AsSalamOAlaikum WaRehmatuAllah WaBarkatuhu
Question: A friend of mine told me that I should not ask Allah to give me patience because that implies that I am asking Allah to give me trials. Is this true? If it is, then how do we explain Sûrah al-Baqarah: 250 and Sûrah al-A`râf: 126?
Answered by Sheikh `Abd al-Mahdî `Abd al-Qâdir
There is some truth to your friend’s statement that we should not ask Allah for patience on account of the implication it brings that we are asking Him for tribulations.
As a rule, a person should ask Allah for forgiveness and prosperity in this worldly life and in the Hereafter.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Ask Allah for certainty in faith and protection from harm, for nothing granted to a person after certainty in faith is better than protection from harm.” [Musnad Ahmad and Sunan Ibn Mâjah with an authentic line of tradition]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Ask Allah for forgiveness, wellbeing, and protection from harm, for nothing granted to a person after certainty in faith is better than protection from harm.” [Sunan al-Nasâ’î]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) heard a man beseech Allah by saying O Possessor of Majesty and Generosity. He told him: “You are being answered. Ask for what you need.”
Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) heard someone saying: “O Lord I ask you for patience.”
He said: “You are asking Allah for trial, so rather ask him for wellbeing.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhî (3527), though it is a weak hadîth as stated by al-Albâni]
Abû al-Dardâ’ said: “O Messenger of Allah, I prefer to be given good and be thankful rather than to be tested and exercise patience.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “And the Messenger of Allah prefers for you to be given good.” [Zâd al-Ma`âd]
You have mentioned in your questions some verses that might appear to contradict what I have mentioned above. Among these is Allah’s saying: “And when they went out against Goliath and his forces they said: ‘Our Lord! Pour down upon us patience, and make our steps firm and assist us against the unbelieving people’.” [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 250]
Sûrah al-A`râf: 126]
These two verses mention supplications for patience, but these supplications were offered by those people after a most grievous trial had already befallen them. That is the time for such supplications.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "O people! Do not hope to face the enemy (in battle) and ask Allah to save you (from calamities), but if you should face the enemy, then be patient and let it be known to you that Paradise is under the shades of swords.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (2819) and Sahîh Muslim (1742)]
When affliction befalls a Muslim, he must be patient and reconciled to Allah’s decree. He must not regret or become anxious.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “If Allah loves some people, He will test them. Whoever is pleased in it, Allah will be pleased with him, and whoever is embittered by it, Allah will be displeased with him.” [Musnad Ahmad and Sunan al-Tirmidhî]
Abû al-Dardâ’ said: “If Allah decrees something, He likes people to be pleased with it.”
`Imrân b. Husayn used to say when he was sick: “What is wanted by Him is wanted by me.” The same was said by Abû al-`Âliyah.
Al-Hasan said: We have visited `Imrân b. Husayn when he was sick. One man said: “I have to ask you about your suffering.”
`Imrân said: Do not do so, my brother, for by Allah I love suffering, and whoever loves it will be the most beloved of people to Allah. Allah says: ‘And whatever affliction befalls you, it is on account of what your hands have wrought, and (yet) He pardons most (of your faults).’ [Sûrah al-Shûrah: 30] And this is accounted of what my hands have wrought, and yet what He has pardoned of my faults is far more.”
This is the noble conduct of the pious people when they are tested – not before they are tested.
The person who is spared from calamities has to thank Allah if he sees a person being tested. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “If a man sees a person suffering from affliction and says: ‘All praise is due to Allah who has spared me from what He has tested you with and who has given me preference over many of His creatures’ then such a trial will not afflict him, whatever it might be.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhî (3428) with an authentic chain of transmission.]
I pray to Allah to safeguard in this life and grant us good in the Hereafter.
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