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Patience With Tests on The Journey to Allah

(Ibn Ata’s Words of Wisdom: Part 9)

Dr. Jasser Auda
13 April, 2020

“Do not be surprised when difficulties happen in this worldly abode. It is only revealing its true character and identity.”

In this step, the servant of Allah Almighty purifies the intention, reflects, seizes time, and the light of faith starts to shine on him/her and the journey starts to draw closer to Allah Almighty…

And then something happens which is a test from Allah Almighty.

Why Tests?

And Allah tests those whom He loves. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mentioned that Allah said:

My servant continues to draw near to Me with additional work until I love him or her. When I love him/her, I am his hearing with which he hears, I am his sight with which he sees, I am his hands with which he strikes, and I am his foot with which he walks. If He asks Me, I will give him; if he seeks My refuge, I will grant him My refuge.

Allah mentions that people in this stage will not be left without tests.

Do people think that on the mere claiming, ‘we are believers’ that they will be left to themselves and will not be put to a test?

But We have certainly tried those before them, and Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful, and He will surely make evident the liars. (Quran 29: 2-3)

Therefore, when you take steps towards Allah Almighty, Allah will test you in order to prove for yourself whether you are truthful or not.

And if you’re not that truthful in your journey, the test will melt the gold, as in Arabic we say fitnah. Fitnah is to melt the gold in order to purify it. The test will purify your heart as fire will purify gold when it melts.

Learn Beautiful Patience

This step of the journey means that you learn patience. All the Prophets had gone through trials so that they learn patience. The word that Prophet Jacob mentioned in chapter Yusuf, “a beautiful patience”.

This is the goal, it is to learn not just a usual patience, but the kind of patience that is “a beautiful patience.”

Beautiful patience means that you don’t fall in any sin because of the pressures on you. Beautiful patience means that you don’t even complain, but to complain to Allah only.

Prophet Jacob, in the same context, said:

I only complain to Allah.

Beautiful patience means that your heart is at peace. This is at the highest level of the beautiful patience. When you are not surprised when you see the difficulties and trials in the world.

When you go through the world with that strong heart and peaceful heart, then you have taken that step successfully.

That step of understanding the nature and the name of this world (dunya) which a lower life, and that is a very important realization to realize.

This is a summary of this video.

A Journey to God (Folder)

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About Dr. Jasser Auda
Jasser Auda is a Professor and Al-Shatibi Chair of Maqasid Studies at the International Peace College South Africa, the Executive Director of the Maqasid Institute, a global think tank based in London, and a Visiting Professor of Islamic Law at Carleton University in Canada. He is a Founding and Board Member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, Fellow of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of India, and General Secretary of Yaqazat Feker, a popular youth organization in Egypt. He has a PhD in the philosophy of Islamic law from University of Wales in the UK, and a PhD in systems analysis from University of Waterloo in Canada. Early in his life, he memorized the Quran and studied Fiqh, Usul and Hadith in the halaqas of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo. He previously worked as: Founding Director of the Maqasid Center in the Philosophy of Islamic Law in London; Founding Deputy Director of the Center for Islamic Ethics in Doha; professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Alexandria University in Egypt, Islamic University of Novi Pazar in Sanjaq, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, and the American University of Sharjah. He lectured and trained on Islam, its law, spirituality and ethics in dozens of other universities and organizations around the world. He wrote 25 books in Arabic and English, some of which were translated to 25 languages.