Second Narration

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"From Fiqh al-Redha (A.S.) We narrate of the wills of the prophets, peace be upon them. Be patient for truth, even if it is bitter." (Bihar al-Anwar)

Fiqh al-Redha is a famous book of jurisprudence attributed to the eighth Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Redha (A.S.), a portion of which deals with the legal affairs in Islam. In other words these issues may be termed as jurisprudence. This term partly deals with the interpretation of the Holy Qur'an, and traditions but the major portion of the book covers the ways and means and overall issues related to Islamic learning. It is this second part which constitutes the complete and comprehensive portion of the term of jurisprudence. The above mentioned book contains the following meaningful

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narration.¹ which could be interpreted and expounded as follows:

We narrate this important narration, which is the inheritance and memory of our noble family left by our fathers and their ancestors, who left this last will for us, and in turn we willed it to our successors:

The will of all the divine prophets for their viceregents, inheritors, trustees, flag carriers of divine movements, and students of the divine school of thought was:

"Stand for the truth and be patient, even if it is bitter and inconvenient."

This is exactly the same sentence spoken by the Commander of Faithful, without the least variation. Perhaps, this short, but meaningful sentence left by the
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1 Late Muhaddis Nouri, who was a most exalted and learned scholar of his time in his book "Mustadrek al-Wasail" , had presented numerous logical convincing arguments, testifying the authenticity of the above issues. Noun's work is very interesting for the learned scholars in the field of traditions.

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prophets and their vicegerents, could be the best example for showing the importance of patience. Therefore, on the basis of the above two narrations, we may define patience, as the will enjoined by the divine prophets and Imams on their inheritors and disciples. It is quite explicit that this Islamic characteristic has so much weight, importance, and influence, in the complex structure of the divine religion of Islam that all the prophets had included it in their testaments.

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CHAPTER - III: PATIENCE IN ISLAMIC CODICES

Faith may be defined as something which consists of ethics, legal rights, and public instructions (learning). The same is the case for any other constructive social school or organization. We may therefore classify faith into the following:

Of course, this vast complex, includes personal matters related to the personal interests of individuals, as well as social matters pertaining to various large groups of humanity, and affairs concerning these groups and the Islamic community (Ummah). Let us see in the above complex of faith, what is the influence and roll played by patience. In other words, a person committed

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to religion will act as follows:

If one fulfills all the above three, in his conduct, one could rightly be called a true believer. We will now examine the role played by patience in the life of a believer in following religion in the true sense.

In a geometrical figure which consists of lines and angles, each point, arc and semi circle creates a special effect. Let us see what influence and role is played by patience in the geometrical figure representing the faith of a true believer. Let us consider the example of an automobile which is supposed to move someone together with his household belongings to a certain location. After passing through various streets, this automobile finally reaches the desired final destination.

What is responsible for moving this automobile? Is it the engine? What thing is responsible for providing this strength or power to the engine? Of course, it is the petrol. Therefore in the life of a believer, patience may be compared to the engine or the petrol which gives life and strength to that engine.

Without patience, the truth and steadfast logic of the exalted school of religion would not have been understood. The divine learning (revelations) of this school which blessed humanity would have lost its colour

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with the passage of time. The ultimate hope of victory of truth over falsehood, which provides fresh life-giving blood for powerful hands and steadfast steps of believers, would have been silenced. And the laws and guidelines of religion which control and check the human tendencies of transgression would have become inactive.

The heroic field of valour and martyrdom for the sake of Allah and religion would have been converted into a graveyards of ideologies. The international congress of Hajj would have remained empty. The humming, sensational and confidential communications of the burning lovers (believers) in the middle of night, with the Beloved (Allah) would have been silenced, the beautiful scene of "Jihad-e-Akbar" with the self ("great self struggle"), namely fasting and self restriction would have lost its charms. The arteries of the economy of the Islamic state would have dried up, and charity and alms-giving for the pleasure of Allah would have been ignored.

