ARTICLE - Patience in hardships - 22nd Jun,'21

 

PATIENCE IN HARDSHIPS

- 22nd June, 2021

In 1984 when in Class 10th, I read an Urdu book "QISSA-SUL-ANBIA" (stories of the Prophets) which belonged to our grandmother and was an old edition from the 1950s. There was individual narration about all main Prophets (peace be upon them all) in that book. The book developed in me love for the Prophets (peace be upon them all) and admiration for their great efforts.

Towards the end of 2009, I was going through a very low period in life and wrote an article PATIENCE IN HARDSHIPS which was published in a Karachi newspaper in 2010. In that article, I briefly described the lives of two Prophets with regards to patience in hardships. One is Prophet Ayub (pbuh) or Job in the Bible and the other Prophet Yusuf (pbuh) or Joseph as in  the Bible.

Allah tested Prophet Ayub (pbuh) with skin disease for eight years. When he got that disease, all of his wives left him except one which remained loyal to him and cared for him. The Prophet bore the disease with patience and continued to turn towards Allah in that condition. Finally, Allah relieved him of that illness and all of his wealth and family was returned to him, with more abundance as a reward.

The second example is that of Prophet Yusuf (pbuh). His step-brothers were jealous of him and plotted to kill him but amended by throwing him in a well (in Syria). He was taken out of the well by members of a passing caravan and sold as a slave in Egypt. There a government minister bought him so that he could serve in his house. Finally after another test from Allah, he was imprisoned for eight years. He bore all that with patience and after eight years of imprisonment, his fate changed and he became the King of the country. 

Today we get upset over many things (like lockdowns due to Corona etc) so the lives of Prophets (peace be upon them all) hold great lessons for us. 

Here is the link to that article PATIENCE IN HARDSHIPS which I published on my blog in 2012 - http://together-we-rise.blogspot.com/2012/10/patience-in-hardships-by-roman-ahsan.html

- S Roman Ahsan.