ALLAH IS WITH THEM WHO PERFORM PATIENCE 1

By
Shaikh Jalilu Issah

Transliteration

[02.153. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo istaAAeenoo bialssabri waalssalati inna Allaha

maAAa alssabireena
02.154. Wala taqooloo liman yuqtalu fee sabeeli Allahi amwatun bal ahyaon walakin la
tashAAuroona] Al-Baqara.

Translation

[02.153. O you who believe! seek assistance through patience and prayer; surely Allah is
with the patient.
02.154. And do not speak of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead; nay, (they are)
alive, but you do not perceive.]

According to Ibn- Abbass, after the battle of Badr, this verse was revealed on the
messenger of Allah. The fertile vale of Badr is 200 Miles away from Makkah and 80
Miles from Medina. And for the first time the followers of the new faith (Islam) were put
into a serious test. This was the first battle in Islam. In this battle 14 soldiers of Allah
were martyred. Six of them were Muhajirs they migrated from Makkah to Madina. And
the 8 of them were from Ansaar they were Medinites - from Madina. After the end of the
battle, the Muslims started saying that the people slain in the battle were the dead people.
Then Allah Subhana-Wa-Ta’aala revealed this verse on the prophet (Sallallaho Alaihe
 ALLAH IS WITH THEM WHO PERFORM PATIENCE 2
By
Shaikh Jalilu Issah

Wasallam). So Allah Subhana-Wa-Ta’aala said

[Yā 'Ayyuhā Al-Ladhīna 'Āmanū

Asta`īnū Biş-Şabri Wa Aş-Şalāati] (O you who believe! Seek help in patience and As-
Salat). Oh you who believe – before proceeding ahead we better think that the Muslims
have been said the believers in this verse. Why? In the battle of Badr their opponents
were disbelievers, pagans, and Kaffirs. They had no belief in the holy Quran. They had
no belief in the holy prophet (Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam). And they had no belief
that the code of ethics and the code of life in the holy Quran are so complete: that it gives
guarantee for the safer and fright free journey until the Day of Judgment. After all we
have to be accountable for the actions and deeds what we do in this world. And this is
the Law of Requital. Every human maneuver is to be requited with. So our moves
ultimately produce results. This is our belief. That’s why the Muslims have been said
the believers.
In this verse Muslims are being given new light of understanding. This light of
understanding was not only for the undaunted Muslims of the battle of Badr but it is also
for us. Seek help, ask for the help but with patience, endurance, forbearance, fortitude,
and stoicism. Well, most of the people think that they are really patient. So here we have
to see that what is the patience. Some think that it is the patience to bear difficulties or to
accept the humiliation of others. Some supply their different logical views that if you
carry on your problems with difficulty with you in your life then you have patience. This
is very narrow concept of patience. Patience is very wide in its understanding. For
example from the holy Quran the patience can be said:

To display tolerance, compassion, understanding, and acceptance toward those

who are slower than you in developing maturity, emotional freedom, and coping
abilities

To accept your human frailty in the pursuit of personal, physical, emotional, and
spiritual growth. And also to accept the set backs and reversals inevitable in your
quest for personal growth

Now let me define the patience into three categories:

1. it means that the patience what we show for the obedience to
Allah Subhana-Wa-Ta’aala. And to struggle and to stand in front of nerve
racking situational circumstances when you bow your heart and soul before
Allah. When somebody becomes humble and obedient to Allah Subhana-Wa-
Ta’aala many problematical difficulties begin hatching for him or her. And
especially if you have become devout Muslim and wish to wear Hijab, people
start giving commentary on you. So many people of different mentations will
come to you and argue in support of their baseless points. Even people will
also criticize you on being punctual in offering salat. They may call you
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By
Shaikh Jalilu Issah

2. fundamentalists, fanatics, orthodox etc. That’s why this kind of patience has
been called
3. Other kind of patience is called this kind of patience requires
to have firm and strong stand before your desires and wishes in committing
sins. In your life there are so many things which may incite and entice to
commit sins though lighter. It is very natural. Shaitan comes and makes
feelings in your heart to commit sins, as it is a common routine in western
countries, because the spots and opportunities are easy and within easy access.
When you go outside, the women are in their short dresses it is a problem for
men. Their curvature attracts you to commit sins especially their cleavage. In
your house when you are before your TV. The media burns your heart for
doing some kind of lustful activity. All these things and advertisements of
wines and bras take you away from the path of Allah and urge you to do and
commit some kind of sin. So if you have the courage to fight these desires
then you have the patience
4. This is also a kind of patience. This is the kind of patience
when it happens in your life that the incident or accident or co-incidence takes
place in your life that you don’t like. In such condition you have to face and
stand firmly before them to reject and cope with them. These incidents may
weaken you in your mental approach but if you don’t bow before them and
don’t leave the path of Allah Subhana-Wa-Ta’aala you possess this kind of
patience. For example you may loss your child or any beloved one. So to
face such sorrows you need to have patience. Many people become out of
their senses and forget what they are doing. But there is a great lesson of
Allah that we may not leave the rope of patience in our life. Patience has been
described in the holy Quran in more than 70 places. Because patience gives
us adjustability to survive. At least 10 of them are about the prophet
(Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam) that he should also have the patience.
Well if you read the history of heroes before Islam and after Islam the people have been
told to hold the patience especially after getting the victory. So one of the best things in
the man’s life is to work on how to get and achieve the patience. That’s why Allah says

['Innamā Yuwaffaá Aş-Şābirūna

'Ajrahum Bighayri Ĥisābin] (Only those who are patient shall receive their reward in
full, without reckoning)
Allah says that on the Day of Judgment He is going to reward the people without
accountability who would be having the patience with them. The prophet Luqman also
advised one of his children

[Wa Aşbir `Alaá Mā

'Aşābaka 'Inna Dhālika Min `Azmi Al-'Umūri] (and bear with patience whatever befalls
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Shaikh Jalilu Issah

you.). Oh my son be patient about whatever any problem that may come in your life.
The holy Quran emphasizes on being patient.

