Those Who Have True Patience

Therefore be patient with a beautiful patience. (Surat al-Ma'arij, 5)

Only the faithful understand the true nature of patience and live in the manner of which Allah approves, for they have accepted the Qur'an as their guide. And, only the Qur'an explains the real meaning of patience and the type of patience that is acceptable to Allah. For this reason, the only people capable of being "patient with a beautiful patience" are those who follow the Qur'an.

The source of their patience is their faith in Allah and their submission to Him. Like all of their other characteristics, patience emerges only through a true understanding of faith, because to believe is to understand that there is no deity but Allah, that He encompasses all things in His knowledge, that only Allah has the power to determine one's destiny, and that nobody can enjoy gain or suffer loss without His willing it.

One reason why the believers can show patience is because their faith enables them to appreciate Allah's might and glory. Those who know that Allah has boundless wisdom and boundless knowledge also know that only He can determine what will be the finest life for them. They know that Allah possesses all knowledge about all creatures and events in the past, present, and future, whereas people have only a limited intelligence that is prone to making mistakes in determining what is good and what is bad. In most cases, a seemingly unfavorable event may bring many benefits, although people may well be totally unaware of this. Allah points out this important truth:

"It may be that you hate something when it is good for you, and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. Allah knows, and you do not know" (Surat al-Baqara, 216).

Thus, knowing that only Allah possesses this knowledge and wisdom, the believers put their trust in Him, fully aware that whatever He wills is always beneficial, even though the benefit may not be immediately apparent. Therefore, they display true patience. In other words, one characteristic of those who have true patience is that they are people who have grasped and embraced the nature of destiny.

The Qur'an states that the faithful are patient and put their trust in Allah, as follows:

Those who are steadfast and put their trust in their Lord. (Surat an-Nahl: 42)

Another reason why the believers exhibit such a patient determination throughout their lives is their strong fear and consciousness of Allah. Just as they know that Allah has a boundless love and mercy for His servants, they also know that the punishment of Hell is eternal. Allah warns those who consider themselves too great to worship Him and who turn their faces away from Him of the torment to come. As the faithful are aware of this warning, they take pains to avoid it by being extremely careful and patient in implementing all of Allah's instructions and prohibitions. They channel their fear and consciousness of Allah into living the Qur'an's morality throughout their lives.

Awareness of this world's true face also ensures that the faithful will continue to be patient. As is stated in "We will test you until We know those of you who strive hard [for the cause of Allah] and those who are steadfast, and test what is reported of you" (Surah Muhammad, 31), Allah makes a distinction between those who show patience in their worship of Him and those who manifest their resistance by becoming impatient. As a result, He will give those who worship Him in this life noble residences as hospitality in the next, while punishing those who deny Him with an eternal, inescapable Hell.

No matter what hardship they encounter, the faithful know that such hardship is a test from Allah and so do not lose their patience. How could they, knowing that they will face the Day of Judgment and receive their reward for their fine morality? Allah's Messenger (saas) also mentions that the believers remain patient when faced with calamity, since they always trust Allah, as follows:

The example of a believer is that of a fresh tender plant. From whatever direction the wind comes, it bends it. But when the wind becomes quiet, it becomes straight again. Similarly, a believer is afflicted with calamities (but remains patient until Allah removes the difficulty). (Bukhari)

One fundamental element of patience is exactly this—the believers have certainty about the Day of Judgment and the afterlife. Armed with the strength they derive from the knowledge that they will be tested here and rewarded on the Day of Judgment for every event for which they showed patience, and that Allah gives the good news of His mercy to those who show patience, they are committed to showing patience.

As we can see, only the faithful can experience true patience, because only they have bound and delivered themselves up to a sincere faith in Allah, have appreciated His might, and put their trust in destiny. In addition, they have a powerful fear and consciousness of Allah, have understood this world's true face, and believe firmly in the afterlife.

