An Islamic Treasury of Virtues
2. What is Faith?
~ 68 ~
handed him the keys, saying, “Here are your keys,
Uthman. This is a day of righteousness and
fulfillment of promises.”
(IBN QAYYIM, ZAD
AL-MA‘AD)
PATIENCE AND FORBEARANCE IN THE FACE
OF IGNORANCE
Zayd ibn Sa’ana, a Jewish scholar, who later
accepted Islam, recounts how, when he saw the
Prophet, he recognized the signs of Prophethood in
his face. There were two things at that time which
he had yet to see – his patience and his forbearance.
He was soon to learn from his personal experience
that the ignorance of another actually intensified
this latter quality of the Prophet.
One day Zayd ibn Sa’ana saw the Prophet and his
cousin Ali approaching and, from another direction
a man, apparently a bedouin, riding up to them on
a camel. The man explained to the Prophet that he
was one of a group of people in a certain town who
had accepted Islam, having been told by him that if
they became Muslims, they would be abundantly
provided for by God. Now a drought had set in
