Tools of Ṭalab: Resilience

Have you every observed students of knowledge? What is that one thing that is monumental in their success? Consider students who are memorising Qurʾān; what ensures that he or she reaches completion?

There are so many who start off ḥifḏh, students of varying intelligence levels, of different backgrounds, and those with different limitations in their access to resources. Why isn’t it that ONLY the most intelligent ones succeed? Or only those who speak Arabic well see completion? Or only those who live in countries with an abundance of resources triumph? 
Of course, there is no denying that ultimately it’s the favour of Allāh, and He favours whom He wills. But what did the student do that contributed towards attaining this favour? 

Though intelligence, a good memory and resources (time, money, access to teachers, etc.) is all needed, but too often that one factor that determines overall success is resilience. It’s your refusal to give up no matter how many times you stumble.
It is not letting the highs and lows of life deter you or slow you down. If you slow down, you are able to pick up your pace again. If you fail once, twice, or more, you don’t see that as the end, you strive to do better; to do differently. It’s holding lofty aspirations in your heart and not letting the temptations of comfort and enjoyment deter you. 

This is what scholars over the past eras have spoken about. 

It’s what made Ibn ʿAbbās r.a. brush off the words of the older ṣaḥābī who told him that he was too young to be his partner in seeking knowledge and it’s what made him sit for hours outside the homes of other ṣāḥābah waiting for them to wake up and narrate aḥadīth of his beloved Rasūl Allāh ﷺ. It’s what eventually saw him become a scholar who older and more experienced people would come to for guidance and knowledge. 

It’s the secret that Imām Bukhārī let on when asked about what aided his ḥifḏh most. He said, ❝I don’t know of anything better [for it] than nahmat ar-rajul (the zeal within a person) and constant revision.❞ And it is this zeal that fuels resilience. 

May Allāh make us resilient people, people who are undeterred from the path of Paradise.