The Amazing Story of Sabr (Patience) This is a story of a great man, a Prophet of Allah, whose life here on the earth had an abundance of joyous things as well as an abundance of painful things. His name was Ayyub (alayh as-Salaam). He is a person whose faith and devotion Allah has Himself praised in the Qur’an. Allah had blessed Ayyub (alayh as-Salaam) with a lot of gifts: He had good health, pious children, a loving wife, a house to live in, farm land and cattle. He was a grateful worshipper of Allah who used to thank Allah for these blessings. Allah then put Ayyub (alayh as-Salaam) to a test, to see how he would respond. The test was this: Allah made him suffer many losses that involved losing the things that every person holds the most dear. Prophet Ayyub’s crops got destroyed. His cattle died. All his children were crushed to death. He himself got very sick and was in much pain and distress. Only his wife stayed by his side and continued to give support to him. After having such a heartbreaking series of disasters, a person with a weaker faith would have started having doubts about the goodness, mercy and justice of Allah. A man of weaker faith would have started complaining to Allah, and would have started having dark thoughts about “bad luck” and “misfortune”. Any person who did not understand the real purpose of this life would have started asking: “Why me? What have I done to deserve this?”— because such a person would not understand that this world is really like an examination hall, a place where the things that happen, good or bad, are a test to see if a person is thankful or not (for good things), and is patient or not (for bad things). Ayyub (alayh as-Salaam), being a man of tremendous faith and trust in Allah, passed this test with flying colors. Just as he had been grateful to Allah in his happier days, he was now continuously patient at this time of difficulty. He bore all the disasters, including his long illness, with great courage. All these things put together still could not turn him away from Allah or decrease his faith. Instead, he prayed to Allah with sincerity and with trust. He begged his Lord for help, and his Lord responded. And how magnificently did his Lord respond! Allah, The Exalted, The Wise, ordered him to strike the ground with his feet. Upon doing so, a spring of water miraculously burst forth from the ground. Ayyub (alayh as-Salaam) drank and bathed with the water of this spring, and it cured him of his illness. Not only that, but Allah also blessed him with more children, twice the number that he had lost. By having patience and turning to Allah for help, Ayyub (alayh as-Salaam) was successful in the test. This is a great lesson and a great example for all of us, showing us the way to live life if hardships or difficulties come our way “From this story we learn about Sabr- patience from the life of Prophet Ayyub (AS). Allah rewarded him tremendously for his patience that he showed in times of hardship and for his loyalty and trust towards Allah even at extreme and trying moments in life. In this beautiful world around us, Allah has created many things that we like, and many things that we don’t like. There is happiness and there is sorrow. There is success and there is failure. There is health and there is illness. Allah has made all of this a test for us, both the good things of this world and the bad. Sabr is the solution ! Sabr (Arabic: صْبِرْ Sabr) is the Islamic virtue of “patience” or“endurance”. Sabr is characterized as being one of the two parts of faith (the other being shukr). Patience is the first weapon for the believer to use when facing hardship. “Allah surely loves those who are the Sabireen (patient).” (3:146) والله يحب الصابرين Type of Sabr/Patience: Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim said, “There are three types of patience: Firstly, practicing patience to fulfill the obligations and to do righteous. Secondly, abstaining from evil and prohibited acts. And thirdly, practicing patience during times of hardship without complaints.” • Benefits of Sabr/patience: • Patience keeps you from getting bored during serious activities that require continuous energy and time. • Patience keeps you from rushing on tasks that require much time. • Patience controls you during times of anger and prevents you from committing wrong verbal or physical acts. • Patience controls you during conditions of fear and prevents you from committing wrong verbal or physical acts. • Patience controls you from greediness and prevents you from committing wrong verbal or physical acts. • Patience controls you from following your own desires. • Practicing patience will make a person enter Paradise and it will save him from the hellfire. • Practicing patience will always keep you under the protection and care of Allah (S.W.T.). • Finally, practicing patience will give you the blessings and mercy of Allah (S.W.T.). May Allah (SWT) grant us the ability to be patient! Ameen!
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 06:57:26 +0000
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