Abstract:
The ‘patient and grateful servants’ in the
Qur’an are those who take lessons from how God has
created the world of nature and how He has treated the
previous nations in history (14:5, 31:31, 34:19, 42:33). The
significance and connection of these two qualities is seen
more vividly in a Prophetic narration: ‘Iman (belief, faith) is
split in two halves: one half of it is [in] patience, and the
other half is [in] gratitude.’1 A clear meaning of this is that
at times of ease, success and bounty, a believer must be
grateful, and at times of difficulty, loss and affliction, a
believer must be patient. In several hadiths, the ‘one who is
grateful when he is given [a blessing], and patient when he
is afflicted [with hardship]’ is described as a believer, the
best of people, the noblest and most honourable servant to
God, and one who is given the good of this world and the
Hereafter.2 This article discusses the meanings of each
quality and how they are integral elements of faith. It shows
that the essence of both qualities is the realisation that God
is the sole owner of everyone and everything in the universe.
God’s absolute ownership is the spirit of patience and
gratitude.
Machine summary:
"In several hadiths, the ‘one who is grateful when he is given [a blessing], and patient when he is afflicted [with hardship]’ is described as a believer, the best of people, the noblest and most honourable servant to God, and one who is given the good of this world and the Hereafter.
4 In one narration, Abū BaBīr asks Imam al-<ādiq, "Is there any limit to gratitude such that if a servant lives up to it he would count as grateful?" The Imam replied, "Yes" and he explained: He should praise God [verbally] for every bounty that He has bestowed upon him with regard to his family and possessions.
"14 According to the Muslim mystic Shaqīq al-Balkhī,15 there are three conditions to a proper and complete praise of God: 1) to know God as the Giver of bounties to you, 2) to be pleased and satisfied with what He 12 Ibn Cāwūs, Iqbāl al-AEmāl, vol.
28 Patience in Practice The Qur’an says: Piety is not to turn your faces to the east or the west; rather, piety is [personified by] those who have faith in Allah and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and who give their wealth, for the love of Him, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller and the beggar, and for [the freeing of] the slaves, and maintain the prayer and give the zakat, and those who fulfil their covenants, when they pledge themselves, and those who are patient in stress and distress, and in the heat of battle."