Page 42 - The Importance of Patience in the Qur’an

40 THE IMPORTANCE OF PATIENCE IN THE QUR'AN

very near at hand. We know this because He promises that while
testing the faithful, He will ease their burden. This situation, as
proclaimed in "For truly with hardship comes ease" (Surat al-
Inshirah, 5), ensures that the faithful are pleased with what Allah has
given, and that they will continue to show patience even in their
darkest hours.

In the following hadith, our Prophet (saas) advises believers to be
patient and trust Allah:
"Be mindful of Allah, [for] you will find Him before you. Get to know
Allah in prosperity, and He will know you in adversity. Know that what
has passed you by was not going to befall you, and that what has befallen
you was not going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with
patience, relief with affliction, and ease with hardship." (Tirmidhi)
We can see some of the finest examples of such behavior among
the Prophet's (saas) Companions. In order to win Allah's approval,

they remained patient on His path despite thirst, poverty, and
intolerable hunger, and continued to struggle along with our Prophet
(saas). Allah mentions the reward that they would receive in
exchange for their superior morality, which they displayed by
remaining patient in the face of exhaustion, as well as the hunger and
thirst they experienced in their sweltering desert surroundings, as
follows:
It was not for people of Madina, and the desert Arabs around
them, to remain behind the Messenger of Allah or to prefer
themselves to him. That is because no thirst or weariness or

hunger will afflict them in the Way of Allah, nor will they take a
single step to infuriate the unbelievers, nor to secure any gain
from the enemy, without a right action being written down for
them because of it. Allah does not let the wage of the good-doers