Al Baqarah

وَاسْتَعِينُواْ بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلاَّ عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ

And seek you help (from Allah) through patience and prayer; and most surely it is a hard thing, save upon the humble, (2:45)

الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلاَقُوا رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Those who bear in mind the certainty that they will meet their Lord and that verily unto Him shall they return. (2:46)

To enable Man to overcome his latent low desires and to clean his mind from the love of position and rank, the Qur’an says:

And seek you help (from Allah) through patience and prayer; and most surely it is a hard thing, save upon the humble, (2:45)

How to Overcome Difficulties

To overcome difficulties and solve problems demands two fundamental principles. The first principle is a strong inner will, and the second one is a firm outward refuge. These two principles are referred to in the above verse as ‘patience’ and ‘prayer’. Patience, here, has been rendered into ‘fasting’ and ‘perseverance’ during difficulties while prayer is a connection with Allah and a means of communication with this Helpful Refuge.

About the term / sabr / ‘patience’, one of the books ² says that it is a natural phenomenon well-known to every enlightened one that bodily mortification is to some extent necessary in disciplining the human ego accommodated in the physical framework, to lighten it by liberating it from the clutches of the desires and passions of the material world otherwise it would sink deeply into its own devious personal interest. This is essential to elevate it unto the heights of the spiritual realms. A religion merely consisting of some mere formal rituals and the offering of chanting or the recitation of some verbal prayers or charms without the demand on the individual for the practical control of the animal-self in him can hardly be worth anything.

The truth endowed or the spiritual strength one gets through overcoming his selfish passions, is by itself a very vast subject to be dealt with in the brief notes meant to explain the particular aspects of the wordings of the Divine verses here. However, an Islamic tradition says that Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) was once asked about the meaning of the word / sabr / ‘patience’, mentioned in this verse, when he said: “Patience means fasting.” ³ Again, commenting on this verse, the leading commentators have cited that whenever any difficulty confronted the Prophet of Islam (S), he used to resort to’ fasting’ and ‘prayers’ to be helped with.⁴ Also, Hazrat ‘Ali (‘a) did the same.⁵

It is also narrated from Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) who has said:

“It does not matter that when one of you is involved in a grief out of the grieves of the world, you would make ablution and enter a mosque. Then, you would recite a prayer and offer a petition therein to Allah, because I know He has commanded: ‘And seek you help (from Allah) through patience and prayer’.” ⁶

Yes, verily prayer connects Man to an everlasting Power, to Allah, for Whom all the hard problems and complicated difficulties are easy. This very feeling causes man to be calm, powerful, and steadfast against misadventures. And with prayer, what else can ever be imaginably more effective or successful than any individual in his helplessness approaching the All-Merciful, Almighty through prayers for help? In the verse following the above one, the Holy Qur’an introduces the humble ones, thus:

Those who bear in mind the certainty that they will meet their Lord and that verily unto Him shall they return. (2:46)

So, it is narrated from Amir-ul Mu’minin ‘Ali (‘a) who has said that one of the characteristics of the humble ones who are the same as the believers is knowledge and certainty about their meeting with Allah which will take place in the Hereafter.⁷

What Is ‘Meeting with Allah’?

The idea of ‘meeting with Allah ‘has been mentioned repeatedly in the Qur’an where it totally means ‘Presence in the Hereafter’. It is obvious that the purpose of ‘meeting with the Lord’ is not a physical meeting like the meeting of people with each other face to face. We also know that Allah is not a bodily substance to have colour or place, or to be seen with the eyes. Then, as some commentators have said, the purpose of the phrase may be the observation of the effects of His Power in the scene of the Hereafter, such as: His bounties, rewards, and punishments.

Or, it means an esoteric intuition in the heart or soul, because, sometimes, Man reaches a point that he sees the Lord in front of him by his heart’s eye, and in that case no doubt will continue for him. This state may come to being for some people in this world as a result of piety, worship, and purification of the carnal soul. The following explanation, cited in Nahjul Balagha, attests to the idea: One of the companions of Amir-ul Mu’minin ‘Ali (‘a), Di’lib al-Yamani, who was a learned man, once asked him (‘a) whether ‘Ali (‘a) had seen Allah, his Lord, when he (‘a) replied:

“Do I worship the One Whom I have not seen?”

Then the man asked him to explain it more and ‘Ali (‘a) added:

“Eyes do not see Him face to face, but hearts (souls) perceive Him through the (light of) realities of Faith...” ⁸

However, in the Hereafter, all human beings will attain this esoteric intuition, since, therein, the effects of the Glory and Power of Allah will be so manifested that none can deny them, and all will have a decisive Faith in everything.

Footnotes

1. 2. The Holy Qur’an, with English Translation of the Arabic Text and, p. 98.
2. 3. Al-Burhan Fi Tafsir al-Qur’an, Vol. 1, p. 14 and Tafsir as-Safi, Vol. 1, p. 111.
3. 4. Majma’ al-Bayan, Vol. 1, p. 99.
4. 5. Majma’ al-Bayan, Vol. 1, p. 100.
5. 6. Usul al-Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 480.
6. 7. Atyab al-Bayan, Vol. 2, p. 21.
7. 8. Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 179.