The Station of Patience on the Spiritual Journey.

 

Imam Ali r.a said: Bear patiently a task whose reward is indispensable to you, and desist from action whose punishment you are not capable of bearing; withstand the judgement of someone who has nothing but that on which to rely and take refuge in. If trials are met with contentment and patience they are a constant blessing, and if blessings are devoid of gratitude they are an ever-present trial.

As-Sadiq r.a said: When the believer enters his grave, prayer is on his right, zakat on his left, righteous actions are spread over him and patience bends down at his side, and if he enters the place of questioning, patience says to prayer, zakat, and righteous actions, "Take heed of your companion: if you fail him, then I am beneath him."

 

Moses had his Midian before he was worthy to be Lawgiver to his people. Israel had forty years of widerness-wandering before it was fit for its Promised Land .David was trained for kingship, not in courts, but on the hillsides with his flocks.

 

The secret of the soul’s alchemy is to gather something from every person we meet, from every experience life brings us, and out of the knowledge thus gained, of human weaknesses and human needs, to distill in our own hearts the precious oil of sympathy.
[The Book of Character by Camille Helminski.]
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According to one hadith, the patient poor will sit with God Most High on the day of judgement. God revealed to one of the prophets, "I sent My trials upon My servant, so he prayed to Me and I was long in answering him. Then he complained to Me, and I said, "O’ My servant, how shall I deliver you from something which is in itself the means of delivering you?"

Allah says in the Holy Quran, "So be patient with a beautiful patience" 70:5, referring to a person who suffers trouble and distress, yet cannot be told apart from other people.

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The 36th discourse from the Jala al Khawatir of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani. R.A

When a person is genuinely sincere, he is grateful for the blessings he has received, and he patiently endures the misfortunes he must bear. He carries out the commandments and observes the prohibitions.

Our hearts are involved in a process of development. To be grateful for blessings is to cause those blessings to increase, and to endure misfortunes with patience is to make it easier for them to accomplish their purpose.

Inna ma’al usri yusra: Verily with hardship is ease.

Ease "yusr" and hardship "usr" are the feathers that give strength to the wings of your faith, so that your heart and your innermost being can use them to fly to the door of your Lord, Almighty and Glorious is He.

The Prophet s.w said, "Patience is to faith as the head is to the body".

If you really knew the One who puts us to the test [Al-Mubtali] you would comprehend the true significance of His trials. If you really knew the world for what it is, you would reconsider the pursuit of it.
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A Hadith also states that patience is half of faith.

 

Two beggars knocked at the door asking for bread. One beggar was given a loaf and was sent away. The other was kept waiting and waiting. At length, the second beggar became concerned, "Why am I being denied? What is so lacking in me that the other one was favoured over me?" Unknown to the beggar, a fresh loaf was being baked for him inside the house.

 

Patience has 3 components.
The first is the art of mindfulness. It is to be present with whatever is. Just like children when they are engaged in their play and childish sport, for that moment as when building castles in the sand, they are fully occupied and immersed in the joy of the act with little thought of whether the castle will stay or be destroyed by one wandering wave of the sea. Just so should man be engaged and fully present to what life offers at any given moment, knowing that life is a divine game which He plays and whenever He may so wish He can topple the board and turn the game around. Yet we as human players must play the game with full integrity and heed the rules of the game.

Patience is about acceptance of where you are right now. Patience is about looking for your joy in the now so you can enjoy the journey. Patience is about looking for all the things in your life right now that you are grateful for. Patience is about eagerly anticipating all the wonderful things that are on their way to you without any real concern about how long it will take. But mostly, patience has to do with having "faith", because if you truly have "faith" that the process will work in time, then you will have no reason to lose your patience.

 

The second component is a development of gentleness in yourself. Can you be less aggressive? Rushing ahead to catch a floating feather will drive it further away. Turning on a powerful hose to fill a small cup is a futile act. But if we are present and gentle, the feather will be in our grasp and we will also fill the cup.

 

The third component is the most vital one and that is the faith that there is a God Who is infinitely Compassionate, Merciful and Just; a God Who is aware of our minutest needs and graciously provides.

Although impatience can lead to many difficulties and obstacles but at the same time we must view our impatience gently. Impatience is when we are tapping into a subconscious memory of the time when we were in divine realms before arriving here. In those dimensions whatever is thought of manifests instantly. On this plane of reality, we forget that we have to mature into higher states of being.
[The Fragrance of Faith by Jamal Rahman]

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The child grows in the mother’s womb for nine months before it is ready to be born into the world. If it were to come into the world before its proper time, it would be dangerous for both mother and child. Before a seed can grow into a fruit giving tree, it must be sown in the soil and given tender care. When it gets the fruit then even it is necessary to wait till the fruit ripens before we pluck it, and if we pluck it too soon then instead of giving nourishment and pleasure, it would taste sour or bitter and upset the constitution.
             
