2.24 Al-Baqarah: Why Are Patience and Prayer Mentioned Together?

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Praise and thanks be to Allah, the Exalted and Most Great. Blessings be upon our Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad ﷺ, and may Allah be pleased with all the Companions.

Today we will share a topic: in two verses of Surah al-Baqarah, our Lord tells us that we are to seek help through patience and prayer. So why does our Lord mention patience and prayer together as the means by which we seek His help? Let us make a brief analysis of this subtle meaning.

The Two Verses

In Surah al-Baqarah, this is mentioned in two places. First, in verse 45, Allah, the Exalted and Most Great, tells us:

{وَاسْتَعِينُواْ بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلاَّ عَلَى الْخَاشِعِين}[البقرة:45]

2:45 And seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, it is a burden except for the humble—

Then, in verse 153, our Lord tells us:

{يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَعِينُواْ بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِين}[البقرة:153]

2:153 O believers! Seek comfort in patience and prayer. Allah is truly with those who are patient.

In both of these verses, patience and prayer are mentioned together as the means by which we seek our Lord’s help. First, let us understand patience. Regarding the patience mentioned in verse 45, some scholars hold that here patience refers to fasting, because Ramadan is regarded as the month of patience. Others hold that patience here means self-restraint, refraining from sin. Some Companions held that patience has two forms: when calamity comes, patience is praiseworthy; but even more praiseworthy than that is patience and self-restraint before what Allah has forbidden.

From this we can sum up three aspects of patience:

To persevere in acts of worship and in doing good is patience.

To restrain one’s human nature—the self that commands evil, the nafs—and hold it back, not allowing it to commit ugly and shameful deeds, not allowing it to follow falsehood: this too is part of patience.

Our Lord created many trials of blessing and affliction, and how a person faces the tests of various calamities also contains patience. So, taking together what the Companions and the scholars said, patience has these three contents.

Perseverance in Doing Good

First, let us understand the importance of persevering and remaining constant in doing good. If a person is to persist in doing good throughout his life, he must be patient. Our good includes humane acts of goodness, and it also includes the pure acts of worship our Lord has given us—doing all kinds of good in order to seek the reward our Lord gives us. If a person does good while seeking the blessings of this world that come from all-embracing mercy—our Lord is the Lord of all-embracing mercy, and He has given us sound bodies, and He has also given us intellect and moral character—then human beings can indeed obtain blessings. Among the blessings people may seek are those found in human relationships, in human civilization, and in social relations. But one important point is this: if a good deed contains no remembrance of our Lord, that good deed carries no reward. We all know that much of the good many people do has no reward in the Hereafter. So when our Lord speaks of this patience, included within patience is perseverance in doing good. Many people have the quality of patience, yet they have no reward, because there is no witnessing of our Lord within it.

Our Lord has given us prayer as an act of worship, and within this act of worship there is an especially important witnessing. When we stand, we recite the Book, and so we bear witness that our Lord possesses His speech, and that in His speech there is the grace of guidance for us. Whether in bowing or in prostration, we glorify Him, seek His forgiveness, and do other things that contain remembrance of Him. We receive His instruction. We bear witness that He is the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful Lord. When we prostrate, we bear witness that He has no partner, that He alone is worthy of worship, that He is the noble Lord, the true God of all the worlds. Finally, whether in the middle sitting or the final sitting, we recite the two testimonies. How important this is! We recite that there is no god but Allah. All created things are His signs. All things have a beginning and an end, and only His Essence endures forever. We bear witness that Muhammad ﷺ is the Messenger He sent. We bear witness that our Lord possesses many attributes and noble qualities. We obtain good in both worlds, and those who seek good in both worlds will be able to see Him in the Hereafter. We bear witness that He sent the Messenger to guide us so that we might obtain the blessings of both worlds. So in this world we do good, firmly believing that we can meet Him; and in the Hereafter we firmly believe that He will resurrect us, reward us, and let us see Him.