Without patience all the higher educational and ethical values of Islam (piety, trust, and righteousness) would have been forgotten, and in essense, each parameter of religion which requires action and efforts, would have remained deprived of them. Because religion requires practice, which is not possible without patience. Therefore what provides life-giving fresh blood to this giant complex, or what provides motion to this train is nothing else but patience. With the above discussion, the substance and meaning of this divine inspiration could be clearly understood. According

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to some documented narrations related to the infallible Imams, the importance of patience has been defined as follows:

"Patience out of faith is like a head to a body."

The head of a person holds the most critical importance as far as life is concerned. One may tolerate the absence of different parts in the human body such as hands, feet, eyes, ears etc. But if the head which is the controlling room for the whole nervous system, does not exist or is crippled, then all the parts and systems of the body will become crippled. The body may remain alive, but in reality it will not be different than a dead body.

Sometimes, it may be that a part of the body may perform an outstanding task. May be the fist, a powerful hand, fingers, or the eyes of a person might conduct excellent performance in discharging many duties, but all that is accomplished is because of the presence of the head. Patience holds similar importance in the structure of religion.

Without patience the existence of Monotheism (Tawheed) will not be possible either. The prophethood and the prophetic mission would not have produced any fruits. The rights of the deprived people could not have been obtained from the tyrants. Prayers, fasting, and other rituals would also have been meaningless.

Therefore it is patience which fulfills all the

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aspirations of religion and humanity. If at the very beginning of Islam, if the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) would have not offered resistance against all that severe opposition, for the sake of truth, of course, the slogan "there is no god but Allah" would have been suffocated within the boundary walls of his home, at its very inception.

What kept Islam alive and intact was patience. If the pious people of Allah and great divine prophets would have not been patient against opposition and obstacles in their path, today there would have not been left any trace and influence of monotheism. The single factor responsible for keeping alive the system of monotheism, since the very beginning of human creation has been patience. Which has been the flag carrier for this heavenly ideology till today, and will continue to do the same till the last day of judgement.

The most logical ideas and sayings of human beings, if not accompanied by the patience practiced by their founders, would have dried off in their throats and tongues. They would have disappeared in the turbulent waves of the ocean of history forever. It is therefore quite clear that patience holds the similar relationship with the religious body, as the position of head relative to a human body. The Commander of Fatihful in his sermon "Qaseah" explains the victory of the deprived of history over the tyrants and success of their noble ideas as follows:

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"When Allah witnessed their patience in resisting the tortures and hardships, which were inflicted upon them, because of their love for him and foliowing the path of truth, he opened over them gates of divine assistance in the midst of those difficult bottlenecks of misfortunes. The deprived of yesterday ¹ after they find themselves as rulers and governors. Their glory, fame, prestige, reached to a point, which had never been imagined in their best of dreams." (Nahjul Balagha Sermon No. 234)

And, this is a tradition of history, which will never be changed till the very end, as the laws of Allah
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1 The present book is based on the lectures of Ayatullah Khamenei at a Mashhad Mosque 20 years ago as mentioned in the introduction. Now, in retrospect, the best manifestation of the above sermon of the Commander of the Faithful could be, the victory of the Islamic Revolution on Feburary 11th, 1979. In an article a few years ago written by Dr. Hasan Ghafourifard, the then Head of the Physical Education Organisation in a Sports Magzine, it was mentioned that Ayatullah Khamenei was confined in Iranshahr (Sistan and Baluchestan Province), a town with the worst climatic conditions in the southeast of Iran, before the victory of Islamic Revolution. Today, by the Grace of Allah he is the Leader of the Muslims. The honour and fame awarded to him and to all other leaders, now who were imprisoned under the Pahlavi regime is a clear manifestation of the above sermon. (Tr)

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are constant, irrespective of time. Therefore after the above detailed explanation one could describe in a nutshell the position of patience in the complex of Islam as follows:

Patience is responsible for the fulfillment of all the aspirations, and all the short term and long term goals whether individual or social.

