Forbearance

Surah 41 (Fussilat/Expounded): 34

The good deed and the bad deed are not equal!

Repel (the bad) with that which is best…

Then you will see, the person who had enmity towards you will be like as though he was a devoted friend!

[‘Decoding the Qur’an, A Unique Sufi Interpretation’, Hulusi, 2013]

 

Some verses of the Qur’an encourage patience and forbearance in the face of poor treatment. These include:

{2.109} Many of the People of the Book wish to turn you back into disbelievers after your having believed, out of envy in their souls, even after the truth has become clear to them.

So pardon and forebear, until God comes with his Command.

Truly God is powerful over all things.

 

{3.186} You will surely be tried in your wealth and your souls and you shall hear much hurt from those who were given the Book before you and from those who are idolaters.

But if you are patient and reverent, then that is indeed a course worthy of resolve.

See also {5.13} which, as with {2.109} and {3.186} above, is specifically directed at Jews: ‘Thou wilt not cease to discover their treachery, from all save a few of them. So pardon them and forebear. Truly God loves the virtuous’. Consequently it seems likely that these verses were context-specific, addressing difficulties between the Qur’anic community and the Jews.

 

It might also be noted that, in {2.109}, in common with more belligerent verses,  patience is enjoined only pending the punishment that God will impose for those who reject his message, denying the verse a meaning of promoting genuine forgiveness. However, {41.34} and also {60.7} are more generally worded as giving a rule for life, expressing the hope that through patience may come reconciliation.