This type is extremely hard to endure with patience, for the soul keenly senses whatever harms it¹; it detests being overpowered and therefore seeks retaliation. Only the prophets and the most veracious saints are able to persevere in the face of such harm. Whenever our Prophet ﷺ was offended he would say, “May Allah have mercy on Moses; he was harmed with worse than this yet remained patient.”² He also related that one of the prophets was struck by his people, whereupon he kept saying, “O Allah, forgive my people, for they do not know.”³ A report states that something similar happened to the Messenger ﷺ with his own people [and he kept repeating the same words].⁴
In this response he combined three elements: pardoning them, asking Allah to forgive them, and excusing them on the grounds that they did not know. The outcome of this form of patience is triumph, honour⁵, joy, security, strength for the sake of Allah, increased love of Allah and of people, and further knowledge. For this reason Allah the Exalted says: “And We made from among them leaders who guided by Our command when…”
(1) The word “laha” is missing in manuscript B.
(2) Reported by al-Bukhari, Sahih, Book of Stories of the Prophets, chap. 28, no. 3405; and by Muslim, Sahih, Book of Zakah, chap. “Giving to those whose hearts are to be reconciled,” 3/109.
(3) Reported by al-Bukhari, Sahih, Book of Stories of the Prophets, chap. 54, no. 3477; and by Muslim, Sahih, Book of Jihad, chap. “The Expedition of Uhud,” 5/179.
(4) Omitted in manuscript A. The same hadith is related by Abd Allah b. Masud: “When the Messenger of Allah divided the spoils of Hunayn at al-Ji‘ranah, the people crowded around him. The Messenger of Allah said: ‘A servant of Allah was sent to his people; they beat him and wounded him. While wiping the blood from his forehead he kept saying, “Lord, forgive my people, for they do not know.” ’ Abd Allah said: ‘I can almost see the Messenger of Allah now, wiping the blood from his forehead as he imitated that man, saying, “Lord, forgive my people, for they do not know.” ’ Reported by Ahmad, al-Musnad, 7/376, no. 4366 (Mu’assasat al-Risalah edition); the editor graded it sahih li-ghayrihi (sound through corroborating chains).
(5) Manuscript B reads: “and victory and guidance.”