#weheartislam

What is Patience?

Patience is to hold one’s soul from being impatient and displeased, holding the tongue from complaining and the body parts from harming himself or others. The patience is mentioned at many places in Quran and Sunnah of the beloved Prophet (SAW), which shows the virtues and greatness of Patience. In the Arabic language, (Sabr) Patience means to confine or contain.

Patience has great status in the sight of Allah Almighty and in Islam. Patience is of best from deeds and has the great reward with no limit. Allah Almighty said in Holy Quran: “Only those who are patient shall receive their rewards in full, without Hisaab (without limit, calculation, and estimation).”(Quran, 39:10). There is great reward only for those among us who are patient with the Decree of their Lord. In this world, we face many difficulties or trials and sufferings but we have to be patient because Allah Almighty loves those who did Patience (Sabr) in a difficult time.A person who loves Almighty Allah finds it much easier to be patient and to persevere. This is because he sees everything as coming from Allah, and if it comes from Allah, there must be a reason for it. A person who loves wants the Beloved to see him in the best of states, and so he proves the best of patience. Patience is a virtue, which enables the individual to proceed towards worthy goals.

What does it mean to ask for Allah's Forgiveness?

Allah is At Tawwab, The One who beckons for our return. He repeatedly turns mankind towards repentance should they journey temporarily on the wrong path. He is The Acceptor of Repentance, The Oft-Forgiving, The Acceptor of our return.

Allah is lenient and restores grace to those who repent and forgives those who seek forgiveness.

“Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than anyone of you is pleased with finding his camel which he had lost in the desert.” (Al-Bukhari)

To repent means to return to Allah and intend to obey Him for the rest of one’s life. For repentance to be valid and, thus, accepted, five preconditions have to be observed; these are:

1. To be sincere to Allah.

2. To regret one’s past evil deeds.

3. To give up sinning.

4. To make a firm resolve of avoiding such sins in the future.

5. To show repentance while it is still valid.

Forgiveness for one’s sins is not something that comes automatically; it is something that must be sought for, with sincerity and true devotion. Becoming indifferent to one’s sins is fatally dangerous. 

We all love the Dunya.

We all love the worldly life and all the glamour it contains, from its cars, to its houses, to its wealth and all the luxuries it has to offer. We desire its riches, its comforts and the sparks of happiness it brings. We love it. It’s a fact none of us can deny.

Yet the sad part about it is, as much as we love this world, it will never love us back and only ever run away from us. The truth is, this world will only ever tempt you, tease you and eventually break your heart.

You see, no matter how much of the world’s treasures you acquire it will never satisfy your desires. It will never make you content and you will almost always wish for more.

For almost every time the world offers you something of value, it will quickly divert your attention to the next best thing. It will make you long for the next bigger house, the next faster car, the next phone, the next pay rise or job promotion. It absorbs you into a rat race that will never end.   

If you want happiness, if you want joy, if you want true fulfilment. I make oath by Allah that there is no other way to find it except through Him, Allah. The creator of the Heavens and the Earth.

You see, Allah is the one who created love and happiness and has made it only possible through Him.

When he says explicitly in the Quran “Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest”.(Quran 13:28)

And every other place you seek happiness in that is in absence of Allah, will only leave you empty and miserable.

As Allah has said “And those who turns from my remembrance will have a miserable life”.(Quran 20:124)

What is Fear of Allah? It is the feeling the human gets when they are living in the ‘dunya’, going about their lives and striving to live according to the commandments of Allah.

But do all of us have that feeling? The answer is very simple. No. Why do we not have that fear? The answer is again very simple. Because we have not paid heed to the greatest of the greatest guidelines of Islam, the miracle of the month of Ramadan, the book that was brought down on our last Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the Quran. Had we paid attention to the intricate words of Allah in that book, we would not have reached where we are today; in a state of complete fearlessness of the Hereafter.

O beloved brothers and sisters, fearing Allah is the crown of the hearts. It is purification for the souls and living for the spirits. It is evidence of faith and an address for happiness. It is the secret of life.

The Quran, in numerous places, has talked about the importance of fearing Allah. Fear of Allah is not something that you have to learn, it comes naturally with the love we have for the Almighty.

"Indeed they have a greater fear of you in their hearts than of Allah.

That is because they are a people who do not understand."

(Sūratul al-Hashr no.59, Āyat 13)

Those who do not have faith in Allah are vulnerable to many forms of fear. They fear what others will say, what people will think and do. They fear the uncertainties of life, the downs that everyday life brings for most people, fear of failure, of pain, rejection, etc. and ultimately living in anxiety. They are afraid of the negative emotion that causes anxiety and tightness as they anticipate an unpleasant occurrence. That is the relationship most people have with fear.

Such fears stem from not having a correct perspective of life. Those who have faith in Allah know that all things are controlled by Him. When He is ultimately in charge it makes no sense to be afraid of those who have no power of their own.

Do You Feel That Allah is Being Unfair with You?

Life is a test.

I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase a thousand times in the past, and it doesn’t always make you feel better, but let’s look at it from a different perspective.

Say for example that you are taking a test which you did not prepare for, and resorted to cheating on the test, and the teacher catches you in the act, yet forgives you and allows you to continue, you will pass the test, but you didn’t pass the test fairly.

If Allah lets everything you do wrong slip through, and you don’t ask for forgiveness of those wrong doings, you will not pass the test of life. On the Day of Judgment when He asks you about your sins, what would you say to Him? Would you say:

“But Allah, you let me go through life without punishing me for it, so I thought You didn’t mind!”

But did you ask Him to forgive you for those acts?

Did you know that Allah starts every chapter in the Quran with “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.”, with the exception of Chapter 9 – Surat At-Tawbah, meaning “The Repentance”?

This introductory verse of every chapter serves as a reminder to all who read the Quran that He is Most Gracious, and the Most Merciful.

Sometimes we need that reminder when we are feeling down about something we’ve done, or something that we are going through.