1 August 1901

Patience and Perseverance

The honourable Maulvi Abdul-Karim Sahib, may the Lord protect him, presented a person to His Holiness, our Noble Leader, on whom be peace and blessings, and submitted that this individual has visited many shrines, and met with various spiritual guides and leaders. His Holiness (as) addressed the man and said: “Alright then, what say you.” The person said: “Your Holiness! I have met with many spiritual guides. I suffer from certain ills. Firstly, whenever I go to a religious preceptor, I stay for a few days and then leave, and my disposition loses faith in him; secondly, I am guilty of backbiting; thirdly, I am unable to put my heart in worship; I have other weaknesses too.”

The Promised Messiah (as) said: “I have understood. The actual malady from which you suffer is impatience. The other things you have described are secondary illnesses. Now, when a person is not impatient in their worldly matters, and waits for an outcome with steadfastness and persistence, why then do people enter the presence of God with impatience? Does a farmer plant seeds in his field and then expect to harvest a crop the very next day? Or when a baby is born, does a person expect that it should become old enough to immediately help him? Such examples of rush and urgency are nowhere to be found in the law of nature established by God Almighty. Exceedingly foolish is the one who seeks to act in such haste. An individual who is able to see their own faults for the faults they are, ought to consider themselves fortunate. For Satan makes a person’s evil deeds and wrongdoings appear attractive and pleasing. Therefore, you ought to forsake your impatience and seek ability from God Almighty with patience and perseverance, and seek forgiveness for your sins. Without this, there is nothing. A person who comes to a godly person so that he should blow a magic spell on them and reform them, seeks to rule over God. One ought to advance towards God like a servant that is ruled. Until one becomes completely subservient to God alone, nothing can be achieved.

When an ailing person visits a physician, they will relate many issues, but after a diagnosis, the physician will identify the one fundamental ailment from which the person is suffering. Then, the physician will begin treatment for that particular illness. Similarly, your main illness is nothing but impatience. If you work to remedy this, your other maladies will, God willing, be cured. It is my belief that one should never lose hope in God Almighty and continue to seek until their dying moments. Until man’s quest and patience reaches such a degree, they cannot attain success. Of course, God Almighty is powerful, if He so wills, He can give man success in an instant, but true love demands that he continue to tread this path, seeking. Sa’di says:

گر نباشد بدوست رہ بُردن
شرطِ عشق است در طلب مُردن
Even if there is no way to reach one’s beloved;
love demands that one dies in this pursuit.

Illnesses are of two kinds: subclinical and clinical. A subclinical disease is one in which a person does not feel pain and the like, such as vitiligo. A clinical disease, however, is one in which a person feels pain, and therefore, an individual will worry about finding a cure to these sorts of illnesses, but will not concern themselves too much in the case of subclinical illnesses. In the same manner, certain sins are perceived, while there are others that a person does not even feel. Hence, an individual ought to seek forgiveness from God Almighty all the time. What benefit is there in visiting graves? God Almighty has sent the Holy Quran for the purpose of reformation. If the law of God Almighty allowed for people to be reformed through magic spells, why would the Prophet of God, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, suffer hardships in Mecca for thirteen years? Why would he not have cast a spell on Abu Jahl and others? Leave Abu Jahl for a moment. Why not Abu Talib who actually loved the Holy Prophet (sas)? Hence, impatience is not good—the eventual outcome is ruin.”1