When human beings seek the blessings of this world, when they face the natural world and human society, and when they pursue all kinds of good, they will inevitably encounter hardships and sufferings that require patience. Even if a person is patient and thus attains worldly good, if he does not bear witness that our Lord possesses His Essence, that He possesses the beautiful attributes and noble qualities by which He guides us, and that He rewards us in the Hereafter by allowing us to see Him—if there is none of this witnessing—then no matter how many worldly blessings he acquires, even if he patiently did good and pursued all kinds of blessings that the Lord of all-embracing mercy gives people in this world, if he never prayed and never uttered testimony, then the good he did in this world will not be able to save him from the Fire when he is resurrected in the Hereafter. Thus he becomes one of the losers.

Of course, there is another subtle mystery: doing good requires constancy, and prayer too is a constant righteous deed and act of worship. In relation to time, it has one clearest mark: prayer must be observed on time. Anyone who believes that prayer is an act of worship our Lord has given us—especially those who came after Prophet Muhammad ﷺ—must firmly believe that this act of worship was prescribed for humanity directly by our Lord through Prophet Muhammad ﷺ during the Night Journey and Ascension. Anyone who denies this act of worship, or even if he does not deny it yet does not remain constant and steadfast in it, is among the losers. For anyone who believes in the blessing of prayer and remains constant in prayer has a certainty: his understanding of time is sound. He believes that all things are created, that in time all things have an ending in which they pass away, that there is also resurrection, and that after the reckoning of Paradise and Hell there is an eternity without end. A person with this recognition will, in doing good, seek the blessings of both worlds. He will never confine good to one limited stretch of time. At the same time, when doing good, he will absolutely not do it in fits and starts, all zeal at the beginning and weak at the end. He will do good with constancy, because he knows the importance of time. This world is the place where he does good and seeks good. How could he become one of the heedless and negligent? Therefore at every moment he longs to do good, solely for the reward of the eternal Hereafter and for seeing the Lord, so that it may become an offering for meeting the Lord. So at every moment, along the path laid down by the Prophet and Messenger ﷺ, he arranges his time and seeks, in human duty and in duty to the Lord, to attain the blessing of pursuing good in a complete way.

Restraining the Self

Second, patience can be understood as restraining one’s private self, one’s self, one’s very nature. Human nature—the nafs—commands evil and follows falsehood, so we must restrain it and keep far from sin. A person must restrain himself from committing sin. Our Lord has set so many standards of lawful and unlawful, yet the human nafs often likes to make people do ugly things. When facing all kinds of inner pursuits, it often seeks the fleeting fame, glory, and power of this world. At such a time, the nafs must be checked and restrained, because if it is not restrained, it will make a person pursue falsehood, do ugly things, and commit loss.

Our Lord has given us an act of worship that can cultivate our human nafs. In verse 45 of Surah al-ʿAnkabūt we can learn from what our Lord tells us:

{اتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاَةَ إِنَّ الصَّلاَةَ تَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاء وَالْمُنكَرِ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُون}[العنكبوت:45]

29:45 Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, ˹genuine˺ prayer should deter ˹one˺ from indecency and wickedness. The remembrance of Allah is ˹an˺ even greater ˹deterrent˺. And Allah ˹fully˺ knows what you ˹all˺ do.

In this verse we can clearly read that prayer can ultimately bring a person to the point of restraining himself from committing base and evil deeds. Why does prayer have these blessings, enabling it to restrain a person’s private self and desires? We too should make a slight analysis. We all know that prayer requires minor purification and major purification, and that a person must be in a state of bodily cleanliness. We human beings all know that bodily cleanliness feels good and refreshing. Then prayer can raise our souls, because in prayer a person remembers our Lord, especially through reciting the Book. Many people ordinarily do not recite the Book, memorize the Book, or listen to the Book, but at the very least, when we pray, we must recite the Opening Chapter and also recite other verses. At such a time, through reflecting on our Lord’s signs, one reaches a state in which nothing in creation is worshipped—only our Lord. At that point his understanding and his spirituality are pure, and it is clear that the natural disposition (fitrah; الفطر) is being safeguarded.

