The Qur’an commands us to be patient, to have Sabr and promises help to those who have patience. Allahﷻ taught us how to face difficulty and said:
فَٱذْكُرُونِىٓ أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَٱشْكُرُوا۟ لِى وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ
Baqara 2: 152-3 Remember Me; I will remember you. And thank Me, and never be ungrateful. O believers! Seek comfort in patience and prayer. Allah is truly with those who are patient.
The concept of Sabr or patience in Islam is very interesting. Sabr doesn’t mean to simply pray and do nothing and expect help to come from outside including from Divine intervention. Sabr means to do our best and use every means at our disposal, exert our full effort and strength and then to turn towards Allahﷻ and seek His help to enable our efforts to succeed. That is Tawakkul. I call it the Tawheed of the heart. To illustrate with an example, it is like wiring up a new house, making sure that you did everything correctly, following all protocols and safety procedures and then connecting it to the transformer and turning the switch on. It is a combination of two things. Wiring everything up correctly and then connecting to the power source. It is also about the sequence. The wiring before the connection. That is why Sabr (maximum effort) comes before Salah. And Salah is essential after making the effort so that you don’t fall into the trap of the self-made man. Living in an imaginary world where you think that your success is your own and that you don’t owe anything to anyone. That is arrogance and arrogance leads only to Jahannam. We owe our success to all those around us, who Allahﷻ put there for our benefit and inspired them with love and respect for us to take the time and trouble to invest their own time, energy, money, experience and knowledge for us to succeed. Islam tells us that we need to acknowledge that and thank them and thank Allahﷻ. An excellent book to read in this context is ‘Outliers’, by statistician Malcolm Gladwell who shows how we owe our success to our circumstances far more than we may like to think. Gratitude saves us from arrogance.
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لاَ يَشْكُرُ اللَّهَ مَنْ لاَ يَشْكُرُ النَّاسَ
Abu Huraira (R) reported: Rasoolullahﷺ said, “Whoever does not thank people has not thanked Allahﷻ.”
We ask but Allahﷻ gives at the right time. When we look at the wisdom of timing of Allahﷻ’s help, we see His Hand in it. The help may come through material means but Allahﷻ sends it in a way where it becomes clear that it was not material means but the command of Allahﷻ which was working.
Take the case of Musa (AS). Allahﷻ could have saved him in multiple ways. But He commanded Musa (AS)’s mother to throw him into the Nile. He said:
وَأَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَىٰٓ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰٓ أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِى ٱلْيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِى وَلَا تَحْزَنِىٓ إِنَّا رَآدُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ
Qasas 28: 7 We inspired the mother of Moses: “Nurse him, but when you fear for him, put him then into the river, and do not fear or grieve. We will certainly return him to you and make him one of the messengers.”
Allahﷻ told us about this whole journey where instead of hiding him or his identity, Allahﷻ caused him to be directed into the palace of Firawn, and not only literally be in his hands, but be recognized as that child of the Bani Israeel who it was predicted would destroy the Pharaonic Empire of Egypt. The Pharoah’s astrologers identified him and advised him to kill the child. The Pharoah obviously had no compunctions about killing a child since it was by his command that thousands of newborn boys of the Bani Israeel had already been killed, just to ensure that this one child didn’t survive. Now they had that very child in their hands. All that remained was one simple action and the job would be done and Musa (AS)’s story would have ended before it began. But Allahﷻ wanted to show that all worldly power and wealth mean nothing and Allahﷻ’s Will prevails. The astrologers advised the Pharoah to kill the child. But the wife of the Pharoah advised him to spare the life of the child and instead to raise him as their son, as they were childless. The Pharoah listened to his wife and the rest is history. Rameses II became the foster father and protector of Musa (AS) and paid for him to be nursed by his own mother. Naturally that meant a total transformation for the family of Musa (AS), financially and socially. Once Musa (AS) was old enough, he was raised as an Egyptian prince with access to the highest and most valuable resources of the time, learning from the best scholars and warriors destined to be a ruler after his foster father. After all Egypt was the most ancient and powerful empire of the time on earth.
