servants He wills. The successful outcome is for those who guard against evil." (Surat al-A'raf, 128)
In one verse, "If My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me. They should therefore respond to Me and believe in Me so that hopefully they will be rightly guided" (Surat al-Baqara, 186), Allah calls upon the faithful to pray to Him about anything because He loves His servants and has mercy on them. When His servants fall into trouble, Allah eases their lot and brings them peace. The Qur'an speaks of Allah's help to the faithful, as follows:
He calls down blessing on you, as do His angels, to bring you out of the darkness into the light. He is Most Merciful to believers. (Surat al-Ahzab, 43)
The faithful, who realize what an important place patience has in living a moral life and carrying out Allah's instructions, pray to Him about everything, including patience. They know that patience is a blessing that can solve all kinds of problems, directs them toward the true path, and, most importantly, earns them Allah's love and Paradise.
The Qur'an contains prayers of the faithful informing Allah that they desire patience. By asking Him to "pour down steadfastness upon us," they draw attention to the greatness of people's need for patience:
You are only avenging yourself on us because we believed in our Lord's Signs when they came to us. Our Lord, pour down steadfastness upon us and take us back to You as Muslims. (Surat al-A'raf, 126) When they came out against Talut and his troops, they said: "Our Lord, pour down steadfastness upon us, make our feet firm, and help us against this unbelieving people." (Surat al-Baqara, 250)
The believers' prayers for patience, as recorded in the Qur'an, also remind us of how necessary it is to ask for Allah's help in this matter. Right from the beginning of this book, we have stressed that Allah helps those who are patient and who patiently ask for His help, and that He has promised to multiply their blessings. One of the most important characteristics that a person needs is patience, so that he or she can confront all of this life's difficulties, problems, and troubles with the joy of faith and the excitement of earning Allah's approval. These inner characteristics help the believer to have the upper hand, with Allah's permission, and ensure their success. Allah has given this secret of patience to the faithful and told them to be patient, pray for patience, and display patience.
