O you who have faith! Be patient, vie in patience, be steadfast, and be wary of God. Perhaps you will prosper. This again is another balm, another caress, a call of bounteousness, an address of generosity, and it gives witness to the servant's faith and obedience. Be patient is addressed to the soul, vie in pa- tience to the heart, and be steadfast to the spirit. He says to the soul, “Be patient in obedience and service.” He says to the heart, “Be patient in trial and adversity. He says to the spirit, “Be patient with the burn of yearning and the pain of love.” And God it is who is patient. If like Joseph you want to come out of this prison, be patient like Zulaykhā in the pain of distance from Joseph. It has also been said, “Be patient in God, vie in patience through God, and be steadfast with God.” Patience in God is the patience of the worshipers in the station of service with the hope of reward. Patience through God is the patience of the recognizers in the station of honoring with the hope of union. Patience with God is the patience of the lovers in the state of contemplation at the moment of self-disclosure, when they are looking with gazing eyes, their hearts bewildered in what is seen, their spirits lamenting at the hand of love. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, everyone is burning in separation, but the lover in vi- sion. Now that he has come to see the Friend, what does the lover have to do with patience and settledness?” And be wary of God. Godwariness is a tree whose roots are in the earth of loyalty, its branches in the air of approval, its water from the wellspring of limpidness. It is not reached by the heat of regret, nor the cold of quenching, nor the wind of farness, nor the blight of scatteredness. The fruit it brings forth is the fruit of triumph, endless prosperity, everlasting worthiness, subsistent bliss, and the kingdom of forever. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “Perhaps you will prosper.” The Prophet said, “You should be wary of God, for this brings together every good; you should have struggle, for it is the submitter's monasticism; and you should have the remembrance of God, for it is your light.”
