Episode 13 - Patience does not flow from the depths of your soul

We are still building our love for Allah on solid foundations, the first of which is contemplating the Names and Attributes of Allah. We said that if you master dealing with affliction, you will understand the Names and Attributes of Allah more and more through affliction, and this will ultimately lead to turning affliction into a reason to increase love for Allah. In previous episodes, we contemplated Allah's wisdom in affliction and then His tenderness towards His servants with affliction. Today, we contemplate another Attribute of Allah... What is this Attribute? Sometimes we suffer from a problem; we do not know how long it will last or to what extent it will worsen. Hope shines in our hearts for its disappearance. Our tongues utter supplications. But we soon feel fear and the specter of despair when we think that our affliction will last and intensify.

We are then afraid because we look at the aspects of ourselves and their depths and find nothing to rely on to endure if the affliction reaches the feared degree. We deal with the matter in a mathematical way: if the affliction is a disease feared to lead to blindness, for example, we form the following equation to imagine the future: I - sight = a miserable person. And if your son is in the intensive care unit between life and death, the equation is: life - my son = continuous grief... and so on

In this equation, we forget an extremely important element, which is that patience does not flow from the weak aspects of your soul when affliction occurs or intensifies... but it descends from Allah the Helper! The Helper of those who seek His help. Scholars have differed in considering the Helper as one of Allah's Names, but it is certainly one of His Attributes.

Therefore, patience descends from our Lord the Helper just as victory descends. Patience descends from Allah to help you in your battle against despair and sorrow... and {If Allah helps you, none can overcome you} [Al Imran: 160]... Note: Just as Allah said: {And the victory is only from Allah} [Al Imran: 126]... He also said: {And be patient, and your patience is only with Allah} [An-Nahl: 127]... The composition of the two verses is similar. This is a very important truth! Patience descends from Allah, as do security and tranquility... and there are many signs of this, such as His saying: {Then He sent down upon you, after distress, security} [Al Imran: 154], and His saying: {Then He sent down tranquility upon them} [Al-Fath: 18], and His saying, narrating about the magicians who believed in Musa (Moses) and were about to have their hands and feet cut off from the opposite side and be crucified: {Our Lord! Pour upon us patience and take our souls as Muslims} [Al-A'raf: 126]... Imagine a bucket being emptied by pouring out what is in it... They ask their Lord to pour patience upon them. Patience descends like rain upon trembling, burning hearts, calming and cooling them. It is not the weak human self that is relied upon to invent patience and wage the battle! It is Allah the Helper who affirms: {Allah will strengthen those who believe} [Ibrahim: 27]... And since He is Allah who strengthens, there is no affliction greater than the strengthening of Allah the Helper... He is Allah who binds the trembling hearts that were about to fall out of the chest from sorrow or fear of the unknown... {And We bound their hearts} [Al-Kahf: 14]... And then nothing is frightening if Allah is the Helper.

As for Musa (Moses), he cast his daughter into the river, leaving behind an empty heart; the heart of a mother who lost the apple of her eye. So, the strengthening descended from Allah: {And the heart of the mother of Musa became empty. She almost disclosed it, had We not bound her heart so that she would be of the believers} [Al-Qasas: 10]... Therefore, patience descends from Allah the Helper. Consequently, the equation is no longer the rigidity we thought, but it has become: I - sight + patience from Allah = a contented person. Life - my son + tranquility from Allah = contentment, reward, and a new beginning.

- O brother! We are not among the atheists who believe only in material appearances, but we believe that Allah is with us. Do we not read in our daily prayers at least 17 times: {You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help} [Al-Fatihah: 5]? Has it occurred to you, while afflicted, to contemplate this verse when reciting it and imagine your strength as you seek help from Allah while facing affliction?

- Do not say (I will not be patient)! But if you seek help from Allah, He will help you. Look at His saying: {He said, Judge with truth, and our Lord is the Most Merciful, the One sought for help against what you describe} [Al-Anbiya: 122], and what He narrated about Yaqub (Jacob) that he said: {And Allah is the One sought for help against what you describe} [Yusuf: 18]... And the Prophet said: ((And if you seek help, seek help from Allah)).

- Do not say (I will not be patient)! There is no affliction greater than the help of the Helper if you seek His help sincerely. Remember the people of the ditch and the magicians of Pharaoh and the girl's maid... how great patience descended upon them in the face of their severe affliction as soon as faith mingled with their hearts and their souls became pleased with sacrifice for the sake of Allah, even though they had lived their lives before that as polytheists. The One who strengthened them is capable of strengthening you if you resort to Him... - Do not say (I will not be patient)! All you have to do is seek help from your Lord, the Most Merciful, the One sought for help... The Prophet said in the hadith narrated by Muslim: ((And whoever is patient, Allah will make him patient)).

- Do not say (I will not be patient)! But if you seek help from Allah, patience will descend upon you in the appropriate amount to calm your heart, no matter how great the affliction is. Allah said: {No affliction befalls except by the permission of Allah. And whoever believes in Allah, He guides his heart. And Allah is Knowing of all things} [At-Taghabun: 11]... meaning: He guides his heart to good, patience, and contentment during affliction.

- Do not say (I will not be patient)! But look at this great hadith that summarizes our station: The Messenger of Allah said in the hadith authenticated by Al-Albani: ((Indeed, help comes from Allah according to the need, and patience comes from Allah according to the affliction)). Notice the words of the hadith: ((Indeed, help comes from Allah according to the need))... according to the obligation, ((and patience comes from Allah according to the affliction))... Patience comes from Allah the Helper, not from the weak aspects of your soul. But from Allah, and in what measure? ((According to the affliction))... in the appropriate measure.

Summary of this station:

All you have to do is disavow your surroundings and your strength, and be certain that you have no one but Allah, so seek help from the Helper, and mend your relationship with Him to gain His support, and then there is no affliction greater than the help of Allah the Helper.