Obedience and submission are among the most precious traits a believer can carry. They look alike, yet they differ. Obedience is the act. Submission is the surrender of the heart behind the act. Both grow in the soil of patience. And both face one stubborn enemy: the self that insists it knows better than its Creator.
Which comes first is hard to say. A heart that has submitted finds obedience easy. Yet repeated obedience also softens the heart until it submits. Ibrahim(as) showed both in a single breath. Allah says in Al Baqarah 2:132:
(idh qala lahu rabbuhu aslim qala aslamtu li rabbil ‘alamin) When his Lord said to him, ‘Submit,’ he said, ‘I have submitted to the Lord of the worlds.’
The believers echo him. Allah says in An Nur 24:52:
(innama kana qawlal mu’minina idha du’u ilallahi wa rasulihi li yahkuma bainahum an yaqulu sami’na wa ata’na, wa ula’ika humul muflihun) The response of the believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger in order that he may judge between them, is only that they say: ‘We hear and we obey.’ And it is they who will prosper.
Between hearing and obeying stands patience. So Allah says in Al Baqarah 2:154:
(ya ayyuhal ladhina amanus ta’inu bis sabri was salah, innallaha ma’as sabirin) O ye who believe! seek help with patience and Prayer; surely, Allah is with the steadfast.
The Enemy Within
The greatest obstacle is the ego. Iblis did not lack knowledge. He lacked humility. Allah says in Al Baqarah 2:35:
(wa idh qulna lil mala’ikatis judu li Adama fa sajadu illa Iblis, aba wastakbara wa kana minal kafirin) And remember the time when We said to the angels: ‘Submit to Adam,’ and they all submitted. But Iblis did not. He refused and was too proud; and he was of the disbelievers.
His excuse exposed the disease. Allah says in Al A’raf 7:13:
(qala ma mana’aka alla tasjuda idh amartuka, qala ana khairum minhu, khalaqtani min narin wa khalaqtahu min tin) God said, ‘What prevented thee from submitting when I commanded thee?’ He said, ‘I am better than he. Thou hast created me of fire while him hast Thou created of clay.’
Iblis weighed the command of God against his own logic. He found the command wanting. The Promised Messiah(as) said:
“The arrogant one seeks to sit upon the throne of God. Therefore, you should always seek refuge from this vile trait.” (Malfuzat, Volume X, page 326)
Arrogance does not merely disobey. It sits in judgment over God.
The Men of Understanding
The oolil albaab, the men of understanding, walk the opposite road. Allah says in Az Zumar 39:19:
(alladhina yastami’unal qawla fa yattabi’una ahsanah, ula’ikal ladhina hadahumullahu wa ula’ika hum ulul albab) Who listen to the Word and follow the best thereof. It is they whom Allah has guided, and it is they who are men of understanding.
Their faith does not wait until every question is answered. Allah says in Aal Imran 3:8:
(war rasikhuna fil ‘ilmi yaquluna amanna bihi kullum min ‘indi rabbina, wa ma yadhdhakkaru illa ulul albab) …those who are firmly grounded in knowledge; they say, ‘We believe in it; the whole is from our Lord.’ And none heed except those gifted with understanding.
They accept even when they do not understand. They know Whom they are dealing with. He is the Creator. He knows all things. And every act of His flows from love and mercy.
Mercy Behind the Trial
Allah says in Al A’raf 7:157:
(qala ‘adhabi usibu bihi man asha’, wa rahmati wasi’at kulla shai’) God replied, ‘I will inflict My punishment on whom I will; but My mercy encompasses all things.’
The Holy Prophet(sa) once watched a captive mother searching for her child. When she found a child, she pressed it to her breast and fed it. He asked whether such a mother would ever throw her child into the fire. His companions said she never would. He said that Allah is more merciful to His servants than this woman is to her child. (Sahih al Bukhari, Kitab al Adab, Hadith 5999)
Why then the harsh trial? Why the loss that seems needless? One answer is that present pain often spares us a greater misery ahead. Allah says in As Sajdah 32:22:
(wa lanudhiqannahum minal ‘adhabil adna dunal ‘adhabil akbari la’allahum yarji’un) And most surely We will make them taste of the nearer punishment before the greater punishment, so that they may return to Us with repentance.
The journey of Moses(as) with a servant of God makes this vivid. Moses(as) was told in Al Kahf 18:69:
(wa kaifa tasbiru ‘ala ma lam tuhit bihi khubra) And how canst thou be patient about things the knowledge of which thou comprehendest not?
The loss of a youth seemed senseless. Then the reason came. Allah says in Al Kahf 18:81–82:
(wa ammal ghulamu fa kana abawahu mu’minaini fa khashina an yurhiqahuma tughyanan wa kufra) And as for the youth, his parents were believers, and we feared lest he should cause them trouble through rebellion and disbelief.
(fa aradna an yubdilahuma rabbuhuma khairan minhu zakatan wa aqraba ruhma) So we desired that their Lord should give them in exchange a child better than him in purity and closer in filial affection.
What looked like harshness was mercy for the parents and their future.
Still, the arrogant among us object. God could have done it this way, we think, or that way. Where is His love in this? The Quran answers in Al Baqarah 2:217:
(wa ‘asa an takrahu shai’an wa huwa khairul lakum, wa ‘asa an tuhibbu shai’an wa huwa sharrul lakum, wallahu ya’lamu wa antum la ta’lamun) …but it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you like a thing while it is bad for you. Allah knows all things, and you know not.
The Promised Messiah(as) said:
“No one can attain the love and pleasure of Allah until they inculcate two qualities within themselves. Firstly, one must break their own arrogance in the likeness of a tall standing mountain that crumbles and is razed to the ground. In the very same manner, one ought to dispel all their thoughts of arrogance and superiority. One must adopt humility and lowliness. Secondly, one must sever all of their worldly ties, just as a mountain falls to the ground and is rent asunder—broken into pieces. In the same manner, a person’s earlier associations, which result in impurity and incur divine displeasure, must all be broken, and a person’s interactions, friendships, love and enmity should be purely for the sake of Allah Almighty.” (Malfuzat, Volume III, page 189; Malfuzat, Urdu Volume 2, page 171)
Conclusion
Iblis knew God and still refused. The oolil albaab do not always see the reason and still bow. The difference was never knowledge. It was the self.
So when the next trial comes and the heart begins to ask why, pause and ask a harder question: Am I standing with the one who said “I am better,” or with those who said “We hear and we obey”?