As Sabur: The Patient by Uzma Mirza.

 

DEEN VOLUME. 6 ISSUE. 4

The Virtue of Patience

by Zaynab Ansari Abdul-Razacq
Art by Uzma Mirza

“By time,
Truly humankind is at a loss,
Except those who have faith, and do righteous deeds,
And join in the mutual teaching
Of truth and patience.”
The Qur’an, Surah 103

Today, we live in a world in which communication, business and many forms of human interaction occur at lightning-speed. In our fast-paced, high-tech, instant-gratification world, the virtue of patience is at risk of becoming an old-fashioned notion.
Patience is fortitude, forbearance, serenity in the face of tests and tribulations, satisfaction with and adherence to Allah’s will and self-mastery all rolled up into one. Throughout the Qur’an, Allah exhorts the believers to fashion lives of patience. In Surah Al Baqarah, verse 153 we read, “Oh you who believe, seek help with patient perseverance and prayer. Truly Allah is with those who patiently persevere.”
Our challenge is to achieve patience in this wired world, to attain supreme staying power and absolute God-consciousness, unplugged. Technology has radically altered the ways in which human beings gather, filter, perceive and interpret information; much of that information comes almost instantly.

Also instantaneous, requiring no waiting and no patience, are many of our interactions. A click of the mouse and a credit card number are sufficient to purchase everything from delivered pizza to a brand-new car. We can converse and see people thousands of miles away with them using an Internet calling program and a camera. A student emails her professor, and receives a response within minutes, saving her hours of research. Reference books and directories are almost obsolete as people search the internet for everything from the location of the nearest dry cleaner to analysis of the most pressing news issues of the day.

While we gain the convenience of receiving immediate results by using electronic devices, we lose something – the ability to exercise patience. After all, who has the time or patience to spend days, weeks or even years searching for knowledge, information or valued products when all one has to do is boot up the computer or check the screen of a smart phone or electronic tablet to gain access to these resources?

The “it needs to happen yesterday” attitude affects our spiritual state when we wait for no one and no thing. When faced with a situation that forces us to slow down, to unplug a device or to be in the moment, many of us have no idea what to do. (Witness road rage, annoyance at checkout lines, irritation with the weather and even texting while driving.) If life hits us with something ‘unfair’, we rail against everyone and everything instead of patiently persevering.

A central point of our faith as Muslims is that nothing happens outside of God’s decree. Yet when Allah decrees a trial for us, we bitterly complain rather than graciously proclaiming our faith in Him. If I can purchase that item with a click of my mouse, why shouldn’t Allah Ta’ala give me what I want in the blink of an eye?
God Most High says, “Seek help in patience and prayer; for grievous it is, save to the humble who reckon that they shall meet their Lord and that unto Him they are returning,” Qur’an 2:45. From these words, the believer knows that everything comes from her Lord; He gives and withdraws; He grants and withholds. In times of difficulty, we are to turn the matter over to Allah, but, as Allah the Exalted warns, this process, in and of itself, can be challenging, except to those who are humble. For it takes a certain level of humility to let things go, to accept that they may never be as one wants, but that Allah Most High gives us what He knows we need.

Without humility and patience, we forget the lessons of our forebears who saved for the things they wanted to buy, took the time to actually sit with people and ask about them, and prevailed through difficult circumstances with patience and prayer. We lose the discipline that comes with waiting for something worth having. We forget what it’s like to pick up book after book to find an answer to our questions.

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