From the Book, Introduction
to the Tafseer of the Quran,
by the Ameer of Hizb ut Tahrir,
the eminent jurist and statesman, Sheikh Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah:
﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ * وَلاَ
تَقُولُوا لِمَنْ يُقْتَلُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتٌ بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ وَلَكِنْ
لاَ تَشْعُرُونَ * وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ
وَنَقْصٍ مِنْ الأَمْوالِ وَالأَنفُسِِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرْ الصَّابِرِينَ *
الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُمْ مُصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا
إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ * أُوْلَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ
وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الْمُهْتَدُونَ﴾
“O you who have
believed, seek help through patience and prayer. "Indeed, Allah is with
the patient." (153) "And do not say about those who are killed in the
way of Allah, "They are dead." Rather, they are alive, but you
perceive [it] not." (154) "And We will surely test you with something
of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good
tidings to the patient." (155) "Who, when disaster strikes them, say,
"Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return." (156)
"Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And
it is those who are the [rightly] guided." (157)” [Surah Al-Baqarah 2:
153-157]
Allah
(swt) clarifies in these Ayaat the following:
1. After Allah (swt) told us that He had
sent from us a Messenger, who recites the verses of Allah (swt), cleanses us of
Shirk and idolatry, teaches us everything we need from the beliefs and
rulings, we remember Allah (swt) and we call to
Islam, then afterwards Allah (swt) ordered us to
seek help through patience and prayer.
The operative
meaning of this verse is an Indicating Evidence (دلالة
إشارة Dalaalatul Ishaarah) that
the Dawah to Islam and abiding by the laws of Allah (swt) is a burden and
within it there is hardship and that it is upon the believer to become sturdier
through two matters that Allah (swt) clarified: patience and prayer.
2. Then Allah (swt) mentions the categories of trials that
afflict humans during the campaign for Islam and call
to it and Allah (swt) clarifies that which awaits the patient, the steadfast on
the right (truth), those who reflect upon the
affliction, saying: ﴿إِنَّا
لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ﴾ “Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we
will return.” Amongst
the categories of trials that Allah (swt) mentioned and mentioned that which
awaits those who pass them of Good (خير Khair),
are:
a. Being
killed whilst fighting for the sake of Allah (swt), killed whilst fighting the
enemies of Allah (swt) to uphold His Word as the highest, maintaining a firm
stand on the battlefield. He is alive with Allah
(swt) which is not sensed by the people because they are absent from them, but
it is a good, pure life, «من قاتل لإعلاء كلمة
الله مقبلا غير مدبر فهو في سـبيل الله» “Whosoever
fights to raise the word of Allah as the highest, with a firm stand, is the one who is fighting in the path of Allah
(swt).” [An-Nisaa'i 3104, Ahmed 4/417, 392, Adraamee 2305], «إن أرواح الشـهـداء عند الله في حواصـل طيور خضـر تسـرح في أنهـار
الجنة حيث شاءت» “The souls of the martyrs are in
green birds roaming free in paradise wherever they please.” [Muslim 3500,
Tirmidhi 2937, Ibn Maajah 3791, Adraamee 2303, Ahmed 6/386]
b. Being
afflicted with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, and
he is tested by all types, any of which afflicts the believer: fear and
insecurity, poverty and hunger, loss of wealth is by losses in it, loss in
lives is by disease and death and the loss of fruits is by scourge. Allah (swt)
mentions ﴿بِشَيْءٍ﴾ 'something' i.e. whatever afflicted, whether small
or large, it is a test and patience with it is a great reward, “RasulAllah
(saaw) said Inna lilahi wa inna ilayahi raajioon when a lamp became
extinguished and was told of that, saying (saaw): «كلّ
ما يؤذي المؤمن فهو مصيبة وله أجر» “Everything that
hurts the believer is a trial and has reward for him." [Dar ul-Manthur
2/380, Tafseer Al-Baydawwi 1/125]. As agreed by Bukhari and Muslim, RasulAllah
(saaw) said, «ما من مسـلم يشاك شوكةً فما
فوقها إلا رفعه الله بها درجةً وحط عنه بها خطيئةً» “There
is no Muslim who has been pricked by a thorn or anything more than that, but
that Allah (swt) raises his degree by that and through it expiates sins.”
c. Allah
(swt) clarified that when a believer endures the trials and responds by saying ﴿إِنَّا
لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ﴾ “Indeed we
belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return” he gets a great reward. ﴿صَلَوَاتٌ
مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الْمُهْتَدُونَ﴾
“blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the
[rightly] guided.” And
yes, this is of the great reward: The pleasure of Allah (swt), His Mercy and
Guidance, and not only this, but there is much good in the world for them as
well.
