Patience and Piety: Part 2

Believers are fortunate in having the assurances of the Quran that so long as they are guided by the tenets of their faith, they will not be harmed in any way by the malice or misdeeds of their opponents. Here are two of the verses which throw light on this subject:

“Believers, take care of your own souls. The misguided cannot harm you as long as you are guided.” (The Quran, 5:105).

“If you persevere and fear God, their designs will never harm you in the least: God encompasses all that they do.” (The Quran, 3:120).

This means that the believers should be more concerned with their own inner state than they are with the external conditions in which they find themselves, and that, above all, they should adhere to the guidance they have received from God, for this will lead them along the paths of patience and piety. The nurturing of these qualities will build up a protective barrier against plotting and conspiracies. It will, indeed, provide them with an impenetrable defence.

But why is it that patience is such a rare quality in human beings? It is because it entails the suppression of one’s feelings when provoked and the suffering of losses and setbacks without protest – neither of which is an easy thing to do. It is only those who can rise above the petty vengefulness engendered by such situations who will be successful in developing this virtue. The first step towards its attainment is the piety so strongly advocated by the Quran; it means, in effect, having an eternal fear of God in one’s heart.

The truly pious person ceases to live on purely human level; he ascends to a divine level where, above all else, he cherishes the will of God, and where all of his actions are aimed at consolidating the blessings promised to him by his Maker. Externally, he may appear to be living in this world, but, in fact, he is living on an exalted plane where his inner senses are in tune with the everlasting world of God.