Characteristic of righteous (37)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ
ثم الصلاه و السلام علی محمد عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون
اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه
Ninth Sign of the righteous:
وَ صَبْراً فِي شِدَّةٍ
And endure in hardships
The term ” And endure in hardships” refers to the endurance and patience of the virtuous against the hardships of the life and sad things, that this patience and endurance are considered to be signs of them.
There is a hadith from prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) that he said:
إنَّ الصَّبْرَ نِصْفُ الإيمانِ
Patience is half the faith (Nahjul-alBalagha ibn al-Hadid, vol. 1, p. 319; Bahar al-Anwar, vol. 79, p. 137)
And in another hadith of that Prophet (PBUH):
الإيمانُ نِصْفانِ; نِصْفٌ فِى الصَّبْرِ وَ نِصْفٌ فِي الشُّکْرِ
Faith is two halves; Half of it is patience and half of it is being thankful.
Hardships and problems are not a separate part of life in this world, but these hardships and difficulties make human stronger and lead him in the way to progress. In Islamic culture, hardships and problems have been viewed with a positive and value perspective and Islam have considered them as a test for the righteous. Imam Hassan Askari says:
ما مِنْ بَلِيَّة إِلاّ وَ لِلّهِ فيها نِعْمَةٌ تُحيطُ بِها
There is no calamity unless there is a blessing from God that surrounds it ”(Bahar al-Anwar, vol. 75, p. 374)
The Holy Qur’an regards divine testing to all human beings, and says about those who have passed these tests:
وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنْفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ؛ الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُمْ مُصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ؛أُولَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ(بقره: 155-۱۵۷)
We will certainly test you with some fear and hunger, and some loss of possessions and lives and crops. But give good news to the steadfast. Those who, when a calamity afflicts them, say, “To God we belong, and to Him we will return.” Upon these are blessings and mercy from their Lord. These are the guided ones.
The mundane effect of patience
In the Holy Qur’an, God gives the good news of making things easier after hardship and suffering:
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً (انشراح ۵ و ۶ )
With hardship comes ease.
And for further emphasis, repeat in the next verse too.
Man will not achieve the desired results unless he works hard; the situation of scientists and high ranked people is initially accompanied by suffering and hardship; the success of any human being depends on his struggles and adversities of his life and struggling along the way. The Holy Qur’an states in general that the success of any human being (in this world or in this world) depends on his efforts.
وَ أَنْ لَيْسَ لِلْإِنْسانِ إِلاَّ ما سَعى ( نجم ۳۹)
And that the human being attains only what he strives for.
It may be people with physical disabilities who have achieved success through hard work and struggle with problems and difficulties, or people who have been given wealth and money by God, but they did not have good intentions, and did not make good use of their wealth and money and at the end they lose everything.
Rumi tells the story of a mystic who has a impatient wife. A disciple went to his house to meet him, but the woman, with a great deal of cursing at the mystic, pushed that disciple out of the house. On the way back, the disciple saw the Aref sitting in a pile of firewood on the back of a lion, holding a snake.
The disciple greeted mystic and asked why, with all this authority and dignity, you have such a impatient wife? The mystic said I have found this position because of the tolerance that of have against my wife, and now the dignity you see is a small part of what I have gained through my patience against behavior of my wife.
The afterlife effect of patience
If God loves anyone more, throws him into more difficulties and hardships; Imam Musa Kazem (PBUH) says:
اَلمُؤمِنُ مِثلُ کفَّتَی المِیزانِ کُلَّما زیدَ في إیمَانِهِ زیدَ في بَلائِهِ
The believer is like a scale balance. Whenever something has been added to his faith, it is also something added to its hardships.
Man finds pride and excellence when he finds himself without concern, whether toward the Almighty God or toward those who are around him, but the same man, when faced with calamities and troubles, seeks God’s victory and unseen reliefs. He is there to overcome his problems, so God keeps the believer in pain and hardship in order to increase his devotion to life and increase his commitment to religion and spirituality; they may be religious and faithful, but In the difficulties and difficulties, be pessimistic about God.
وَ أَمَّا إِذَا مَا ابْتَلَاهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبىّ أَهَانَن؛( فجر:16)
But whenever He tests him, and restricts his livelihood for him, he says, “My Lord has insulted me.”
One of the philosophies of the calamities and sufferings of the believer is the examination of them; Amir al-Momenin says:
إِنَ الْبَلَاءَ لِلظَّالِمِ أَدَبٌ وَ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ امْتِحَانٌ وَ لِلْأَنْبِيَاءِ دَرَجَةٌ وَ لِلْأَوْلِيَاءِ كَرَامَة
It is a disaster for the oppressor, and for the believer, the test, and for the prophets, the position, and for the friends of God, dignity. “
The value of waiting and tolerance for the believers to face the hardships and difficulties will be revealed at resurrection; when the Holy Quran says, the angels welcome the believers and greet them for the patience in the path of religiosity and patience against the hardships of those who disregard religion and spirituality:
وَالَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِمْ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنْفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً وَيَدْرَءُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ أُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ؛ جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ يَدْخُلُونَهَا وَمَنْ صَلَحَ مِنْ آبَائِهِمْ وَأَزْوَاجِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّاتِهِمْ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ بَابٍ؛ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا صَبَرْتُمْ فَنِعْمَ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ ﴿رعد: 22-۲۴
And those who patiently seek the presence of their Lord, and pray regularly, and spend from Our provisions to them, secretly and openly, and repel evil with good. These will have the Ultimate Home. Everlasting Gardens, which they will enter, along with the righteous among their parents, and their spouses, and their descendants. And the angels will enter upon them from every gate. “Peace be upon you, because you endured patiently. How excellent is the Final Home.”
