Patience is a virtue

Patience is a virtue
It was quite a shock to realize the lack of patience that our Muslim Nation has. The realization came within a few weeks after having moved to UAE for a teaching position. It did not take me a while to meet with people who were ready to crash into my car just for allowing someone to go in front of me, people who cut me in line at the teller where I was waiting for half an hour, people who would not stop honking because I was respecting the speed limit, only to pass me on the shoulder of the road, making risky maneuvers only to cut me off and have to stop at the following red light.
Allah the Most High tells us in His holly book that He is with those who are patient , and that the characteristic of those who will be saved is one of patience . The shock and question might come to any Muslim who lives in any non-Muslim country, that how come a so-called Muslim country with such a lack of patience? Aren’t Muslims supposed to be the best in showing Islam, in portraying Islam? I still have to figure that one out. Since I came here I saw very little Islam, and very much ignorance. It is not in everyone, for I must be honest and say that I have met quite a good number of practicing Muslims who showed great character and Islamic conduct, and to add to that it might be something that has to do with different parts of the Muslim word, because in my travels to other Muslim countries I have met Muslims with exemplary characters.
UAE is a very developed country and has achieved in 38 years since it has been a country, many things that other countries including USA, Canada and UK did not achieve in 100 years. However with the fast growth and development, a lack of understanding of Islam, a lack of practice and of indifference towards true Islam has infiltrated the culture where most people have lost basic concepts of our faith such as patience, smiling in someone’s face and giving the right of way, seeking God’s good pleasure. Most people are very rich and forget where the richness comes from, giving up their prayers, maltreating people of other nationalities, and allowing for a subtle racism to dominate the culture.
It was Friday morning and as usual I took my bath, put clean clothes on and made my way to the mosque for the Friday prayers. The traffic was as usual, the lack of patience was in almost every driver on the street, and as everyone was making their way to some place, I was has heading for one of the biggest mosques in the city for what I was thinking will be another boring sermon which is read of a piece of paper printed by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs out of fear that someone might say something from their own heart and touch the hearts of the congregation which might lead to people realizing that they are in a very corrupt place and that they are loosing their faith day by day. To my surprise the scholar who was giving the speech was not the usual scholar and to add to my surprise he was not reading of a paper either. He gave a great speech about the virtues of patience, and how fasting (since we were in the month of Ramadan) increases one’s patience. Immediately I thought:” but almost everyone here is fasting but I did not see any change even in as much as driving habits”. At the end of the speech I stayed back a few minutes to read the Quran and from the mosque I could hear people honking their horns at each other as they were leaving the mosque without having taken anything from that speech .
As I left the mosque into the parking lot, I saw a most horrific scene. Tens of cars racing each other to get to a stop sign where they have to stop and eventually align and realize that they did not gain any time or space, however no one would allow the other one the right of way. And to add to that picture, a bunch of non-Muslims just exiting from their church in clothes that looked like were meant for the club or the beach, and all that during the month of Ramadan. So much for all the speeches that we received as a Western group from the local authorities when we arrived advising us to dress modest during Ramadan so that people will not get angry at us. I wonder where those angry people are when you need them? Most of them might have taken their anger out during their driving and have no more strength to go to any of these non-Muslims how show no respect what so ever for the holiness of Ramadan, be it on the street, in the malls, or around the mosques. No respect! If I were to tell anyone anything I would get sent home for imposing my faith on others. LOL.
So let’s get back to the main topic: where is the patience of the Muslims? Who took it out of us, or where did we loose it, that we forget that giving the right of way is a charity, and smiling is a charity, and allowing for someone to squeeze in and be happy could possible earn us paradise, or be the one good deed that will make the difference between hell fire and heaven. Not to mention deeds during the month of Ramadan, which are, multiplied only Allah knows how many times. But still no change in the Muslim. So where does a dayee start? Should he or she invite non-Muslims to Islam, or should he or she spend time teaching Muslims basics of Islam which are manners and patience? I don’t know yet, maybe a good dayee will do both at the same time.
Patience is a virtue, and anyone endowed with such a virtue will shine in front of their peers, will conquer the hearts of people, and will earn the love of God and His rewards. So how can someone develop patience, and how can someone teach it to others? Fasting is definitely one of the first steps towards patience and many other virtues that a Muslim should have. Maybe we are not fasting properly and therefore we are not seeing the results? Maybe we just need to go back to learning basics of Islam such as how to behave with others and be very conscious about them in our daily lives, really try hard to be nice and follow our prophets and our scriptures and try to live our lives as Muslims and not as people who have Muslim names. Maybe it could begin with a simple smile , and a greeting of peace.