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the Beneficent and the Most Merciful
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Volume 7: Surah Ale-Imran, Verse
200
0 you who
believe! be patient and help each other in patience and remain lined up;
and fear (the wrath of ) Allah, that you may be
successful (200).
COMMENTARY
This final verse is like the sum
total, giving a gist of all that has been said in this chapter. It ends
the chapter with a summary of its main theme.
QUR'AN: 0 you
who believe! be patient and help each other in patience:
The order is unrestricted. The
clause, "be patient", covers every type of patience: Patience in
hardships, patience in the obedience of Allah, and patience against the
disobedience of Allah. However, it refers to individual's patience, as the
next clause shows.
"al‑Musabarah"
translated here as helping each other in patience, literally means
vying with one another in being patient. It implies collective patience ‑
when individuals bear a common hardship together and each one's patience
is augmented by others' steadfastness. In this way, their strength is
enhanced, their patience redoubled and its effect multiplied. This
phenomenon may easily be experienced, if we first look at an individual as
a single person, and then look at his behavior in a group when he becomes
a part of a collective whole, each one acting on and reacting towards the
others. We shall describe this topic in detail, God willing, in its
place.
QUR'AN: and remain lined up; and fear
(the
wrath of) Allah, that you may be successful:
"al‑muraba'tah”
is more
comprehensive than al‑Musabarah (vying with one another in patience; helping each other to be
patient), because al‑muraba’tah* implies people's linking up with
one another in their powers, faculties, and activities in all affairs of
their religious life ‑ in time of ease as well as in difficulties. As the
main aim of these orders is to let the believers attain the reality of
happiness of this world and the next ‑ otherwise only partial worldly
happiness can be achieved which obviously is not the real happiness ‑
these orders have been followed by the words, "and fear (the wrath
of) Allah, that you may be successful", i.e., you may achieve total
and real happiness and success.
TRADITIONS
as-Sadiq (a.s.) said about the
words of Allah, O you who believe! be patient and help each other in
patience and remain lined up: "Have patience in misfortunes, and help
each other to be patient in trial (and temptation) and be lined up with
him whom you follow."
(Ma'ani'l-akhbaar)
The same Imam said: "Be patient
about your religion, and have patience against your enemy and be linked up
to your Imam" (at-Tafsir, al-'Ayyashi)
The author
says:
Nearly the same theme has been narrated from the Prophet through the
Sunni chains.
The same Imam said: "Be patient
about the obligatory commandments, and help each other to be patient in
misfortunes, and be linked up to the Imams." (al-Kafi)
'Ali (a.s.) said: "Be lined up
for the prayers." He said: "That is, remain waiting for them, because (the
system of) garrisoning did not exist at that time."
(Majma'u'l-bayan).
The author
says: The difference in the tradition springs from the generality
of the orders, as we had mentioned earlier.
Ibn Jarir and Ibn
Hayyan
have narrated from Jabir ibn 'Abdullah al-Ansari that he said: "The
Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) said: 'Should not I guide you to that by
which Allah erases the mistakes and covers the sins?' We said: 'Yes,
indeed, O Messenger of Allah!' He said: 'To perform al-wudu'
properly in spite of inconveniences, and to walk many times to the
mosques, and to wait for the (next) prayer after the prayer; so that is
the lining up.'" (ad-Durru'l-manthur)
The author
says:
(as-Suyuti) has narrated it from the Prophet, also through other chains.
There are innumerable traditions about excellence of being lined up or
linked up.
* al‑Murdba’ tah, in
post‑Qur’anic era is used for troops being garrisoned, posted,
stationed. Many translators have rendered it as, "be
ever‑garrisoned"; but
the author has taken it in its literal and original sense, i e., to be
linked with each other. I have used a word
“remain lined up” which may be
interpreted both ways. (tr.)
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