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Like sheaves of corn it gathers you unto itself.
It threshes you to make you naked.
It sifts you to free you from your husks.
It grinds you to whiteness.
It kneads you until you are pliant.
And then it assigns you to its sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s Heart.
[ Khalil Gibran, The Prophet.]
 

Labor is needed, if we are to seek Him; ardor is needed, if we are to drink of the honey of reunion with Him; and if we taste of this cup, we shall cast away the world.

Murshid Inayat Khan on Patience:

 

Indulgence into every comfort, seeking convenience, always looking for the path of least resistance, also brings weakness. However small the work may be, if a person takes it seriously and finishes it with patience, he gains much power over himself. Patience is the principal thing in life, although patience is as bitter, as hard, as unbearable as death. Sometimes one prefers death to patience.

Individuals have to practice this spirit, for we do not know what may come to follow. We live in this world of uncertainty, and we do not know in what condition we may be placed to-morrow; if we have no strength of resistance we may easily break down. Therefore it is most necessary for the human race to develop patience in all conditions of life, in all walks of life, in all positions in life. Whether we are rich or poor, high or low, this is the one quality that must be developed. It is patience that gives endurance, it is patience that is all-powerful, and by lack of patience one loses so much. Very often the answer to one's prayer is within one's reach, the hand of Providence not very far off -but one has lost one's patience and so lost the opportunity.

The sages have therefore taught the part played by contentment. It is said, 'Resist not evil,' and yet how many give in to evil instead! The real meaning of the scripture is: suppose a person is angry with us, if we partake of his anger we resist him; the fire that he sets alight in our minds we allow to become alight in ourselves, and we have resisted. Do not resist evil in that way. Do not partake of the evil of another. If you are quiet and calm, your calmness and quietness will have a greater effect on the other than his anger, so that true resistance is practice of contentment. Patience is the best quality that man can cultivate. We are always apt to become excited or annoyed when another person does not understand us. Why get excited if he cannot understand us? If a person is foolish or cannot do things right, by becoming excited we make him still more foolish, still more stupid. We cannot help him in that way, and we partake of his quality by allowing ourselves to oppose him. If we kept our mind tranquil, if we had patience, we should keep in harmony. Harmony is the greatest thing to learn in life. All the disagreement between couples, friends, people in business and politics, comes from lack of patience. If we just had patience and contentment, we could teach ourselves much better.

Patience and forbearance

Shaykh Nasiruddin, the shaykh of Gisu Daraz, was harassed and maltreated by the sultan. When the Chishti Sufi Burhanuddin Gharib heard about it, he bitterly wept and said, referring to the shaykh of Gisu Daraz: ‘What to do? Khwaja Mawlana Mahmud is so gentle and forgiving. If he so wishes, the earth would swallow the sultan, his entire army, people, horses and elephants and would yet remain unsatisfied’. He wrote a letter to shaykh Nasiruddin, sympathizing with him in his misfortune and praising his patience and forbearance. At the top of his letter there was according to Gisu Daraz this quatrain:

 

Taa bar sar ‘aasheqaan balaa’i narasad
Aawaaza’-ye ‘eshqeshaan bajaa’i narasad
Rav bar sar kongora sar-e mardaan bin
Naa-mardaan raa khaar bapaa’i narasad

As long as affliction does not visit the lovers,
The voice of their love does not reach the Beloved.
Go and see the heads of true men fixed on turrets,
A thorn will not prick the feet of cowards.

 

We must patiently weed out the undesirable qualities in our selves, then prepare the soil of the heart by making it soft with sympathy and then carefully have the seed of true understanding sown by the hand of the Spiritual Master. Thereafter we must water the seed with patient perseverance and await the fruit of our toil.

Alif Allah Chambe di Booti
Meray dil vich murshid laaee huuu

 

The Jasmine-like fragrant seedling of remembrance
Has been planted in the soil of my heart by my Murshid. 

Nafi Asbat da pani milya
Har Ragey Har Jaaee huuu.

 

It has been carefully nourished by the water of the kalimah of negation and affirmation
In every vein, vessel, throughout the whole being.
[Hazrat Sultan Bahu.]

Reflection.

The patience shown by the moon to the dark night keeps it illumined;
The patience shown by the rose to the thorn keeps it fragrant.
Rumi. 

 

Prayer.

O Allah guide every wanderer back to the right path, bring every disobedient sinner back to Your good grace, enable every suffering soul to bear his suffering with patience, and help everyone who enjoys well-being to be truly thankful for it. Ameen. [Hzt.Abdul Qadir Jilani.]