11. PATIENCE AND VICTORY
The Messenger of Allah said, “and that victory comes with patience.” This statement is in full accord with the sayings of Allah, Most High,
”You who have faith! When you meet a troop, stand firm and remember Allah repeatedly so that hopefully you will be successful.“1
“If there are twenty of you who are patient, they will overcome two hundred; and if there are a hundred of you, they will overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve.”2
He said, concerning the story of ‘Talut,
“Then when he and those who had faith with him had crossed it, they said, ‘We do not have the strength to face Goliath and his troops today.’ But those who were sure that they were going to meet Allah said, ‘How many small forces have triumphed over a much greater one by Allah’s permission! Allah is with the patient.”‘
Allah, Most High, says,
“Yes indeed! But if you are patient and have taqwa and they come upon you suddenly, your Lord will reinforce you with five thousand angels clearly identified.”4
There are many more verses and hadith concerning being patient when meeting the enemy.
‘Umar asked the elders of Banii ‘Abasa, ‘What tool do you fight people with?’ They replied, ‘With patience. We have never fought a people except that we were patient and steadfast like they were patient and steadfast.’ One of the Salaf said, ‘All of us dislike death and the pain of injury, however we attain varying degrees through patience.’
Battal was asked about courage to which he replied, ‘Patience for an hour.’
All this pertains to fighting the external enemy: fighting the disbelievers, but the same applies to fighting the internal enemy: fighting the lower self and base desires. Indeed, fighting these is one of the greatest forms of Jihad. The Prophet said, “The Mujahid is one who strives against his soul for the sake of Allah.”
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr replied to a person who asked about Jihad by saying, ‘Start with yourself and strive against it. Start with yourself and start a campaign against it!’
It is reported on the authority of Jabir, with a da’if isnad, that the Prophet said to a people who had returned from battle, ”You have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad.” It was asked, ‘What is the greater Jihad?’ He replied, “The servant’s striving against his base desires.”
When Abu Bakr al-Siddiq appointed (Umar (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) as Khalifah, he advised him, ‘The first thing you have to beware of is yourself inside of you.’
It is reported in the hadith of Sa’d ibn Sinan on the authority of Anas (radiyAllahu ‘anhu), and in the mursal hadith of Malik al Ashja’l, that the Prophet said, ”Your enemy is not that person who, if he kills you, guarantees your entry in Paradise, or if you kill him, he will be a light for you. Your worst enemy is yourself inside you.” The poet, (Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf encapsulated this meaning in a poem,
My heart calls me to what will harm me, Increasing my sorrow and my pain. How can I guard against my enemy, When the enemy resides inside me?
This Jihad also requires patience, whoever steadfastly strives against himself, his desires and his shaytan will achieve victory. Whoever, on the other hand, despairs and gives up patience will be overcome, defeated and imprisoned. He will become subjugated and mean, imprisoned by his shaytan and his desires. It is said,
If a person does not defeat his desires They will render the noble, ignoble
Another said,
Perhaps a stranger is imprisoned by passion, Yet in the face of patience it dissipates. A person beset with lusts is a slave, But if he subdues them, he is a king!
lbn al-Mubarak said, ‘Whoever is patient will end up finding little requiring patience. Whoever despairs will find little to take pleasure in.’ Bukhari and Muslim record that the Prophet said, “The strong person is not a person who wrestles, but the strong per son is that person who can control his self when angry.”
A person described Af.inaf ibn Qays with the words, ‘He had a complete mastery over himself when angry.’ A person remarked to one of them, ‘So-and-so can walk on water.’ He replied, ‘If Allah grants a person the ability to oppose his desires, such a one is stronger than the person who can walk on water.’
Know that your self is like an animal, if it knows that you are firm and resolute, it will not waver, but if it knows that you are lazy and irresolute, it will take advantage and hanker after its wants and pursue its lusts.
Abu Sulayman al-Darani would say, ‘While in Iraq, I was in charge of [up keeping] the palaces, the vessels, clothes and food of the princes and my soul did not want any of them. Then I was put in charge of dates and my soul almost fell upon them.’ This was mentioned to one of the Gnostics who said, ‘He had no hope of attaining the first so his lusts did not hanker after them, but he did want . the second, so they hanker after them.’
Steadfastly I avoided delights till they vanished. I forced my soul to forego them, They remained absent. The soul goes where A person directs. If it sees an opportunity, It hankers after it, otherwise not, For many a day myself Gained ascendancy. Yet when it saw my resolve At humility, it submitted.
Therefore, his saying, “and that victory comes with patience, ” subsumed patience and steadfastness in striving against both the external and internal enemy. The Salaf would view this latter patience: patiently striving against the self and desires to be better than patience in the face of tribulation.
Maymiin ibn Mihran said, ‘Patience is of two categories: patience when encountering calamity which is good, and patience in avoiding sins which is better.’ Sa’id ibn Jubayr said, ‘Patience is of two types: the best form is patience in avoiding what Allah has proscribed and doing those acts of worship that He has made obligatory, and patience when facing calamity.’
A hadith having this meaning is reported from the Prophet on the authority of Ali but it is not authentic.
By ibn Rajah al-Hanbali
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