IT is tranquillity under all the evils and misfortunes which the Almighty may bring upon any of his servants, and it is a quality highly approved and satisfactory to God. But the great worth of patience is sufficiently manifest from the purport of this text, “Truly, God is with the patient,” that is, divine assistance is ever with them in this world; and from the sense of this other, “Verily, the patient shall abound in their reward without limit,” that is, their reward in the next life shall be great and endless.
It is said in the Histories of the Prophet, that the Lord sent a message to the illustrious David, (on our Prophet and on him be peace!) saying, “David! make every effort that thou mayest learn my ways, as the ornament of thy life: and of all my attributes, that which suits me best is, that I am patient.”
He who covers his head with the shield of patience against the arrows of the storm of events, the javelin of his hope will so much the sooner reach the target of desire: for patience is the key of gladness; and the gate of the mansion of repose is not to be opened except with this key.
It is recorded among the sayings of the Princes of Turkistān, that Afrāsiyāb said to his generals: “Be not deceived by the form and appearance of your men, nor by their pomp and splendour; and be not infatuated by their boastings and pretensions, until you have tried them for patience and firmness: for if they are full of pureness on the touchstone of patience, you may confide in them for courage.”
It happened one day, that an officer was standing before the King, who was consulting with him upon a very important affair; when a scorpion, which had by some chance got into his shirt, kept pricking him every moment, giving him continual pain with his envenomed sting, till his sting at last became useless, as he had wasted all the poison that he had: and yet the officer, during the whole consultation, never once interrupted the discourse; nor was there any visible change in him; nor did his words ever deviate from the rule and measure of wisdom and philosophy. At last he came home and took the scorpion out of his clothes, When the matter reached the King, he was astonished and perplexed; and on the following day, when the officer came to wait upon the King, the Prince said to him: “To avert evil from one’s self, is a positive duty: how is it that, yesterday, thou didst not put away the pain of the scorpion from thee?” The officer replied, “I am not one who would break off the honour of a conversation with a Monarch like thee, for the pain of a scorpion’s venom: and if to-day, in the banquet-room, I cannot endure the sting of a scorpion, how shall I to-morrow, bear the envenomed sword of the enemy in the field of battle?” The answer pleased the King, and he promoted the officer; and thus, by the patience he had shewn, he attained the object of his wishes.