Today's Reflection [Ayah 45-46, Surah Al-Baqarah]

 وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ

And seek help through patience and prayer. But it is difficult, except for the devout. (Quran 45:2)

 الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُو رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Those who know that they will meet their Lord, and that to Him they will return.( Quran 46:2)

The purpose of this directive is to urge man to develop this quality and to reinforce it from the outside by means of Prayer. Allah commanded His servants to use patience and prayer to acquire the good of this life and the Hereafter. The companion of our Rasool , Umar ibn Al-Khattab said, "There are two types of patience: good patience when the disaster strikes, and a better patience while avoiding the prohibitions of Allah."

Man saves much treasures for himself, but he does not contemplate that the best treasure he can have for himself is prayer and patience. We search for help in many places when we are in trouble or when we need something. But Allah commands us that the best way to deal with any issue is to seek help through prayer and practice Sabr, which means to tie oneself down.

Many times we ask our counterparts or our children and friends to practice patience but yet we forget to practice it ourselves. If we find something hard we need to seek Allah's help. We can seek Allah's help by asking Allah through Dua. When we see other people in our families not practicing the deen the way we want them to, the ideal way to deal with a hard issue like this is to ask Allah through Dua to guide them (prayer) and then practice patience with them when we advise them or when we guide them to Islam in a polite and gentle manner. We need to give people their space and let them be and not force them instead we need to control ourselves and tie our nafs down with patience no matter how difficult it is. When we show patience, Allah SWT helps us have even more patience. Allah just wants to see how much pressure and hard work we put in with our nafs  (soul) to develop resilience and strength in the deen. 

This act of patience and prayer is certainly difficult, except for the humble ones – those who fear Allah and hope for His rewards and who are certain that they will meet their Lord, the majestic and exalted, after death and that it is to Him that they will be returning on the Day of Resurrection for reckoning and recompense. Since they are certain that they will be returned to Allah and be reckoned, it is easy for them to perform the acts of obedience and refrain from the prohibitions. The thought of facing Allah helps them get up and pray. One of the first things the slaves of Allah have to answer about is Salah. So the belief in Allah and the thought of being accountable and standing before him on the Day of Judgement is the driving force and inspiration behind their actions.