Muslim
narrated from Umm Salamah (ra), "She said: I heard the Messenger of Allah
(saaw) say: «ما من عبد تصيبه مصيبة فيقول إنا لله وإنا
إليه راجعون اللهم أجرني في مصيبتي واخلف لي خيرا منها، إلا آجره الله تعالى في
مصيبته وأخلف له خيرا منها» “When a person
suffers from a calamity and utters: 'We belong to Allah and to Him we shall
return. O Allah! Compensate me in my affliction, recompense my loss and give me
something better in exchange for it (Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un.
Allahumma ujurni fi musibati, wakhluf li khairan minha)." Then Allah
surely compensates him with reward and a better substitute.' She said: When Abu
Salamah died I said as the Messenger of Allah (saaw) ordered and Allah (swt)
gave me a better substitute than him, RasulAllah (saaw).” [Bukhari 5324, Muslim 1525, Tirmidhi 3433, Abu Dawood
2712].
3. Allah (swt) orders us to seek patience and Salah (prayer) in carrying Islam and inviting to it as well
as steadfastness on the truth. It has been narrated from the Messenger of Allah
(saaw) highlighting the importance of Salah,
that it is the apple of the eye of the believer, through it he presents himself
before Allah (swt) and his heart is filled with tranquility through its
performance, «حبب إليّ من دنياكم ثلاث:
الطيب والنساء، وجعلت قرة عيني في الصلاة» “Three
matters of your world have been made dear to me: Perfume and women but my
comfort has been provided in prayer.” [an-Nisai
3878, Ahmed 3/128, 285]
Salah gives
a believer strength in the power to resist
oppression and its perpetrators, and sincere determination to hold on to the
Truth, rendering him a true believer without softening his defiance or
weakening his resolve. Moreover, the fact that Allah (swt) mentioned patience
before Salah highlights the importance of patience. For Salah is only a
relationship between a person and his Lord, whereas patience is a relationship
between a person and his Lord, a person with himself and a person with the
people is at stake. So patience is a yardstick and a
scale when the hardships, afflictions and calamities occur.
Benefits of patience (sabr):
Here we
need to stop, pause and think about the subject of patience in order to remove
the confusion some Muslims have about its realty and meaning.
Some people
think they should cocoon themselves and isolate themselves from the people and
leave the evil (munkar), and leave those who commit it and watch our sanctities
being violated, the Hudud of Allah (penal code) suspended
and Jihad abolished. They do not take a stand on these things. They stay away
from them and abandon the duty of forbidding the evil and this is what some
people think is patience.
Yet others
think patience means to keep away from harm and avoid the
risk of being exposed to it in case the enemies of Allah pursue them.
They do not dare to speak the truth or undertake the actions that are pleasing
to Allah. Instead they remain silent, crouching in a corner somewhere and
saying to themselves that they are patient.
This is not
the patience for which Allah (swt) has prepared His
Gardens of Bliss
for the patient, ﴿إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ
أَجْرَهُمْ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ﴾ “Indeed,
the patient will be given their reward without account.” [Az-Zumar 39: 10] This is nothing but
weakness from which the Messenger of Allah (saw) used to seek refuge from in
his Du’a«أعـوذ بالله من العجـز والكسل والجبن والبخل
والهم والحزن وغلبة الدين وقهر الرجال» “O
Allah, I seek refuge with You from incapacity, laziness, cowardice,
miserliness, worry, sadness, overwhelming debt, and being overpowering by
(other) men.” [Bukhari 5894, Muslim 4908]
Patience
means you speak and act upon the Truth and bear the hardship that results in
the path of Allah without deviation, weakness or giving in.
Indeed,
patience is that which results from the Taqwa (fear of Allah) as in the
following Ayah, ﴿إِنَّهُ مَنْ يَتَّقِ وَيَصْبِرْ
فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ﴾ “Indeed, he who fears Allah and is
patient, then indeed, Allah does not allow to be lost the reward of those who
do good.” [Yusuf 11:90]
This indeed
is the patience that Allah (swt) connected with
those Mujahideen who fight in the way of Allah (swt), ﴿وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ نَبِيٍّ
قَاتَلَ مَعَهُ رِبِّيُّونَ كَثِيرٌ فَمَا وَهَنُوا لِمَا أَصَابَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ
اللَّهِ وَمَا ضَعُفُوا وَمَا اسْتَكَانُوا وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الصَّابِرِينَ﴾
“And how many a prophet [fought and] with
him fought many religious scholars. But they never lost assurance due to what
afflicted them in the cause of Allah, nor did they weaken or submit. And Allah
loves the steadfast.”
