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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-mizan an Exegesis of the Qur'an (volume One) Chapter 13 : 2:45-46 And seek assistance through patience and prayer; and most surely it is a hard thing, except for the humble ones (45), who know that they shall meet their Lord and that they shall return to Him (46).

COMMENTARY QUR’AN: And seek assistance through patience and prayer: Man seeks assistance in such affairs and tasks as he cannot manage alone, and in hardships and difficulties which he cannot overcome himself. In reality there is no helper except Allâh. Man can, therefore, manage all his affairs and overcome all his difficulties by courage and steadfastness (i.e. by patience) and by looking towards Allâh (i.e. by prayer).

These two factors are the best way to get assistance: patience makes even the great misfortunes look trivial, and putting all his confidence in Allâh awakens the spirit of faith; and thus man comes to realize that the cause which he is relying upon can never fail to produce the desired effect. QUR’?N: and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones: The pronoun, it, refers to the "prayer".

It is difficult to relate it to "seeking the assistance", because it will then cover patience too, and the word "the humble ones" will not look appropriate - humbleness does not fit very much with patience. The word used here for humbleness is "khushû’” ( ); "khudu’” ( ) too has the same meaning but with one difference: while the latter shows itself in the limbs of the body, the former refers to the inner feeling. QUR’?N: who know that they shall meet their Lord . .

.: The word used in this verse for "knowing" is "yazunnûn" (); it literally means "they think". But the context, that is, the belief in the hereafter, demands a firm conviction that would leave no room for any doubt or supposition. Allâh says: and they are sure of the hereafter (2:4). Or, may be, Allâh, by using this word, makes us realize that even an elementary idea of the hereafter is sufficient to create in a man humility and humbleness before his Lord.

Many a knowledge comes to man in stages: (1) first he becomes aware of an idea; (2) then he has some doubts about its correctness; (3) then he becomes inclined to accept it; (4) then gradually the possibility of his accepting the opposite view vanishes completely and he becomes firmly convinced of the truth of that idea - and this firm conviction is called knowledge.