Imam Ali (AS) said when he was discussing about patience: Be

patient. Then he said There is an example of the

patience that If a man has Iman without patience is exactly like having a beard without
head. So he told that Iman is nothing if the believer is far from the patience or if he lacks
the patience.
Because patience steers our life, patience administers justice, patience takes us to the
noble destinations, patience makes us pious and saints, patience is a way to please Allah
Subhana-Wa-Ta’aala. The importance of patience can be judged from here that in the
holy Quran Allah says that He is with the believers who exhibit patience. And Allah asks
the soldiers of battle of Badr that there was no need to become sad that their friends were
slain in the battle for the sake of Allah, because they were not the dead people but they
were alive and they are the martyrs.
Allah is addressing in clear words in the above mentioned verse that; Oh people
(believers) seek help (from Me) through patience and salat. Why He added salat with
patience? Because it is also one of the most important components of Islam. Without
establishing our prayers we can not prove ourselves to be Muslims. Actually, when we
establish prayers, other than physical performance of Rukhoo and Sujjood; it means that
we have to establish a complete life-giving program of the Quran based on the Law of
Providence. In this system there is a whale of opportunities for earning the provisions
and improving the human faculties in order to complete the programs of Allah. And all
the works are to be done by the believers with great patience. Because the results do not
come out overnight. It requires having wait and see phenomenon. Cause and effect
regulation of the universe. Law of Requital also plays its equal role to produce the results
of the human efforts. That’s why Allah has given importance on maintaining the salat
and to bow and prostrate before Allah it means before the teachings of Allah – physically,
practically and spiritually too. Then Allah will be pleased. But all these tasks require
gigantic patience. For the establishment of the Islam and promotion of the Quran – we
may face different obstacles, different problems, different diversions, different satanic
alternatives, different short-term profits, different deluges, different enticements, but with
the force of the patience we can achieve and complete the program of Allah.
It was mentioned also in the hadith that Imam Ali (AS) said
first thing important in life is the ablutions and face
towards Qibla and pray to Allah Subhana-Wa-Ta’aala and offer salat. Because by doing
so you get calmness in your life. Yes. The people who establish salat with patience they
get calmness because they are rest assured that their efforts will produce right and perfect
results according to the Allah’s Law of Requital. Islam is a practical Din. Imam Ali
(AS) said: ‘that knowledge is superficial which is merely on the tongue. That knowledge
is real which demonstrates itself in your practice.’ Salat gives you happiness in your life.
There is one more quotation of Imam Ali (AS) that ‘Enlighten the heart with prayers.’
 ALLAH IS WITH THEM WHO PERFORM PATIENCE 5
By
Shaikh Jalilu Issah

Now Allah is telling that the people who are killed in holy battles they are not the
dead people they are alive. How are they alive? In what mode of life are they? It is
beyond the human intellect to comprehend but it has been told to us that there is one
more concept of life– which is martyrdom (Shahadat). The people died with shahadat
are not like ordinary dead people they are counted to be among live people. It is
sufficient for us to know about this mode of life. This is the part of our Iman-Bil-Ghaib.
To have a firm belief without seeing in the physical form.
People used to think before Islam that a man does not have any other life after his
death. It is afraided to note that even after the advent of Islam still it is being understood
that after the death of us we could have no other life. The holy Quran comes and tells us
in detail that there is one more life that shall have no end and that life starts after the
death we meet here in this world. In other words the life what we lead here it is ending
life because the molecular structure of this life has the destruction. It has to end to meet
the death. But the molecular structure of hereafter life will be having no power of
disintegration. There will be a perpetual movement for the construction and exploration
for other dimensions. That is unending life. Its atom will be having a nucleus of
perpetuity.
Now we again come to the phenomenon of the people who are shahid (martyred).
Martyred are the people having the pinnacle of the belief in Iman Bil-Ghaib fight the
battles for the noble sake of Islam and their souls fly out of the cage of their body. And
directly fly to the heavens to their Rabb. About the martyred people our narrow mind
conceive that they are dead. There is no doubt that they are dead. But in the holy Quran
Allah has given a term about the death of such martyred people. They are not called the
dead people they are called the martyred people. Because according to the divinity they
are always alive till the Day of Judgment. That’s why Allah has said in the holy Quran
that they are still alive. The mode of their life has been
changed. And we can not understand. So Allah says that just know it that the soldiers of
Islam, servants of Allah, devout Muslims when they are killed in the name of Islam, they
are forthwith transformed in other kind of life – shahadat ki zindgi – the life of
martyrdom.
So this phenomenon was made clear by Allah Subhana-Wa-Ta’aala to the
believers after the battle of Badr that the slain Muslims are not the dead people but shahid
people and they are alive.

Further will be discussed in next lecture Inshallah!