From childhood we’re told that patience is a virtue and that good things occur to those that wait. That's why lots of us work to develop patience.
This often starts with learning to attend your turn with a coveted toy. As an adult, you’ve got to stay patient with long lines on the Department of Motor Vehicles, misbehaving children, or the slow pace of political change. This exertions can have Mental health advantages. It is just correlates with per capita income and productivity.
But it's also about becoming a very good person.
It's clear to me when Scholar of spiritual ethicsthat patience is a term that lots of us use, but we could all profit from understanding its meaning a bit of higher.
In religious traditions, patience is greater than just waiting and even greater than enduring hardship. But what’s “more” and the way does patience make us higher people?
The Writings of Medieval Islamic Thinkers Abu Hamid al-Ghazali can provide us insight or help us understand why we want to practice patience – and likewise when to not be patient.
Who was al-Ghazali?
Al-Ghazali was born in Iran in 1058 and was well known as a lawyer, philosopher and theologian. He traveled so far as Baghdad and Jerusalem to defend Islam, arguing that this was not the case Contradiction between reason and revelation. In particular, he was known for balancing the philosophy of Aristotle, which he probably read in Arabic translationwith Islamic theology.
Al-Ghazali was a prolific author, and one among his most vital works – Revival of Religious Studies or Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn – delivers a practical guide to an ethical Muslim life.
This work consists of a complete of 40 volumes, divided into 4 parts of 10 books each. Part 1 deals with Islamic rituals; Part 2, local customs; Part 3: Vices to Avoid; and Part 4: Virtues to Strive for. Al-Ghazali's discussion of patience may be present in Volume 32 of Part 4: “About patience and gratitude” or “Kitāb al-sabr waʾl-shukr”.
He describes patience as a fundamental human trait that’s critical to achieving value-driven goals and notes a caveat when impatience is suitable.
1. What is patience?
According to al-Ghazali, humans have competing impulses: the impulse of faith, or bāʿith al-dīn, and the impulse of desire, or bāʿith al-hawā.
Life is a struggle between these two impulses, which he describes with the metaphor of a battle: “The support for the religious impulse comes from the angels reinforcing the troops of God, while the support for the impulse of desire comes.” comes from the devils who strengthen the enemies of God.”
From the quilt illustration of “The Confessions of Al-Ghazali,” via Wikimedia Commons
The patience we’ve will determine who wins the battle. As al-Ghazali puts it: “If a man remains steadfast until the religious impulse prevails…then the troops of God are victorious and he joins the troops of the patient.” But if he slacks and grows weaker until the appetite overwhelms him … he joins the followers of the devils.” In other words, for al-Ghazali, patience is the determining think about whether we realize our full human potential for ethical living.
2. Patience, values and goals
According to al-Ghazali, patience can be mandatory to be a very good Muslim. But his understanding of how patience works is predicated on a theory of ethics and may be applied outside of his explicitly Islamic worldview.
Everything begins with a commitment to core values. For a Muslim like al-Ghazali, these values are shaped by Islamic tradition and community, or “ummah,” and include things like justice and mercy. These specific values may very well be universally applicable. Or there are other values which are vital to you. Maybe a commitment to social justice or being a very good friend or not lying.
The moral life is about living in accordance with these core values. And patience it’s, in accordance with al-Ghazali how we consistently make sure that our actions serve this purpose.
That said, patience isn't nearly enduring the pain of a toddler's tantrum. It's about enduring that pain with a goal in mind. The successful application of patience is measured not by how much pain we endure, but by our progress toward a selected goal, similar to raising a healthy and blissful child who can eventually regulate their emotions.
According to al-Ghazali's understanding of patience, all of us need patience to stay true to our core principles and concepts when things don't go our way.
3. When impatience is required
One criticism of the thought of patience is that it might probably result in inaction or be used to silence legitimate grievances. For example, a scholar of Africana studies Julius Fleming argues in his book “Black patience” for the importance of a “radical refusal to wait” under conditions of systemic racism. Certainly there are types of injustice and suffering on the earth that we must always not endure quietly.
Despite his acknowledgment of the importance of patience for an ethical life, al-Ghazali also leaves room for impatience. He writes“It is forbidden for one to endure harm (that is forbidden); for example, having your hand chopped off or watching your son's hand being chopped off and remaining silent.”
These are examples of harming yourself or your family members. But can the necessity for impatience be prolonged to social harms similar to systemic racism or poverty? And as Quranic scholars Ahmad Ismail and Ahmad Solahuddin have argued: True patience sometimes requires motion.
As al-Ghazali writes: “Just because patience is half of faith, don’t think that everything is praiseworthy; What is meant are certain forms of patience.”
In conclusion, not all patience is sweet; Only patience serving righteous purposes is the important thing to moral life. We all should answer the query of which goals are fair for ourselves.
image credit : theconversation.com