On the authority of Anas ibn Malik that the Prophet sallahu alayhi wa salam said:

يأتي على الناس زمان الصابر فيهم على دينه كالقابض على الجمر

“There shall come upon the people a time in which the one who is patient upon his religion will be like the one holding onto a burning ember.”

[Saheeh Tirmidhi no. 2260]

Imam as-San’aani rahimahullah said:

“This is due to the flooding of evil, the concealment of good, the decrease in its supporters, the harming of those remaining upon truth, the increase of the people of innovation, and the consideration of good as evil and evil as good. So the one who is patient upon his religion is like one holding on to a burning ember. This is a comparison between something intangible with something tangible”

[Tanweer Sharh Jami’ as-Sagheer (11/192)]

Imam al-Munaawi rahimahullah said:

“…That is: the one patient upon the rulings of the Book and the Sunnah will suffer from what he is afflicted with of difficulty and severity from the people of innovation and misguidance similar to the suffering of one who takes fire with his hand and holds on to it. Rather, sometimes it is more difficult. This is a miracle for he sallahu alayhi wa salam reported about the unseen and it occurred”

[Fayd ul-Qaadir (6/446)]

Subhanhallah! This is what we see today that the people holding fast to the religion are afflicted due to the above reasons. May Allah make us patient upon Islam and the Sunnah.

Translated by

Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan