that He is harmed, and named Himself, glory be to Him, the Patient in the face of His creatures’ harm. Just as He asks His servants to remove harm, while deserving the name the Patient, so the name patience is not removed from the servant when affliction befalls him and he asks God the Exalted to remove it. Job, peace be upon him, did so, saying, “Harm has touched me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful” [al-Anbiyaʾ 21:83]. God praised him despite this request: “We found him patient” [Sad 38:44]. Patience is not restraining the soul from complaining to God to remove or ward off affliction. It is restraining the soul from complaining to other than God and relying upon that other.
I have made clear to you that God asks His servants to remove the harm with which they harm Him, although He has power not to create within them the harm He created. Attend to the secret of this patience, for it is among the finest secrets. It is reported that “None is more patient in enduring harm than God.”
It is among the stations that cease and pass away when the people of the Fire enter the Fire and the people of the Garden enter the Garden, and the two groups are distinguished with a separation after which none joins an abode other than the one he is in. Divine patience’s ruling ceases with the passing away of this world. This is glad tidings of the removal of the names the Avenger and the Severe in Punishment, since we have