Furthermore, prayer can give us a sound heart, a pure heart. In His verses our Lord says many times that we are to bow together with those who bow. So in prayer there is not only individual prayer; it also contains collective activity. The Friday prayer is performed collectively, and ordinarily men are encouraged to go to the mosque for the five daily prayers and pray in congregation. This means that within human nature there is something calling people to unite with others and not to create division. At the same time, after prayer, when a person goes out upon the earth to seek our Lord’s bounty, then because of remembrance of our Lord, when he encounters our Lord’s creation he will not walk arrogantly upon the earth, he will not damage the natural world upon the earth, and he will not feel that he ought to stand above others. Rather, he will possess the qualities of humility and modesty that one should have in the presence of others.

Prayer can cause our hearts to reach tranquility, and can bring forth those human qualities that belong to a state of serenity in the soul. When, because of prayer, a person regularly keeps the body clean, and prayer raises the soul, so that the most basic human nature is preserved, then his spirituality is sound. And through this single act of worship—prayer—he reaches that humility and lowliness of heart. At that point, how could such a person still do ugly things, commit loss, or support falsehood? On the contrary, he will support the truth and enjoin good and forbid evil. He not only refrains from sin himself, he also exhorts others to do good and keep away from sin. These blessed qualities and characteristics become manifest in him.

Patience in Calamity

Now let us read the third content of patience: when facing the trial of disasters and hardships, one must be patient. Everyone has some experience of this. For example, when the body becomes ill, that is a trial; various inward matters are also trials; the disasters of the natural world are also trials. In all of these, one must be patient. How should we understand that our Lord, after patience, added prayer? Most importantly, we should learn that our Lord calls the Opening Chapter prayer (ṣalāh; صلاة). The Opening Chapter contains an important meaning: at the beginning of the scripture He makes us extol Him, glorify Him, and praise Him, and then He tells us that if we ask, we receive; if we ask, we receive.

When a person undergoes the trial of calamity, he will think of every possible way to free himself from it and to find relief quickly. Sometimes the phenomenon of setting up partners will even appear. He may think that perhaps some person can help him, or some group can come and free him from this calamity and ease his heart a little. But in prayer, when we recite the Opening Chapter, our Lord guides us to worship only Him and to ask only Him for help. We will never think that any created thing can remove these calamities for us. Only our Lord, only He, can help us remove calamity! Because every day there are five prayers, imperceptibly we are drawn into a state of asking only Him to relieve us of calamity and relying only upon Him.

There is often a moment when a person, thinking of the unhappy matter in his heart, wants to find a friend and talk, or thinks that once a friend has spoken to him he will find relief, and so he imagines that the friend can remove the unhappiness in his chest. But when he goes to pray, when he reads, إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِين — “You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help.” Then it is as though he has sought forgiveness from our Lord. Because when he worships only our Lord, that itself shows that he is seeking forgiveness; and when he asks only our Lord for help, that shows that he has submitted and is bearing witness that only our Lord can remove calamity. So how important this prayer is!

Furthermore, when we human beings encounter calamity, we all make supplication. But can the Lord who nurtures us, the true God of all the worlds, accept our supplication, so that the calamity is removed? Some people’s supplications will only become manifest in the Hereafter. Some supplications made concerning worldly calamities are accepted immediately, just as Ayyūb (peace be upon him) endured patiently for eighteen years and then made supplication, and our Lord immediately lifted the calamity from this patient servant and even increased the blessings He gave him.

Then how do we reach the point where we ask our Lord to remove calamity for us already in this world? Such a person must not set up partners with his Lord, and all the more he must not have sins, because the supplication of a sinful person is not accepted. How can sins be quickly washed away? There is a best act of worship for this: prayer. For our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told us that prayer is like washing in a river five times every day. And in prayer there are so many times of standing. We recite the Opening Chapter and ask our Lord; in every bowing and every prostration we praise Him and seek forgiveness. So this itself is a washing for us. Of course, there is also what pertains to human dealings: if one has wronged people, one should immediately set it right. So among the five prayers there will always be one in which you will find that what pertains to human dealings has been cleared, and in the path of the Lord our Lord has also forgiven your sins. Then when you make supplication, is it not accepted by our Lord?

Now let us make a summary. A person who perseveres in doing good, who seeks a good end in both worlds, will never abandon the good that requires constancy—namely, the act of worship that is prayer. He will not abandon it. Second, if a person’s prayer has been accepted by our Lord, he certainly will not be someone who commits loss, does ugly things, and assists falsehood. On the contrary, he will be able to restrain his human desires and will enjoin good and forbid evil. In addition, a patient person asks our Lord for help, asks our Lord to deliver him from calamity, and asks Him to bless him. A person who turns calamity into blessing is certainly not one who sets up partners.