~Harun Yahya

For further reading see, “The Importance of Patience in the Qur’an” by Harun Yahya

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Those Who Have True Patience

Excellent Moral Values of the Believers

Part 1: Arrogance - the Character of Satan:



Excellent Moral Values of the Believers 2:



Excellent Moral Values of the Believers 3:

Excellent Moral Values of the Believers

Loving For Allah's Sake

A believer devotes his entire life to Allah. He lives for Allah, works for Allah and loves for Allah’s sake. “Loving for Allah’s sake” might be an incomprehensible concept for someone who is not well acquainted with true Islam. One who has remained distant from Allah throughout his life, and who has therefore not known Him, will be unaware of how to love Allah intuitively.

However, a believer who knows Allah and witnesses His mercy to him, who recognises that everything he loves is His blessing and that he owes his existence and life to His mercy, loves Allah and attains the noble spirit of loving for the sake of Allah. In the Qur’an, the great difference between believers and other people in this sense is stated as follows:

Some people set up equals to Allah, loving them as they should love Allah. But those who believe have greater love for Allah… (Surat al-Baqara: 165)

As is stated in the verse above, those who associate partners with Allah and who, in their minds, ascribe all attributes of Allah to other beings, love these beings as they should love Allah. This is the kind of love that is based on idolatry.

Aware that everything belongs to Allah and every being’s existence is consequential upon Allah’s creation, believers love Allah most. The believer grasps the following fact:

• Nothing (be it a human being, a thing or an event, etc.) has a beauty of its own. Allah creates all things and endows them with beauty. Since a person, for example, has not designed and formed his or her face himself, that beauty is a beauty that belongs to Allah.
• Allah gives this beauty to man, whom he created from nothing, for a brief time only (since that person will soon grow old and die). Only Allah possesses the power to recreate that beauty in the hereafter, in an even more perfect form.
  

This being the case, a believer loves all the things he encounters in this world, aware that they all belong to Allah and that he will encounter the “original” form of their beauty in the hereafter. Consequently, his actual love is for Allah, the One Who provides him with everything he loves: He is the real Owner of every kind of beauty.

Contrary to the concept of love based upon faith in Allah that is enjoyed by believers, disbelievers’ love is based on idolatry. In the Qur’an, this form of love is described in the words of Prophet Ibrahim (as):

He said, “You have adopted idols apart from Allah as tokens of mutual affection in this world. But then on the Day of Rising you will reject one another and curse one another. The Fire will be your shelter. You will have no helpers.” (Surat al-‘Ankabut: 25)

Said Nursi, also known as Bediuzzaman (the Wonder of the Age), one of the greatest Islamic scholars of the twentieth century, likens this form of love to that of a man who looks at the sun through a mirror held in his hand. Once the mirror is broken into pieces and light is no longer reflected from it, the man feels profound distress at having lost a source of light. However, he is not intelligent enough to conceive that the light in the mirror does not actually originate from it. The light comes from the sun; mirrors only reflect it.

Believers love only Allah and those who place faith in Him. This being the case, they have no love for anybody who rebels against Allah. This subject is emphasised in the following verses of the Qur’an:

You who believe! Do not take My enemy and your enemy as friends, showing love for them when they have rejected the truth that has come to you, driving the Messenger and yourselves out of your city simply because you believe in Allah your Lord. If you go out to fight in My Way and seeking My pleasure, keeping secret the love you have for them, I know best what you conceal and what you make known. Any of you who do that have strayed from the right way. (Surat al-Mumtahana: 1)

You will not find people who believe in Allah and the Last Day on friendly terms with anyone who opposes Allah and His Messenger, even though they be their fathers, their sons, their brothers or their nearest kindred... (Surat al-Mujadala: 22)

As the verses above make it clear, the love of a believer rests on no criterion other than the “love felt for Allah.” Setting aside all factors such as kinship or material wealth, this love is deeply rooted in faith and noble values. A believer has love for those whose faith is assured rather than for those possessing fame, money or social status, which are only seemingly important. (For further reading see Harun Yahya “Devoted to Allah”)

~Harun Yahya

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Loving For Allah's Sake

Purpose of a Believer's Life: the Approval of Allah

What makes a Muslim different from other people? Non-Muslims may answer this question in a number of ways; they may talk about cultural and moral differences, about “different outlooks on the world” or values which they deny outright. Alternatively, some may say the difference has its roots in the different ideologies which Muslims embrace. However, all these answers relate to “visible” differences that appear to be the consequences of a more fundamental one. Often, they fail to grasp the reasons underlying this difference.