But Allahﷻ had something better in store for him so instead of becoming yet another ruler of an ancient dynasty he became the one who would write history and be remembered and honored for all time as one of the five great Messengers who are called Ulul-azm min Ar-Rusul. What Allahﷻ plans, He does. As a result, Musa (AS) suddenly lost it all and had to flee for his life and spend 10 years grazing sheep as a ward of Shuaib (AS). He lived in the house of a Prophet being mentored by him for 10 years. I want you to put yourself in his position so that you realize the difference between storytelling and story-living. The storyteller knows the ending but the one living the story doesn’t. Story tellers don’t feel the fear, sadness, despair and hope that those living the story do. As Rasoolullahﷺ said Laisal khabaru kal mua’aina.
We are all living our own stories. We all have our hopes and aspirations, fears and apprehensions. None of us know the ending of our stories. That is why Allahﷻ told us stories of His Messengers so that we can take courage from knowing that Allahﷻ is in control and just as Musa (AS) accepted and took comfort from this, so should we. The only condition is that we must demonstrate our trust in Allahﷻ by obeying Him. That is what gave Musa (AS) the courage to return to the court of Rameses II, from where he had fled as a fugitive with a price on his head. He didn’t do that surreptitiously but openly as a Messenger of Allahﷻ. The whole story is so powerful and salutary that we must study it carefully and apply the lessons in our lives.
Picture this. Musa (AS) and his little family are returning to Egypt from Madyan which today is called ‘Magha’er Shuaib’, a historical site that lies 140 miles northwest of Tabuk city in the Al-Bida’a Governorate in Saudi Arabia. From here, Musa (AS) is headed to Pi-Ramesses the capital of Ancient Egypt, about 60 miles northeast of Cairo. Today it is a village called Qantir, in the Sharqiya Province of the Eastern Nile Delta in Egypt. That is a walk of about 450 miles through the desert. He gets lost in the night. And sees the light of a fire burning in the distance. He says to his family:
إِذْ رَءَا نَارًا فَقَالَ لِأَهْلِهِ ٱمْكُثُوٓا۟ إِنِّىٓ ءَانَسْتُ نَارًا لَّعَلِّىٓ ءَاتِيكُم مِّنْهَا بِقَبَسٍ أَوْ أَجِدُ عَلَى ٱلنَّارِ هُدًى
Ta-Ha 20: 10 When he saw a fire, he said to his family, “Wait here, I have spotted a fire. Perhaps I can bring you a torch from it or find some guidance at the fire.”
کہ آگ لینے کو جائیں پیمبری مل جائے – مضطر خیرآبادی خدا کی دین کا موسیٰ سے پوچھیے أحوال
The key to it all is consistency and steadfastness. The willingness to continue despite the hardship. To stay on track even when it is tough, and you don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. That is the test of faith. Imaan bil Ghayb – faith in the unperceivable. We have it because we believe Rasoolullahﷺ. He said it, so we believe it, because we believe him. This is what made Abu Bakr (R), As-Siddique. He believed Muhammadﷺ and acted on that belief.
Action puts soul into words and gives them life. And only action gets results.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَـٰمُوا۟ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُون
أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلْجَنَّةِ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا جَزَآءًۢ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Ahqaf 46: 13-14 Surely those who say, “Our Rabb is Allah,” and then remain steadfast—there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve. It is they who will be the residents of Jannah, staying there forever, as a reward for what they used to do.
To believe and remain firm on that belief and demonstrate that by our action even when it may not be popular. As someone said, ‘If Islam were illegal, would they find enough evidence of it in your life to convict you?’
Allahﷻ spoke about the ending for such people. I ask Allahﷻ this for us all:
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَـٰمُوا۟ تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا۟ وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟ وَأَبْشِرُوا۟ بِٱلْجَنَّةِ ٱلَّتِى كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ – نَحْنُ أَوْلِيَآؤُكُمْ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَا تَشْتَهِىٓ أَنفُسُكُمْ وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَا تَدَّعُونَ – نُزُلًا مِّنْ غَفُورٍ رَّحِيمٍ
Fussilat 41: 30 – 41:32 Surely those who say, “Our Rabb is Allah,” and then remain steadfast, the angels descend upon them, ˹saying,˺ “Do not fear, nor grieve. Rather, rejoice in the good news of Jannah, which you have been promised. We are your supporters in this worldly life and in the Hereafter. There you will have whatever your souls desire, and there you will have whatever you ask for: a welcome from the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful (Allahﷻ).”
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