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CHAPTER - IV: THE FIELDS OF PATIENCE

As explained in the earlier chapters of this book, one may define patience as resistance offered by man on the road towards perfection against the forces of mischief, corruption and degradation. Now let us recognize the fields of patience, where its practice is most crucial. Of course, we would like to examine the domain of patience, in accordance with the texts of Islamic narrations and the Holy Qur'an, where, practicing patience has been promised with plenty of rewards in this world as well as in the Hereafter.

There is no doubt, that an ignorant soldier or a mercenary fighting in the battlefield against the bearers of glad tidings of truth and justice (soldiers of Islam), and even loosing his life for the sake of the orders issued by his master; or a tyrant, hoarder of wealth, and holder of an important position, standing against truth for the sake of power, wealth, and position; or various sections or special groups offering resistance for the sake of their vested interests or other reasons, are in fact not practicing patience for the sake of human ideals but opposing the truth.

On the surface all these cases show practicing of patience. But this is quite opposite than patience

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practiced by pious individuals on the road of perfection for the pleasure of Allah. Of course, as far as the lexical meaning of the term "patience" is concerned both share it equally.

But in all such situations, patience has not been practiced for accomplishing human perfection and ideals, rather for their suppression. Here the resistance was not offered against the forces of mischief, corruption and degradation, but instead it was offered to destroy the shining manifestations of human perfection. Therefore, this domain of patience is not the domain as defined in the traditions and the Holy Qur'an.

It could therefore be concluded that patience may be defined as a means of achieving perfection, excellence, and exaltedness, where man endeavours and makes sincere efforts for the ultimate goal of creation, to become a real servant of Allah. His personality ultimately becomes manifestation of all the hidden potential of human talents and characteristics. In other words achieving the status of a perfect human being (Insan-e-Kamil)

At this stage all the internal and external obstacles (explained in detail earlier), which compliment each other, and in any case are the manifestations of Satanic tactics, are resisted by him, on his forward journey. On this road, all kinds of dangers, headaches and obstacles await the traveller. The opposition provided by them varies in proportion to the traveller's location, movement, and duties. Sometimes for discharging a duty one is confronted with a direct

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obstacle, while at other times one is confronted with an indirect barrier in his path.

For a mountain climber, trying to scale the highest peaks, confrontation with rocks, thorns, thieves and wolves, all are tantamount to a negative force interfering with his ascent. But sometimes a beautiful scene, a comfortable soft bed, and a shaky companion arc also negative forces of another sort, which force the climber to terminate his ascent. Still, at other times it could be his own sickness, or he has to take care of some sick companions, or might be confronted with some other mishap, which ultimately forces him to terminate his expedition. This last case may be regarded as an indirect obstacle in his path.

The above analogy of mountain climbing is also true for the journey of man on the road of perfection. He is confronted with three kinds of obstacles in this journey. If the compulsory duties and obligations of religion may be considered as the instruments and steps required for forward march on the road of perfection, the forbidden acts of religion may be regarded as diversion from the straight path. And if the unforeseen bitter happenings of life at the time of restlessness and instability are considered responsible for slowing down and ultimately cutting short his journey, then the obstacles and opposing motives could also divided into the following three categories:

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Patience means resistance against all three types of barriers, and providing moral courage and necessary momentum for t he traveller to continue his forward journey on the road of perfection. It offers resistance against those desires and tendencies which disco urage man from performing compulsory obligations, resist s the desires for indulging in sinful forbidden acts, and provides zeal and strength to be able to tolerate the unforeseen and unhappy occurences, which threaten to break his determination.

With the above explanation one may appreciate the context of this important narration from the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) as related by the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali (A.S.). as follows:

" The Prophet of Allah had said: Patience is of three kinds Patience in tragedies and unpleasant events, patience in performance of compulsory obligations, and patience against sin".

On ail the above mentioned occasions, like occurernce of a tragic unfortunate happening resulting in

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loss of life or wealth or both, a situation requiring performance of compulsory obligations, and an alluring sinful pleasure tempting him to indulge in a forbidden act; a type of patience is required where the human being could manifest or display the most superior heroic potential of his hidden exalted qualities. In order that the complete understanding of these Islamic specialities related to the three types of patience could be made explicitly clear, we will discuss all of them in detail.

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Discourse on Patience