The Encyclopedia Of Patience

Patience is the virtue of the successful; the device of the goal-getter and the harbinger of goodness. No goodness is achievable without it and no character is above it. Through it, the promotion of friendship and favourable relationship even between a people of different temperament are assured.

The man who is endowed with this goody is loved by the multitude,even if he is wanting in other character and without it, life became hollow , shallow and lacking in substance!

This virtue , based on critical thinking and deep reading of heavenly books especially the glorious book of Islam; the Qur’an, is godly!It is has been observed that, for the good inherent in this character, the admonitions and encouragements to characterize it; i.e, to be be patient in the Quran are done ninety two times(92).

For this, the past and modern scholars have devoted more pages to unravel the reasons why the Almighty Allah Has deemed it important to admonish men and the jinn on patience for that many times!
Although the prophets of God are many while their stories in the Quran are numerous but only 25 out of them are mentioned categorically in the Quran by names.What is noticed with these twenty five prophets is the virtue of patience,which is more on their side than others!

Besides, out of these 25 prophets, five are singled out as the people of patience, constancy and determination . In Islamic parlance, they are serenaded as Ulul -‘Asmi ,whose patience are in the highest categories and top notch compared to others who do not allow the life’s vicissitudes to affect their missions or show weariness in the responsibilities saddled on them as prophets.

The glorious Qur’an has been more succinct in its praise of these five apostles of God in her reference as follows:
“Therefore be patiently persevere,as did messengers of firm resolution; and be in no haste about the unbelievers!” Qur’an 46:35

The messengers of firm resolution or patience are Nuh,Ibrahim, Musa,Isa (Jesus Christ), Muhammad, (A.S).They are all known for being dealt with by the very people they want to save from hell fire! But despite this,they endure all and are able to become the rally points of the world.For examples:

•Prophet Nuh is the chief of the apostle; he is the first of the apostles and while Adam is the first prophet (Nabbiy),Nuh is the first apostle (Rasul). He had shown uncommon patience to his people to the extent that history has it that, he had called them to the worship of one indivisible God while he equally warned them to desist from man worshipping of man and arrogance for a whopping 950 years . In this instance the glorious Qur’an has this to say in that instance :

” We did send Noah to his people, and he tarried among them for a thousand years less fifty (950) ; but the deluge overwhelmed them while they persisted in sin.” ( Qur’an 29: 14)

Indeed, Prophet Nuh ( May the Blessing of Allah persist in Him) had called his people day and night but his call only increases his People’s flight from the right things. Whenever he called them, instead of listening to his divine voice, they thrusted their hands into their ears and covered themselves up with their garments in derision and arrogance!

For all these dramas of Nuh’s people, Nuh did not relent nor showing tiredness in their calling to the right way. Then he changed tactics, so he called them aloud, spoke to them in the public and secretly in private saying for all your sins and despite your waywardness :

” Ask forgiveness from your Lord , For He is oft- Forgiving; ..” ( Qur’an 71- 10)

Nuh (Noah), for all his fine admonition, constancy and patience was not listened to until his people increased their antics by plotting to get rid of the righteous Nuh! And because of their sins they were drowned in the flood and were made to enter fire!

•Ibrahim is the father of faith in the trio abrahamic religions.He is even the one that named us Muslims!Besides, ibrahim is the most blessed of all the prophet as his lineages have produced the highest numbers of prophet and apostle!.Further more, prophet Muhammad is raised as an apostle as a result of Ibrahim’s prayer I.e:”And raise among them an apostle that will recite your verses for them…..”

Prophet Ibrahim’s monotheistic messages about God and His worship were also rejected like that of Nuh by his people. Not done, his people after many attempts at ridiculing him resorted to casting him into the fire until God ordered the Fire to be cooled on him instead of burning him. The Qur’an has this to say on Ibrahim and his fire experience:

” We said: oh fire! Be a comfort and peace On Ibrahim;
” And they desired a war on him ( Ibrahim) but we made them the greatest losers” ( Qur’an 21 :69-70).

• Musa is the most discussed of all the heavenly sent prophets in the glorious Qur’an! .He is also praised as the “Honorable in Allah’s sight” by Allah himself and for all his patience, he is chosen by God and awarded the title ”kalimu-llah”, i.e the one being spoken to directly by God! We read of him in the Qur’an as follows :
” Of some Messengers We have already told you ( oh Muhammad) the story; of others we have not;_ and to Moses Allah spoke directly to Him” (Qur’an 4: 164)

• Prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) had been prosecuted for no just reason other than that He called to God’s way by the Israelites until he was about to be murdered and Allah raised him unto Him” in the Heaven. Since birth, he had been honoured as a man born of a woman only with no father.He is also honoured to talk in his cradle and an honorable in God’s sight here in this world and the life to come!

