Sunday, October 10, 2010

Patience is Rewarded

I once heard Muhammad Alshareef saying something I think is quite poignant. And only in recent months have I realized just how true it is. He said (paraphrased) the precise moment you make the decision to be patient, the doors of this world open up to you, and Allah (swt) makes things easy for you.

I thought this statement was interesting at best. I specifically remember I was going through some tough times at the moment I heard this and I wondered how this could at all be true. I felt I had been patient with my situation for a long time, but nothing was changing for the better.

The problem is, we all think we're being patient just because we're putting up with difficult or annoying things in life. But that's not the definition of patience. Patience is more than just waiting the situation out, it's more than just resigning yourself to misery, it's more than just waiting for better things to happen to you.

Patience is actually about being proactive! It's not about resigning yourself to a situation - rather, it's about accepting your circumstances and taking the opportunity to make yourself stronger through them. We don't know how to be patient - too often do we confuse patience for "resignation" and thus when we are advised to be patient, we almost scoff at the notion, as if patience is for those who are weak. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. It's something you breathe in, something you have a conversation with, something alive and pumping through your veins. Even something you fight with sometimes.

The funny thing is, it takes massively incalculable strength to actually be patient.

I don't think I can honestly identify more than one time where I was genuinely patient. But the one time that I can, just the one time...subhanAllah! All it took was one brief moment of deciding with all my heart to just do ONE small, insignificant thing for the sake of Allah, and He opened up so many doors for me since that small decision was made, it's almost mind boggling.

So, I don't know what to tell you except that we all need to examine what our definition of patience is; I'm not sure if I elucidated it well in this post. Probably not. Nonetheless, it's worth ruminating over because we both know that one of the ultimate keys to success is patience.

So go forth and discuss it with your brain. And smile while you're at it.

6 comments:

sara said...

How did you know that this was exactly what I needed to read right now?

Ambreen Syed said...

MashAllah now that is what I call foder for thought. I usually don't read stuff at work but I am truly glad I made an exception in this case.

Ambreen Syed

Anonymous said...

@ Ambreen Syed...are you by any chance married to Arif?

Unknown said...

Ibn al-Mubarak said,

"Perhaps a great deed is belittled by an intention. And perhaps a small deed, by a sincere intention, is made great."

Neighborhood Muslimah said...

You certainly have some gems in this post. Thank you. Patience is about being proactive...you are absolutely right. I particularly like this line 'too often do we confuse patience for "resignation" and thus when we are advised to be patient, we almost scoff at the notion, as if patience is for those who are weak'.
May Allah bless you.

Asma said...

I love your words: It's something you breathe in, something you have a conversation with, something alive and pumping through your veins. Even something you fight with sometimes.

I can certainly relate. Thank you Asmaa. May Allah bless your heart and grant you more.

I've been reflecting on this myself and I see that something which helps is to follow Allah's signs along the way. Often when we're impatient we become closed to Allah's signs, small and large, whereas if we keep our hearts open we see little things telling us to take one route or another and we find goodness in them. I'm trying to do that myself...