Dua for seeking Patience
رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْراً وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَانصُرْنَا عَلَى القَوْمِ الكَافِرِينَ
Rabbana afrigh 'alayna sabran wa thabbit aqdamana wansurna 'alal-qawmil-kafirin
Our Lord! Bestow on us endurance, make our foothold sure, and give us help against the disbelieving folk.
Al-Baqarah - 2:250
رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَتَوَفَّنَا مُسْلِمِينَ
Rabbana afrigh 'alayna sabraw wa tawaffana Muslimeen
Our Lord! pour out on us patience, and cause us to die as Muslims.
Surah Al-A'raf - 7:126
The Prophet Ayyub (as) has a very powerful story that is told to us in the Qur'an at a couple of different places, and I'm going to drawing on both of them a little bit. We'll start off by basically establishing the story from Surah al-Anbiya, surah number 21. In surah number 21, Allah (swt) tells us:
(waayyooba ith nadarabbahu annee massaniya addurru waanta arhamuarrahimeen).
Allah (swt) says, "Remember, Ayyub (as). Focus, reflect on Ayyub." Why? Remember the time when he called out to his Lord.
(annee massaniya addurru)
a lot of difficulty and adversity afflicted me. I'm dealing with a lot my Lord, my Master.
(waanta arhamuarrahimeen)
You are the Most Merciful of all of those capable of showing any mercy. Allah ( (swt)) tells us فَاسْتَجَبْنَالَهُ, (fastajabna Lahu), We immediately answered his prayers. And Allah says وَءَاتَيْنَهُ
(waataynahu ahlahuwamithlahum maAAahum rahmatan min AAindina wathikralilAAabideen).
So now let's talk about the back story a little bit. Ayyub (as), the hadith of the Prophet (saw), and the books of tafsir explain to us, Ayyub(as) was a man who was an extremely handsome man. Someone who came from a really beautiful place, he had a beautiful family that he was raising, he was a very wealthy individual, he had a great business, fantastic home, great family, good health. Just an absolute, picture-perfect scenario. At that point in time, Allah (swt), again to provide for us a role model, Allah (swt) tested him. Here's where it gets a little bit difficult.
Some might find this very tragic. Some of the narrations say that he became extremely ill and sick. Specifically, it was to the point where his skin and body were rotting. All different types of physical ailments. Not only was he dealing with disease and illness, but he was separated from his own family. He was forced to leave his own home, his business started to suffer, and so that was kind of the unfolding of everything in his life. Some of the scholars of tafsir actually mention that he suffered the loss of his family. Many of his family members actually passed away, like this is somebody who is struggling on all fronts. Usually, when we talk about a situation like this, there's one last piece to the puzzle.
Usually, when we tell a story like this, we also talk about that person struggling spiritually. But, Ayyub (as) did not struggle spiritually. This is a great prophet of Allah. He kept his faith. Never was shaken in his belief of Allah. Many of these different prophets we talk about, different aspects of qualities of faith shine through in their stories. From their belief to their conviction, to their integrity, different qualities surface. The quality of Ayyub (as) that really rises up to the surface, that really shines through and breaks through, from the life of an already amazing individual, is the quality of patience. He never lost his cool.
Why do I say it like that? Patience. A lot of times when we talk about sabr, when we talk about patience, we either talk about it in such an overbearing manner, where it seems humanly impossible. Like patience is not feeling anything. That's not... that's preposterous. Not feeling anything is not being human, not being alive. You do feel something. Or, when we talk about patience, we talk about it in a very scientific, technical, sterile fashion, like it's a lab experiment. But no, sabr (patience) is very human, it's a human ability that we all have. We just have to hone in on it, we have to develop it, and we have to emphasize our sabr (our patience). What does the word sabr even mean in the Arabic language? We just translate it as patience. The word sabr in Arabic literally means to tie something down. That's why Allah told the Prophet (saw), keep yourself with those people, tie yourself to those people, keep company with those people, stay with those people. And so sabr is tying it down. Having restraint. You feel the pain, you know the situation and circumstances, you're hurting, and you're hurting real bad. But through all of that, you're able to keep your perspective, you're able to maintain your demeanour, you're able to keep your cool.
That's the thing, Ayyub (as) did not lose his head. He didn't get out of control, but he maintained his patience, he maintained his stability, and he kept remembering Allah (swt). He kept turning to Allah. What got him through such difficult times was his connection with Allah, his remembrance of Allah. There were times when he barely had another soul around him. The Qur'an tells us that it was his wife that was there for him, and outside of that, there was nobody else. But it was the remembrance of Allah, and his patience, and the sweetness of that patience, that faith (that iman), that got him through such difficult times. Eventually, when the time came, when the time was right, he raised his hands and he called out to Allah, he made dua, and Allah (swt) rescued him. He saved him. Allah says, "We answered his prayer. We removed his difficulty. We cured him of his illness and disease. Not only that, but We reunited him with his family."
(waataynahu ahlahuwamithlahum maAAahum)
We not only reunited him with his family, but We increased his family. We not only returned his wealth to him, but We increased his wealth. We not only repaired his health, but we increased his health. رَحْمَةّمِّنْ عِندِنَ, (rahmatan min AAindina), and all of this was special mercy and a gift from Allah (swt) to reward Ayyub (as) for not just being patient but being the pinnacle of patience. Being a role model of patience. That's why I'll reference another place in the Qur'an. In Surah Saad, surah number 38, Allah (swt) says:
(inna wajadanhu sabirann)
no matter what the situation was, no matter how difficult circumstances became, We always found Ayuub (as) to be patient.
(niAAma alAAabdu)
He's the best slave of Allah. What an amazing, remarkable human being. (innahu awwab), this is where I want to extract the lesson. For me for you, for all of us. Where do we get that patience from? See, it's easy for me to talk about patience, and we've all heard lectures about patience before. But, how do you develop that patience? It's easier to talk about. Especially that story of our Prophet (saw), he comes across a woman crying at the grave of her child, and he says, be patient. And she says, "you don't know what I'm dealing with." Later on, she comes to apologize to the Prophet (saw), she didn't realize that she had responded like that in the heat of the moment. She came to apologize, and the Prophet (saw) told her there was no need to apologize, but he tells her, patience is in the first instance. Again, that's very easy for me to say, very easy for you to listen to, how do we actually accomplish that? The secret is here in the story of Ayyub (as). Allah tells us (innahu awwab). He just kept thinking of Allah. He kept reminding himself of Allah. He kept remembering Allah. He kept turning back to Allah.
The moment he felt weak like he was going to crumble and give in, he immediately thought about Allah, he remembered Allah, and he said the name of Allah. And that's where he drew his strength from. When you have trouble being patient, just say the name of Allah. Next time you want to complain, you want to utter a word of displeasure, before you say anything, just say Alhamdulilah. Then see what follows after that, what do you say after that.
In my own community, recently in a khutbah just talking about gratitude and patience, I gave my community a challenge, and I'd like to issue that challenge here to the brothers and sisters present here. That is, for the next 24 hours, we just learned about an amazing man who had remarkable patience. For the next 24 hours, make a promise, make an oath, challenge yourself, that you will not complain about anything for the next 24 hours. The second you think about and you feel like complaining about something, say Alhamdulilah. You will replace all your complaining with the word Alhamdulilah. The ultimate praise, glorification, and thanks are for Allah. Just say that much. May Allah (swt) grant us all patience. May Allah (swt) protect us all from difficult circumstances. But, when we do deal with some difficulty, may Allah (swt) allow us to be more like the amazing prophet of Allah, Ayyub (as).
Jazakallah!!
