A reflection on Surah Al-A'raf and the patience of the earlier Prophets - how centuries of rejection never turned into bitterness.
Prophet Nuh (AS) called his people to Allah (SWT) for nine hundred and fifty years, and only a small number believed. At Darus Saulieghien Quraan Academy, we sometimes remind discouraged students of this history, not because their struggle is the same scale, but because the pattern of patient perseverance is exactly what we hope to build in them.
A Legacy of Unshaken Patience
Surah Al-A'raf recounts, one after another, how Nuh, Hud, Salih, and Shu'ayb (peace be upon them) were sent to their people, mocked and rejected, yet remained steady in delivering the same call:
لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ فَقَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
"We had certainly sent Noah to his people, and he said, 'O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day.'" (Surah Al-A'raf 7:59)
The Prophet (SAW) said, "None is to be envied except two: a person whom Allah has given wealth, and he uses it in the right way, and a person whom Allah has given wisdom, and he judges and teaches with it." (Sahih al-Bukhari 73, Sahih Muslim 816) Wisdom, patience, and steady conviction are what the Prophets modelled through decades of rejection.
What We Hope Our Students Carry
Nuh's ark was built under mockery, not despair; it was obedience with foresight. We want our students to understand that a long, difficult stretch, in memorisation, in faith, in character, is not evidence of failure. It is often exactly what patient perseverance looks like from the inside.
May Allah (SWT) grant our students the patience of the Prophets, and may He never let hardship turn their hearts bitter. Ameen.