Patience and Gratitude- Requisite for Attaining Divine Closeness
Patience
Patience means working with endurance. There are three letters of the word Sabr
“صبر”
ص، ب، ر
’ص‘ سے صالح، ’ب‘ سے برداشت اور ’ر‘ سے رضائے الٰہی۔
Therefore, patience means doing good deeds while enduring every hardship for the sake of Divine pleasure. Patience may seem like a small word, but behind it lies the spirit of enduring any hardship with high spirits. Patience is sunnah of all the prophets. Moreover they attained the nearness to Allah Almighty through patience. This world is the home of misery for the believers. Seekers of Allah and the seekers of hereafter have forbidden the world to themselves from eternity. The one who are satisfied with the will of Allah, Allah has promised the best reward for them. The Prophets, Companions of the prophets and saints, all have declared the love of Allah and the nearness of Allah to be the best reward. Due to this reward man has been given an honor of being superior to the eighteen thousand creatures by Allah.
What Allah says about patience?
For those who are patient Quran says: “And Allah is with the patient one.” (2:249)
Jabbar (ra) narrates that Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “On the day of resurrection, when the afflicted will be rewarded for their patience, then those who live in peace in this world will wish that their skins would be cut off with scissors in this world.”
Ali ibn Abi Talib says:
*He who is thankful for trouble is as happy as if he had no trouble.
*Patience is helpful in all bitter deeds.
*When a person is going through a difficult time, he should turn to the Allah Almighty without complaining.
Regarding patience Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jillani (ra) says:
“Patience is to be sincere with Allah in the times of calamity and to submit to His decisions.”
Quote Sultan Mohammad Najib-ur-Rehman
Sultan Mohammad Najib-ur-Rehman with the instruction of patience, while briefing its reward, says: “Learn to be patient. Allah knows everything and knows what difficulties you are going through. Believe that time will change because change is the law of the universe.”
Allah has given glad tidings to the patient ones that Allah is with them. And whosoever has Allah with him what else does he need? But those who oppress and are unjust must know that they are deprived of Allah.
“And evildoers have no helpers.” (2:270)
Man is apparently weak. But the same man, when understands his reality and considers every difficulty from Allah with high spirits and is patient. Moreover his spirits have the power to shatter even the mountains. If Allah puts a man in a predicament, He Himself shows him the way out of it. Sometimes through prayer and sometimes through the instruction of a perfect Spiritual Guide.
Patience according to Quran
Allah says in Quran: “O our Lord! Gush on us torrents of patience and lift us (from the world) as (steadfast) Muslims.” (7:126)
“And exhort one another to patience (in the face of hardships and afflictions that are faced whilst preaching the Din [Religion] of truth).” (103:3)
Considering this verse of Surah al Asr it tells us to indoctrinate patience. From the point of view of religion, indoctrination can only be done by one who is a doer of deeds. Or in other words, only a doer of indoctrination has the authority to do so.
Who is the master of theology?
So listen, O master of wisdom! After the Prophets and the companions, the master of indoctrination and guidance is the perfect man who steps on the footsteps of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and shows mankind the right path of Mohammadan Assembly and nearness of Allah. Whoever is blessed with Divine love or whoever follows the path of love has faced troubles and calamities. Because Allah sometimes grants his servants and sometimes puts them to the test to draw them near to Himself. Allah has promised a great reward for the lover who patiently endures all hardships for the pleasure of his beloved Allah.
Gratitude
Gratitude means thankfulness and appreciation. Explaining the meaning of this word, it can be said that a person is courageous enough to express his inner and outer gratitude for his destiny, every decision and blessing of Allah.
What is the importance of gratitude in Islam?
A person is usually thankful for his blessings. Whoever is thankful to Allah for His blessings, Allah rewards him more. There are different ways to be thankful. Whatever a person has he has no role in it as it is a gift from his Lord. A person must be thankful both outwardly and inwardly. The one who is grateful should distribute the blessings bestowed on him by Allah among the creation and be humble to it, whether it be in the form of love, patience, good morals or wealth. Allah says about thankfulness:
“If you are thankful, I shall certainly increase (My blessings on) you.” (14:7)
When a person keeps on thanking Allah outwardly and inwardly for His bounty, Allah rewards him with blessing in return.
Whenever the word thanks is written, heard or read, the word blessing is used with it.
What is a blessing?
Everything that brings nearness to Allah is a blessing. Divine love (Ishq) is the only emotion that causes of nearness to Allah.
Divine Love
Love is the name of the state where the thought revolves around its beloved.
Who is really entitled to it?
Sultan Mohammad Najib-ur-Rehman says:
“A person cannot fall in the ardent love for another person. One who claims so is a liar because Allah Himself is the ardent love (Ishq) and one can feel this passion only for Allah.”
It is clear from this blessed saying that love should be done only with Allah. Let us mention here that love is the name of constant anguish and pain in the heart.
The real blessing is the blessing of love and how to be thankful for the pain?
