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Fatwa CenterIslamic concepts - God-consciousness and patience
Question
All praises are due to Allah. May peace and blessings of Allah be upon the Prophet and his family and his companions! Define God-consciousness Describe Patience May Allah reward anybody who helps somebody as far as Islamic issues are concerned.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Patience is to restrain our own self from becoming worried and impatient, and to restrain our limbs from hitting the cheeks, etc.
Shaykh Al-Islam Al-Harawi 
said: "Patience is of three degrees: The first degree: to be patient in not committing sins. This could be achieved by remembering the threat (of the punishment of Allah) and staying firm on Imaan and avoiding what is forbidden. The best of this kind of patience is to be patient in not committing acts of disobedience. The second degree: to be patient in performing acts of obedience to Allah, by regularly performing them, being sincere in looking after them, and seeking knowledge in order to perform them in an appropriate and correct manner. The third degree: to be patient when calamities, hardship and affliction befall a person."
Besides, Ibn Al-Qayyim said: "There are three kinds of patience: 1) Patience by Allah 2) Patience for Allah 3) Patience with Allah. The first kind is patience in seeking the help of Allah, and being certain that Allah is the One who gives patience, and that a human being is not patient by himself but is patient by the help of Allah."
Allah Says (what means): {And be patient, [O Muhammad], and your patience is not but through Allah.} [Quran 16:127]
Meaning if Allah does not give you patience, you could not be patient.
The second kind is patience for the sake of Allah: It must be the love of Allah that incites the person to be patient, and the will and aspiration to see His Face, and to intend to get closer to Him, not in order to show the strength of one's spiritual qualities.
The third kind is patience with Allah, i.e. to act according to the ordainments that Allah imposed on the person, and to fulfill the religious requirements while being patient and steadfast on this.
The status of patience in relation to Imaan (faith) is like the head in comparison to the body. There is no Imaan for a person who is not patient, in the same way, there is no human being without a head.
'Umar, may Allaah be pleased with him, said: "The best moments of our lives are those which were the result of patience. "
An authentic Hadeeth reported by Imaam Muslim reads: "Patience is light".
Another authentic Hadeeth reads: "How strange is the matter of a believer, there is good in all his affairs, and this is only for the believer. If something good happens to him and he is grateful, then this is good for him, and if a calamity befalls him and he is patient, then this is also good for him.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Moreover, Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said in his book entitled Madaarij As-Saalikeen: "Patience is mentioned as having sixteen different meanings."
On the other hand, Imaam Ahmad was reported to have said: "Patience is mentioned in the Quran about 90 times, and being patient is an obligation according to the consensus of the Ummah, and it is considered half of Imaan."
May Allah make us among the patient people and the grateful ones.
Allah Knows best.
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