Patience is the associate of certainty. “ And we appointed, from among them, leaders, giving guidance under Our command, so long as they persevered with patience and continued to have certainty of faith in our signs” (Meaning of Quran 32:24). For this reason, Sufian declared that one reaches the leadership in religion by having patience and certainty of faith.
Having no or little patience, one can easily abandon his religion because of any obstacle and to give up his way and lose his wisdom because of any provocation. Because of this, Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) said to his prophet (peace be upon him) “ So patiently persevere: for verily the promise of Allah is true: nor let those excite thee, who have (themselves) no certainty of faith” (Meaning of Quran 30:60), and said “ And have patience with what they say and leave them with noble (dignity)” (Meaning of Quran 73:10).
In many occasions, the people who went astray will try to frustrate the Da'iahs by telling them that what they are calling for is unachievable, old values that people no longer remember and that the Da'iahs should accept a lesser objective and should revise their opinions and efforts. Under the pressure of realities, facing the real and fictitious obstacles in the road of accomplishing Islam and realizing the lengthy way the Da'iahs will go through, some of them may give an ear, get influenced and start to revise his understanding of Islam and his understanding of what the opponents say.
This position will be very acceptable if the Da'iah does it with the spirit of the brave objective researcher who looks for the truth wherever it is, but here he does it with the spirit of the defeated who feels that he came out of the battle wounded or captured. He, afterwards, starts to look for a solution in the proposals of his opponents that would save him from fighting falsehood and distorted realities.
Take, for example, usury, which spread all over, deepened its roots, and had all world economies, including that of the Islamic world, depend on it. It almost got into every one pocket. This is a realization of the prophet (peace be upon him) hadeeth “ People will witness a time in which whoever is not usurious will be affected by its dust” (Ahmad 2/494, Abu Dawood 3331, AlNisai 4455, Ibn Majah 2278. This hadeeth was considered weak by AlMunthiri because of lack of link between the hadeeth reporters AlHassan and Abu Hurairah), This hadeeth, with its weak authenticity, has its meaning strengthened by this hadeeth reported by AlBukhari “ A time will come when one will not care how one gains one's money, legally or illegally” (AlBukhari 2059, AlNisai 4454).
When the ones who do not have certainty of faith come to the defeated Da'iah trying to persuade him to take another look at an act of clear usury, he, instead of preventing them from this unlawful earning, which entered their pockets and from this unlawful dealing that became part of their souls, and instead of trying to search for Islamic acceptable alternatives for investing money and building Islamic economy upon it, tries to find an opening in the Shari’a law no matter how weak or out of conformity this opening is. In this manner, the people's way of a life that span a limited period of time becomes a reference to twist the Shari’a laws that have been constant throughout the ages. This can be explained by the Da'iah lacking patience and then losing hope. It is best for such Da'iah to listen to the advice of the one who said: If you cannot achieve an objective, stop working on it and start on something you can achieve
It is not required that you achieve the victory of Islam in your lifetime. This victory is for the will of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) to decide when it should happen. It is required that you do your best. Messengers and prophets were spoken to in this same sense, “ If then they turn away, We have not sent thee as a guard over them, the duty is but to convey (the message)” (Meaning of Quran 42:48). The messengers were also saying “ And our duty is only to deliver the clear message” ( Meaning of Quran 36:17).
Someone may come to the Da'iah telling him: “you work hard day and night and undergo mountainous efforts but at the end results seem to be little and people start to turn away from you. Moreover, you see that means of destruction and corruption have engulfed many of them and whatever you've been building in years will be demolished in hours.” This kind of logic may influence many of the Da'iahs who are not used to facing obstacles in their way. At such moments, comes the role of "patience", patience, which is most fitting to the situation.
Khabbab Ibn AlArat narrated: “ We complained to Allah apostle (peace be upon him) (about the hardship we are facing from the polytheists) while he was leaning against his sheet cloak in the shade of the Kaaba. We said will you ask Allah to help us! Will you invoke Allah for us! He (peace be upon him) sat up with his face reddened and said: among those who were before you a (believer) used to be seized and a bit used to be dug for him and then he used to be placed in it. Then a saw used to be brought and put on his head which would be split in two halves. His flesh might be combed with iron combs and removed from his bones, yet, all that did not cause him to revert from his religion. By Allah! This religion (Islam) will be completed (and triumph) till a rider (traveler) goes from Sanaa to Hadramout fearing nobody except Allah and the wolf lest it should trouble his sheep, but you are impatient” (AlBukhari 3852, Abu Dawood 2649, AlNisai (summarized) 5320).
Therefore it is not fit for a Da'iah not to have the necessary patience until the fruits of Da’wah are ripe.
The Da'iah may be, in his place (town, school, office,...), fighting against reprehensible actions and for spreading Da’wah and through him a lot of good may be happening which he may not feel because it happens gradually like a father not feeling the growth of his child because he sees him every morning and evening.
Many Da'iahs abandon their places thinking they are not achieving anything. Afterwards, he regrets his decision painfully when he realizes the emptiness that is greatly felt behind him.
The Da'iah must wait patiently for the results and must exert his efforts putting his dependence upon Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala). He must comprehend that from historical and realistic experiences, any good effort done will have its fruit on the people. It never happened in this Ummah (nation of Islam) that no one would respond to the Da'iah or no one would listen to his advises. Similarly, it never happened that a scholar gave a lesson and no one attended. We are not yet at the time, the prophet (peace be upon him) told us about, when greed is an obeyed practice, desire guides the actions and every one admires his own opinion to the point that he rejects the Quran and Sunnah if they are not in accordance with it.
This did not happen yet at the level of the whole Islamic nation. It may be noticed on some individuals or in some places but good is still prevalent and people are responsive to the knowledgeable wise Da'iah. Moreover we find people respond to Da'iahs in non-Muslim countries, in Europe and America. Statistics show that tens are reverting to Islam in the Islamic centers there every week.
This historical realistic fact that says that every effort will produce a fruit, is also a fact from the perspective of Islamic Shari’a: “ Whoever works any act of righteousness and has faith, his endeavor will not be rejected, We shall record it in his favor” (Meaning of Quran 21:94), “ That Allah may reward the men of truth for their truth” (Meaning of Quran 33:24), “ He who introduced some good practice in Islam which was followed after him (by people) would be assured of reward like one who followed it, without their reward being diminished in any respect” (Muslim 1017, AlNisai 2554, from the hadeeth of Jareer Ibn AbdAllah AlBajali), “ He who called (people) to righteousness, there would be reward (assured) for him like the rewards of those who adhered to it, without their rewards being diminished in any respect” (Muslim 2674, AlTirmithi 2676, Abu Dawwod 4609 all from the hadeeth of Abu hurairah).
Therefore every work has a reward and every Da'iah has followers.