[Surah Aali Imran 3:146].
It is the
patience over affliction and the divine decree (qadr),
which leads one to be steadfast and firm and not be shaken. It leads a person
to hold onto the Qur’an and not neglect it under the pretext of patience. It
brings the servant closer to his Lord and does not distance him from Him ﴿فَنَادَى
فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنْ
الظَّالِمِينَ﴾ “And he called out within the darknesses,
"There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the
wrongdoers.” [Surah
al-Anbiyyah 87].
It is the
kind of patience, which strengthens the resolve and brings the path to Jannah
closer. It is the patience of Bilal, Khabbab and the family of Yaasir:, «صبرا آل ياسر إن موعدكم الجنة» “Patience
O family of Yasir, your rendezvous is Jannah.” [Al-Mustadrak 3/383,
Al-Mutaalib al-Aaliyah 4.34, Al-Huliyah 1/140]
It is the
patience of Khubayb and Zayd: “By Allah I would not want to be safe and secure
among my family while even a thorn hurts Muhammad.” [Seerah by Ibn Hisham
3/181]
It is the
patience of those who restrain the hand of the tyrant without fearing any for
the sake of Allah: «كلا والله لتأخذن على يد
الظالم ولتأطرنه على الحق أطرا ولتقصرنه على الحق قصرا أو ليضربن الله قلوب بعضكم
ببعض وليلعنكم كما لعن بني إسرائيل» “Nay, by Allah, you
must seize hold of the hand of the oppressor and
conform him to act justly and stick to the truth, or, Allah will involve the
hearts of some of you with the hearts of others and will curse you as He had
cursed the Children of Israel.” [Tirmidhi 2974, Abu Dawud 3774, Ibn Maajah 3996]
It is the
patience of the distinguished companions of the Messenger of Allah (saw), the honest
and trustworthy... The patience of the people of the Saheefah and those
boycotted in the Shi’b (of ‘Abd al-Muttalib), the migrants to Abyssinia
(Habasha) and those punished for other than reason than saying our Lord is
Allah.’
It is the
patience of the Muhajireen and Ansaar in their struggle against the
polytheists, Persians and the Romans… It is the patience of those taken
prisoners from the troops of ‘Abdullah b. Abu Huzaafah... It is the patience of
the believing and honest Mujahideen.
It is the
patience of the one who enjoins the good and forbids the evil and does not
become weak due to the hardships in the path of Allah.
It is the
patience, which says you should be a soldier in the Muslim army advancing to
fight the enemy of Allah.
It is the
patience where one confirms the saying of Allah (swt), ﴿لَتُبْلَوُنَّ فِي
أَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنْ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ
مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنْ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا وَإِنْ تَصْبِرُوا
وَتَتَّقُوا فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الأُمُورِ﴾ “You
shall certainly be tried and tested in your wealth and properties and in your
personal selves, and you shall certainly hear much that will grieve you from
those who received the Scripture before you (Jews and Christians) and from
those who ascribe partners to Allah, but if you persevere patiently, and become
Al-Muttaqun (the pious) then verily, that will be a determining factor in all
affairs, and that is from the great matters.” [Surah Aali ‘Imraan 3:186]... And His saying: ﴿وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ
حَتَّى نَعْلَمَ الْمُجَاهِدِينَ مِنْكُمْ وَالصَّابِرِينَ وَنَبْلُوَ
أَخْبَارَكُمْ﴾ “And surely, We shall try you till We
test those who strive hard (for the Cause of Allah) and the patient ones, and
We shall test your facts (i.e. the one who is a liar, and the one who is
truthful).” [Surah
Muhammad 47: 31]... And it is His saying,﴿وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ
بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِنْ الأَمْوالِ وَالأَنفُسِ
وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرْ الصَّابِرِينَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُمْ مُصِيبَةٌ
قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ أُوْلَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ
مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الْمُهْتَدُونَ﴾
“And certainly, We
shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and
fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.). Who, when
afflicted with calamity, say: “Truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him we
shall return. They are those on whom are the Salawat (i.e. blessings, etc.)
(i.e. who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are
those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided-ones.” [Surah Al-Baqarah 2:155-157]
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