he is oft-returning” [Sad 38:30], despite this complaint. This shows that the patient person complains to God, not to another. Indeed, he must do so, for patience without complaining to God contains resistance to divine domination, which is bad courtesy with God. The prophets, peace be upon them, possess courtesy and knowledge from God.
You know that your patience is only through God, not through yourself, your power, or your strength. God says, “Be patient, and your patience is only through God” [al-Nahl 16:127]. Through what, then, do you boast, when it is not yours? God tries His servants only so that they seek refuge with Him, not another, in having it removed. When they do so, they are among the patient, beloved to God. Among His descriptive names, exalted is He, is the Patient. He loves only one upon whom He sees His own robe.
Here there is a mystery: He places you in His station. Patience concerns only hurt. He has made known to us that among His creatures are those who hurt God and His Messenger, describing them so we may know them and repel that hurt from Him, exalted is He, by fighting them or teaching them if they are ignorant people seeking knowledge.
He named Himself Patient, yet raised to us what hurt Him and made them known to us, so that we might defend Him and repel the hurt while He remains described as Patient. Thus we know that, if we complain to Him of the trial befalling us and ask Him to remove it, our asking does not remove the name patient from us, nor does His love leave us, just as the name Patient did not leave Him through His making known to us those who hurt Him,
