Patience is NOT key

60. And (remember) when Musa said to his boy-servant: "I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two seas or a Huqub passes.'' 

61. But when they reached the junction of the two seas, they forgot their fish, and it took its way through the sea as in a tunnel.

62. So when they passed further on, Musa said to his boy-servant: "Bring us our morning meal; truly, we have suffered Nasaban in this, our journey.''

63. He said: "Do you remember when we betook ourselves to the rock I indeed forgot the fish; none but Shaytan made me forget to remember it. It took its course into the sea in a strange (way)

64. Musa ﴾said: "That is what we have been seeking.'' So they went back retracing their footsteps.

65. Then they found one of Our servants, on whom We had bestowed mercy from Us, and whom We had taught knowledge from Us.

66. Musa said to him: "May I follow you so that you teach me something of that knowledge which you have been taught (by Allah)''

67. He said: "Verily, you will not be able to have patience with me!''

68. "And how can you have patience about a thing which you know not''

{Al-Kahf, 18: 60-68}

Above is the excerpt from one of the many tales in the Suratul Kahf, the story of Nabi Musa and Nabi Khidir on their short journey. The verse 68 caught my eye and I would like to talk about it since I feel so strongly towards this verse. 

We can actually relate this verse to almost every circumstances in our life. Take the matter of transformation or hijrah, for example. We sometimes listen to people giving excuses not to change towards the better and usually if we put on our listening filter, we'll understand that they do not really grasp the reason for the change they were so intent on avoiding.

Another example is praying. Everyone knows that it is compulsory to pray but why do some don't? Because prayer is perceived as a religious ritual and not something that we actually need. 

Why do I need to pray? My parents don't.

Why should I pray? I didn't even cover up my aurat.

Praying is not fun. It's boooringg.

So old-fashioned. Praying is for grandmas. Screw praying! #YOLO(You Only Live Once)

I'm supposed to feel something when I pray but I don't so why am I praying in the first place?

If we look closely to our society, really, just take some time to really look at it, we will see that our community is not only composed of people who went to Islamic study circles(or famously known as usrah), people who performed all the 5 prayers, people who will not cheat in trade, or simply said, all the 'goody-goody two shoes' people. 

We are so busy spreading messages and reminders about Islam on Facebook and on our blogs(that would be me), we forget that not all have access to Facebook, not all have access to the internet, not all are googling up hadiths, not all went to the masjid/musolla, not all went to programs like Twins of Faith, not all like to read a good book about Islam(not to mention, read anything at all), not all are within our circle of acquaintances. So some gets left out because they were not living the same life that we are, but of course, only some would have the courage to actually perform street da'wah to educate these left out people. 

Before we point our ever-so-ready-to-point-at-other-people-finger, perhaps we should try to understand what is it that caused them not to pray and why is it that they feel that way about praying? 

And how can you have patience about a thing which you know not? {18:68}

Wakayfa tasbiru 'ala ma lam tuhit bihi khubran, (And how canst thou have patience about things about which thy understanding is not complete?-Yusuf Ali)

A simple analogy would be the subject of Mathematics.

I used to hate maths because I don't get the formulas. So when I entered Form 4, I was so upset that I was not getting the good grades that I wanted because I thought I did it the right way. But when I asked my teacher to educate me in the teacher's office, he explained it so thoroughly and it felt so easy. So I ended up scoring 97% from the 40-45% that used to be my usual range for Additional Maths.

To make it short, it's easy to do something once you understand completely the 'why'.

It is easy for me to straight away wear tudung labuh the next day I become a Muslim because I understood beforehand. Contrary to the popular belief, it was not at all due to my super saiyan level of iman or whatsoever, or the hidayah that Allah gave to us special people(their words, not mine). But of course, you need to have the 'want' before you can actually act on it.

The same goes to being patient with people.

I remember this one time when I had to wait for hours for someone. I tried calling her up but she wasn't picking up and I was so mad and I started accusing her in my mind. When she was late, I was silent because I was kind of disappointed with her but when she explained during that moment of silence, I felt ashamed of myself. She was late because earlier, a child who went to the kindergarten she owned, DIED after being hit by a car right in front of her kindergarten. So she had to deal with the devastated mum who started to blame her and things kind of escalated.

What made me feel so ashamed was how intent she was on fulfilling my needs since we were meeting up because I wanted to buy some stuffs and she could've cancelled but she came to me anyway and I can imagine how devastated she must have felt due to the incident.

But that is of course just one example.

My point is, to be able to be patient, we need to understand why we do things. Things that Allah told us to do, they are not for His good; but it is for our own. Praying is not for Him, but it is for US. Praying gives us internal peace, something that people yearn for in a world almost devoured by consumerism. Understanding the meaning of being a Muslim can help us stay grounded and be at peace with ourselves and others.

Questioning things does help, it is one of the steps of learning anyway. But when we question so much for the sake of avoiding to change, it won't do us any good. We can kid ourselves for as long as we like, bombarding people who actually wants to help us change with excuses disguised in the form of questions but we won't get anywhere with that kind of attitude. We know that we need to know and we know the answer but we need to accept the answer and understand it. Only then we could perhaps be more patient, not only with ourselves but with others, then perhaps it will be easier for us to become better Muslims. InshaAllah.

Salam Jumu'ah and peace out.