His blessing since the time of his heavenly descent is still fresh among the people till now. The Noble Qur’an says about Jesus Christ:
” He said : I am indeed a servant of Allah ( God) : He Has given me revelation and made me a prophet:

”And He Has made me Blessed wheresoever I be, and Has enjoined on me prayer and Zakat as long as I live;

” He Has made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or unblest;

” So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life again!” (Qur’an 19: 30-33)

•Muhammad (saw) has been honored as the seal of prophehood.His name along side of God will be praised at the east,west,south and north of the earth for life while his followers will be blessed the more in the life to come! He himself is sent as a blessing to the mankind as he has also been given the glorious Qur’an as an inimitable, indestructible and everlasting miracle! This , after he had been dealt with, boycotted ,perscuted , attempted to be murder and uprooted from the city of his birth by the Makkah’s pagans to Yathrib ! We read about him in the Qur’an as follows :

” And We have not sent you but as a mercy to the world” (Qur’an 21: 107)

” Muhammad is not the father of your men, but he is the apostle of Allah and the Last of the prophets ; and Allah is cognizant of all things” (Qur’an 33:40)

We can see that all the prophets designated as patient and resolute have attained this position as a result of patience.This calls to all of us too to be patient and relied on God,so that what befell them in goodness will befall us too!

Definition of patience and its forms

The glorious Quran in its reference has made patience to mean perseverance, constancy, self-restraint,refusing to be cowed down and steadfastness. These meanings given to sabr(patience) can be gleaned from Quran 3 vs 200 which goes thus:”O ye who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance; strengthen each other; and fear Allah,that you may prosper!”
The virtues above which contain in patience are to be exercised by every human being who desires success in relation to others!For example, we need perseverance to achieve our set goals in this mundane life and the eternal life to come_a man desirous of having a successful business empire,a student whose focus is academic success and a farmer who wants to have a bumper harvest, must all,persevere in investing in good businesses, reading books and watering the planting respectively – all these required enough patience!

Likewise, a believer who is hell bent desiring the garden of bliss(al-janat),must be constant in believing that God is one in His essence, worship and human sustenance! He must show constancy in his devotion to Him,whether in his observation of the canonical aspects of the pillars of Islam or in the voluntary aspects of the religion!
As such, a Muslim must not be cowed down by intimidation of the men who will want to disturb him in exercising the obligatory and voluntary acts of worship.This is when he will need the patience virtue of steadfastness, so as to achieve eternal success! Perhaps this has made prophet Muhammad (salla-llahu alehi wasalam) to have opined that :” there is no intellectuality like patience!”

Yes ,there is no intellectuality like patience. Since no achievement, whether it be on intellectual pursuit or on something else is possible , here in this adamic plane or elsewhere without the golden ingredient of patience!

Forms of patience

There are three forms of patience according to the Hadith of the prophet which says:

“Patience is three; patience needed in obeying the commandments of God, patience needed to move away from sins and patience needed to be steadfast on God’s destinies for man(the aspects of destinies which are always painful)!.

From the above,  every man must discipline himself to have these three forms of patience since he cannot live in this life without these three categories of patience!For instance,he will have to be patient to worship God during the rain, in the sunset or in the early part of the dawn when it is dark.

Equally, man will need to refrain from doing evils despite his capability to do it;it is his patience that will restrain him from doing so while at the same time show constancy in his belief in God despite the unfriendly destiny that is associated with him!

More over,it is in the exercise of these forms of patience that one can benefit from the promise God Has made to the patient that they will receive their rewards without measure.Allah says:”Those who patiently persevere will truly receive a reward without measure”.

Besides, of all the categories of people in life which the Qur’an has examined, only the patient and the truthful , God Has vowed to ever be with all the time of their lives while He Has also declared His love to. An Arabic poet Has said:

” Readers be patient with every tribulation
And know that there is no man without a trial
But when you are tested with a tribulation be patient
Then measure your tribulation with that of Muhammad (saw)
By that you will realise that
Muhammad despite his prophethood
Had been tested far more than you have been tested
Despite being God’s special Apostle”