There is one point to be stressed before proceeding to explain the basic attribute that makes a Muslim different: When we talk about a “Muslim,” we are not referring to someone whose ID card has the word “Muslim” written on it. Muslim is actually the name Allah gives to those who adhere to His religion. The basic attribute, referred to in the Qur’an, that distinguishes Muslims from other people is their being aware of Allah’s infinite might. Awareness of Allah’s infinite might does not in all cases mean affirmation of the existence of a Creator, however. In the Qur’an, Allah underlines this fact as follows:

Say: “Who provides for you out of heaven and Earth? Who controls hearing and sight? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? Who ordains all things?” They will reply, “Allah.” Say, “Then will you not fear Allah? Such is Allah, your Lord, the Truth, and what is there after truth except misguidance? How then can you turn away from Him?” (Surah Yunus: 31-32)

In the verse above, the questions are put to somebody who acknowledges the existence of Allah, accepts His attributes yet, despite all these attributes, has no fear of Allah and thus turns away from Him. Grasping Allah’s might is not only a matter of verbal confirmation. Believers are those who recognize Allah’s existence and His greatness, “are steadfast in their duty” to Him and re-orient all their deeds and conduct in the light of this reality which has become apparent to them. Others, on the other hand, are either those who deny Allah, or, as in the case of the people depicted in the above verse, those who do not perform their duty to Allah, despite their awareness of His existence.

A believer, however, is fully aware of Allah’s existence and might. He knows why Allah has created him and what His expectations are of him. For this reason, his basic aim in life is to be a servant with whom Allah is pleased. He employs all means to try to reach his goal, and strives to do so. This being the case, he resolves the mystery of death: for many it means nothing but the ultimate end but for him, death is not extinction, but a phase of transition to the real life.

Unbelievers assume death, which they take to be an incident that puts an end to their lives, to be a “self-generated accident,” just as they assume life to have emerged coincidentally and spontaneously. The fact is, however, that Allah creates life and likewise takes it away. Death, which is by no means a coincidence or an accident, is an incident that takes place by the law of Allah at a predestined moment and place.

A Muslim is a person who grasps that Allah has power over all things and that death is not an end but a transition to the real abode of man (the Hereafter). Aware of these facts, he carefully avoids building his life on a “crumbling precipice.” He turns to Allah, aware that He is the real Owner and Creator of life, death and what lies beyond. In this system created by Allah, he comprehends that wealth, social status or good looks are not the means that lead man to success; they are only “causes” operating under the rules laid down by Allah, which are effective for only a brief period of time.

The key to the system that Allah has created is the consent of Allah. That is because Allah guides only those who seek His approval.

…Allah will guide to the ways of peace those who follow what pleases Him. He will bring them by His will from darkness to the light, and will guide them to a straight path. (Surat al-Ma’ida: 16)

A Muslim is a Muslim because he seeks Allah’s approval. This is the most important trait that makes a Muslim different from all other people. Muslims see religion as a way to earn Allah’s approval, whereas the majority of people consider it to be a system of beliefs which occupies an insignificant portion of their lives.

Indeed, at this very point there emerges the distinction between real Muslims and those who imitate them (hypocrites). Muslims embrace religion as a path of guidance to the approval of Allah. For hypocrites, however, it is something from which they derive benefits. That is why a hypocrite’s prayers are of a “pretentious” nature (Surat al-Ma‘un: 6) while Muslims pray in humility (Surat al-Mu’minun: 1-2). Similarly, while Muslims spend their money in Allah’s cause, hypocrites spend to impress people rather than to earn Allah’s approval.

You who believe! Do not nullify your almsgiving by demands for gratitude or insulting words, like him who spends his wealth, showing off to people and not having faith in Allah and the Last Day. He is like a smooth rock coated with soil, which, when heavy rain falls on it, is left stripped bare. They shall have no power over anything they have earned. Allah does not guide the unbelievers. (Surat al-Baqara: 264)

~Harun Yahya

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Purpose of a Believer's Life: the Approval of Allah