So listen, O traveler of the path of truth! He who has received the blessing of love is always humbled before his lord and is grateful that Allah has saved his servant from running after the dead world and is on the path of his desire. If you want to change the spirit of patience into the spirit of gratitude, you just have to change the angle of thinking. For example patience is when a person does not complain in distress. However, when the same person realizes that in return for his distress, Allah has bestowed upon him the blessing of His remembrance then he will have a feeling of gratitude. Gratitude should be given not to adversity but to all the factors by which man attains nearness to Allah.
Our Beloved Prophet and Gratitude
Abdullah Bin Masood narrates that Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “The one who is able to be thankful will not be deprived of the abundance of blessings.” Because Allah says: “That, if you are thankful I will increase your blessings.” In fact, man gains insight only when he is thankful for everything that is difficult to bear. Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jillani says: The fact of thanksgiving is that while humbly acknowledging the benevolence of the Almighty and realizing that he is unable to give thanks.
Shaikh Saadi
To explain gratitude there is an incident of Shaikh Saadi. He says: “I saw a man injured by a leopard. His wound was not healing. He had been suffering from this for a long time but still he was always thanking Allah. People asked him, why are you thankful for this? He replied that I am in a trouble not in sin.”
Who is the highest in rank, Patience or Gratitude?
Patience and gratitude for a gift in the face of adversity have the same status. In fact, we seek help from Surah al Inshirah to make it clear that suffering is a sign of blessing. Allah says: “Verily, with (this) hardship (too) there is ease.” (94:6)
There is nothing more comforting than this verse in which Allah Almighty Himself is giving the glad tidings of ease after trouble. In the Quran, patience is mentioned more than thanksgiving. But in terms of rank, both are equal.
Here is the translation of the verse of the Arabic poem. The inciting innerself revolted not to bring to light the secret of the disease of my innerself. I strongly held to thankfulness and praise to Allah and revealed all complaints in front of Allah.
Ashfaq Ahmad writes in his book ‘Mun ka Sauda that a believer is one who believes in Allah. Believing in Allah means that one should submit to Allah’s decision and keep on asking for the blessings of His love. If you get lucky, you should keep praying for your betterment.
Who helps in preserving on the path of Patience and Gratitude?
Patience and Gratitude is a symbol of innerself at peace. Allah says: “O innerself at peace! Return to your Lord in such state that you are both the aspirant to, and the aspired of, His pleasure (i.e., you seek His pleasure and he seeks yours). So join my (perfect) servants. And enter My Paradise of nearness and sight).” (89:27-30)
In this verse, joining the circle of special servants means joining the ranks of a perfect spiritual man by swearing allegiance to him. The allegiance to the perfect spiritual guide, will be helpful in purification of innerself, will make Muslims true believers and will play an important part by preserving on the path of truth.
Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani
Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jillani says: “You are blind, then seek him who takes hold of your hand, you are ignorant, seek him who has such knowledge, and when you are able to do so, take hold of him, and accept his word and opinion and learn the righteous path from him. When you will follow his guidance, you’ll be able arrive at your destination by knowing the gnosis of Allah.”
Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) is the imam of all chains and all chains reach the Holy Prophet (pbuh) only after passing through Ali. Ali ibn Abi Talib is Shaikh e Itsal according to terminology of Faqr. This is because the series of a specific spiritual guide which reaches Holy Prophet (pbuh) through Ali. Therefore the spiritual connection of the man who took oath of allegiance in order to purify his innerself and to attain the vision of Allah almighty and Mohammadan Assembly is established with Holy Prophet (pbuh) through Ali. Therefore following the guidance of a perfect spiritual guide is like following the guidance of Holy Prophet (pbuh) hence following the guidance of Prophet (pbuh) means to follow the guidance of Allah Almighty.
Conclusion
In the present era that perfect spiritual guide is Sultan Mohammad Najib-ur-Rehman who founded Tehreek Dawat e Faqr. By swearing allegiance at his hands the seeker follows the path of Divine love with sincerity and perseverance on the right path and is blessed with presence in Mohammadan Assembly and not only a relationship is established with the Holy Prophet (PBUH) but also his blessings. The first right on man belongs to his real owner, Allah Almighty.
Let us make this world and hereafter easier by walking on the path of truth without wasting time by pledging allegiance on the hands of Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Mohammad Najib-ur-Rehman.
کہہ رہا ہے بہتا دریا وقت کا
قیمتی ہے لمحہ لمحہ وقت کا
اہل ِ ہمت اپنی منزلیں پائیں گے
جو ہیں کاہل پیچھے وہ رہ جائیں گے
If you want to understand the spirit of patience and gratitude in simpler and clear words, then see this poetry:
رہ تقویٰ صبر و شکر راضی بخدا
این چنین تقویٰ بود باطن صفا
Explanation: Inner piety is the name of being content with pleasure of Allah Almighty by adopting patience and gratitude. This is the piety that leads to inner purity.
May Allah make us content with his will through our spiritual guide and grant us the ability to be faithful to our perfect spiritual guide forever.