And from the standpoint of minor purification and major purification, the act of worship that is prayer is itself remembrance of the Lord. In standing, in reciting the Qur’an, in bowing and prostrating with all kinds of words of praise, we are praising and remembering our Lord. In the middle sitting and the final sitting, we bear witness in the two testimonies. Of course such a person is not someone who sets up partners with his Lord. So our Lord has commanded us to seek His help by means of patience and prayer, and at the same time He tells us to seek His help through these two aspects. Such people are the truly patient ones. He says that He is with the patient.

Two Verses from Az-Zumar

Now let us study two verses from Surah Az-Zumar. They speak of the night prayer, and they speak of the patient receiving a full and measureless reward. In verse 9 of Surah Az-Zumar our Lord tells us: there is a kind of person who devotes himself to his Lord in the night, prostrating and standing, wary of the Hereafter, hoping for his Lord’s mercy.

{أَمَّنْ هُوَ قَانِتٌ آنَاء اللَّيْلِ سَاجِدًا وَقَائِمًا يَحْذَرُ الآخِرَةَ وَيَرْجُو رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُوْلُوا الأَلْبَاب}[الزمر:9]

39:9 ˹Are they better˺ or those who worship ˹their Lord˺ devoutly in the hours of the night, prostrating and standing, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of their Lord? Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Are those who know equal to those who do not know?” None will be mindful ˹of this˺ except people of reason.

In verse 10 our Lord says: only those who are patient will receive their full, immeasurable reward.

{قُلْ يَاعِبَادِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا فِي هَذِهِ الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةٌ وَأَرْضُ اللَّهِ وَاسِعَةٌ إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ أَجْرَهُم بِغَيْرِ حِسَاب}[الزمر:10]

39:10 Say, ˹O Prophet, that Allah says˺, “O My servants who believe! Be mindful of your Lord. Those who do good in this world will have a good reward. And Allah’s earth is spacious. Only those who endure patiently will be given their reward without limit.”

Scholars, when explaining “receiving a full and measureless reward,” said that this means that at the weighing in the Hereafter, they will not be weighed. Other scholars said it means that Paradise contains measureless reward.

We learned earlier that our Lord is with these patient ones. Those who attain our Lord’s being with them can enter Paradise in the Hereafter without any reckoning. Those who can enter Paradise without reckoning, and who in Paradise have measureless reward, must in this world have been people who firmly believed that the first station of reckoning when crossing the bridge is prayer. So such people will absolutely never abandon prayer. Whether in life they become patient by doing good, or become patient by restraining themselves from sin, or become patient in calamity, they will not abandon prayer. Not only do they hold fast to the obligatory commands, they also perform many supererogatory acts seeking our Lord’s good pleasure. So such people are called the patient ones. How could our Lord’s patient servants abandon prayer? In their thinking they firmly believe that prayer is a gift from our Lord to humanity, and in their actions they use this act of worship to seek our Lord’s good pleasure, so that they may attain our Lord’s being with them. Those who truly attain our Lord’s being with them can obtain His help.

Closing

At the end I also want to speak of the nobility of prayer. Our Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad ﷺ, is the noblest among human beings. Our Lord gave him this act of worship during the Night Journey and Ascension, when he was nearest to our Lord. This act of worship was given to him at that moment, so how noble this act of worship is! Whatever happens in our lives, we must be patient. We must surely keep this important act of worship—prayer—together with us. Only by seeking our Lord’s help in this way can we succeed. From the nobility with which our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ received this act of worship, we should all be able to read this point.

We ask our Lord to enable us to guard the prayer and to become people who seek His help through patience and prayer.

That is all we will share today. If anything was not explained clearly or if there were any slips of the tongue, I ask Allah, the Exalted and Most Great, to forgive me. May the readers kindly pardon me. Thank you all for sharing.

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته !

Qur’an translation source: The Clear Qur’an — Dr. Mustafa Khattab.

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