Sergeant

Endurance and PerseveranceThe Prophet (peace be upon him) worked hard to instil complete trust in God in his followers. He believed that as God's servants, Muslims must place all their trust in God, regardless of what may happen to them. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt was a Muslim whose lowly status in Makkah placed him in a most vulnerable position. He suffered immense torture. He reports:
We complained to God's Messenger as he was reclining on a sheet close to the Kabah. We said: "Will you not pray to God to help us? Will you not pray for us?" He said: "In days before your time, a believer might be taken away and a hole in the ground would be dug and he would be placed in it. A saw would be placed over his head and then he would be cut in half. Or else, he would be tortured with combs of iron tearing his flesh and baring his bones. None of this would make him turn away from his faith. By God, He will bring this matter of ours to full victory so that a single traveller would go from Sanaa to Hadramout, fearing no one other than God, and that a wolf may kill his sheep. You only precipitate matters." (Related by al-Bukhari, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Nasai and others.)
We know from the wealth of accounts that speak about the Prophet and his character that he felt for everyone of his Companions. Whenever they encountered a difficulty, he shared their feelings. When they suffered persecution, his pain was not less than theirs. This hadith, however, tells us that a few of those who suffered most at the hands of the Quraysh, who resorted to all methods of torture, complained to the Prophet about what they had to endure and requested him to pray for them. He met their request very calmly and told them that there was nothing unusual about what they had to endure. The forces of evil will always try to suppress the voice of the truth. He wanted them to place their trust in God and be reassured that Islam would triumph.


We err, however, if we think that by placing our trust in God we will be spared all adversity, physical or otherwise. The Prophet suggested that Khabbab and those who were complaining should endure the torture and persecution while placing their trust in God. He confirmed that although the ultimate result would be the triumph of the truth of the Divine faith, endurance of hardship and perseverance in adversity were always necessary.


The requirements of submission to, and reliance on God, do not mean that a Muslim leaves everything up to God to take care of. On the contrary, reliance on God requires that a Muslim should take every measure possible in order to face any situation. When this has been done, the servant of God then trusts God to bring about the best outcome. This was clear in the Prophet's behaviour throughout his life, and this is an example that we must follow.

Praise be to Allaah.
The sources of Islam on which all beliefs, principles and rulings are based are represented by the two Revelations: the Qur’aan and Sunnah. This is what is implied by Islam being a divinely-revealed religion: its pillars are based on infallible texts that were sent down from heaven, which are represented in the verses of the Holy Qur’aan and the texts of the saheeh Prophetic Sunnah.

Imam al-Shaafa’i (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

No view is binding unless it is based on the Book of Allaah or the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Everything other than them should be based on them. End quote.

Jimaa’ al-‘Ilm.

From these two sources the scholars derived other principles on which rulings may be based. Some scholars called them the sources of sharee’ah or the sources of Islamic legislation. They are: ijmaa’ (scholarly consensus) and qiyaas (analogy).

Imam al-Shaafa’i (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: No one has any right whatsoever to say that something is halaal or haraam except on the basis of knowledge, and the basis of knowledge is a text in the Qur’aan or Sunnah, or ijmaa’ (scholarly consensus) or qiyaas (analogy). End quote.

Al-Risaalah (39).

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

If we say Qur’aan, Sunnah and ijmaa’, they all stem from the same source, because the Messenger agrees with everything that is in the Qur’aan, and the ummah is unanimously agreed upon it in general. There is no one among the believers who does not believe it is obligatory to follow the Book. And everything that the Prophet enjoined in his Sunnah, the Qur’aan obliged us to follow it. So the believers are unanimously agreed upon that, and everything on which the Muslims are unanimously agreed can only be true and in accordance with what is in the Qur’aan and Sunnah. End quote.

Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (7/40).