Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 425
UNDATED 425 giving precedence to God over everything. The person who becomes disgruntled over the death of his children is also a miser as he is reluctant to return what was given to him by God as a trust. For a miser, it is mentioned in a hadith that even if his worship were to equal the rivers in the wilderness, he would not enter Paradise. 1 Thus, the worship, Prayer, Fasting, etc. are of no use to a person if his love for anything is greater than his love for God. Exemplary Patience of Prophet Job, Peace be upon Him Consider the example of Prophet Job as —look how patient he was! God Almighty has mentioned it in the Holy Quran that he is a patient servant of Mine. His account is mentioned in detail in the previous scriptures that once Satan said to God Almighty that why shouldn’t Job as be patient, You have given him wealth and riches, slaves and servants, wife and children, and health? God Almighty said that he could put Job to the test. Upon this, first his sheep and goats died and then the larger animals [that he owned] died too. But still Job as remained steadfast. At this, Satan said he still has wealth and slaves and children, why wouldn’t he be steadfast? Thereupon, all his slaves died, but he remained steadfast. This continued so much so that everything perished. Only he and his wife were left. Even then, Satan said that he still had his health. He then came down with leprosy but he still remained steadfast. In this way, when he proved himself to be steadfast and sincere, God Almighty bestowed 1. See Sunan at-Tirmidh i , Abw a b al-Birr wa A s - S ilah, B a b M a J a ’ f i al-Bakh i l, Hadith Number 1963. [Publisher]