Professor Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland poured some hot pitch into a sealed funnel in 1927. In 1930 he cut the funnel open, and the pitch, which looks solid enough to shatter with a hammer, began to drip. By 2014 nine drops had fallen. No one has ever seen one fall.
It is the world's longest-running laboratory experiment, and the most patient. Aṣ-Ṣabūr, the Most Patient, names a patience far beyond it, and the last of the 99.
Start with what we know
Start with something we know. Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us: it is the Name.
Episode 1
In us
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, from 1962 to 1990, much of it breaking rocks on Robben Island. When he was released, he chose to work with the people who had jailed him to bring South Africa through to democracy. He became its first president elected by all its people in 1994. His patience is one of the great human stories of the twentieth century. But human patience is rare and costly. Many people in the same situation could not have done it, and patience can sour into bitterness. Ours runs out.
Episode 2
In nature
In limestone caves, every drip of water carries a tiny amount of dissolved calcite. As the water evaporates, it leaves a thin ring behind, and over thousands of years those rings build stalactites hanging from the roof and stalagmites rising from the floor. Many grow only a fraction of a millimetre a year. A stalactite as long as your arm may be older than the pyramids. Nature is endlessly patient. But it is the patience of a process that cannot choose otherwise, not of someone holding back.
Episode 3
At our best
The University of Queensland's pitch-drop experiment was set up by Thomas Parnell in 1927 and began dripping in 1930. Pitch is billions of times more viscous than water: estimates vary between about 30 billion and 250 billion. Nine drops fell by 2014, roughly one a decade, and a webcam now watches day and night. Guinness World Records lists it as the longest-running laboratory experiment. It is patience as science. Yet it is still less than a century old, and nobody there has ever seen a drop fall.
Episode 4
The Break
Our patience is limited by a lifetime, costs us in waiting, can turn bitter, and is mostly anger held back. Every patience we know is effort, or a slow process with no choice. Aṣ-Ṣabūr is patient with knowledge and power, and keeps giving while He waits. The Prophet said: no one is more patient with hurtful words than God; people attribute a son to Him, and still He gives them health and provision (Bukhari 6099). “If Allah took mankind to task by that which they deserve, He would not leave a living creature on the surface of the earth; but He reprieveth them unto an appointed term, and when their term cometh - then verily (they will know that) Allah is ever Seer of His slaves.” (Qur'an 35:45, Pickthall).
From the tradition: Bukhari 6099: 'None is more patient than Allah against the harmful saying. He hears from the people they ascribe children to Him, yet He gives them health and provision'. Exodus 34:6 'slow to anger'; 2 Pet 3:9.
Watch and listen
Films, documentaries and voices that reach towards this Name. Each links out to where you can watch it.
Stalactites, which grow a few millimetres a century.
In people
Carers' patience.
In science
Viscosity; geological time.
Living it
Ṣabr: patience in hardship and in doing good.
Its kind
Act: something done: mercy shown, provision given, a prayer answered.
In the Qur'an: none; cf. hadith 'none is more patient (aṣbar) than Allah' (Bukhari)
The pulled cloak
Anas ibn Mālik spent his childhood serving the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) and remembered a day they were walking together. The Prophet was wearing a cloak from Najrān with a thick, rough border.
A Bedouin came up behind him and grabbed the cloak, yanking it so hard that Anas could see the mark the border had left on the Prophet's neck and shoulder. Then the man demanded: order them to give me some of God's wealth that you have.
The Prophet turned round to him, and smiled. And then he ordered that the man be given a gift. (Bukhari 3149)
Anas never forgot it. The Prophet had every right to be angry, and the power to show it. Instead he smiled, and gave. Muslims see in this a small human reflection of the Name aṣ-Ṣabūr, which the Prophet himself described. No one is more patient with what hurts than God, who hears people say terrible things about Him and still gives them health and food (Bukhari 6099).
The Qur'an tells believers: “O ye who believe! Seek help in steadfastness and prayer. Lo! Allah is with the steadfast.” (2:153, Pickthall). In this Name, the 99 end not with power or glory, but with patience.
What each faith says
Read:
Judaism
“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed: ‘The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth”
When God passed before Moses on Sinai, He proclaimed His own name: “The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” Its Hebrew erekh appayim, long-suffering, literally means 'long of nostrils': slow to anger.
These words, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, are sung on Jewish festivals and fast days and are at the heart of the prayers of Yom Kippur.
Christianity
“Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
Paul's famous passage on love begins: “Love is patient and is kind.” Christians see God's own patience as the model. Paul writes of “the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience” which lead people to turn back (Romans 2:4).
The letter of James points to the farmer who waits for the early and late rains, and tells Christians to be patient in the same way (James 5:7-8).
Katharina von Schlegel's Lutheran hymn, put into English by Jane Borthwick, is sung at many British funerals: “Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side; bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.”
Islam
“O ye who believe! Seek help in steadfastness and prayer. Lo! Allah is with the steadfast.”
Aṣ-Ṣabūr is not in the Qur'an as a Name of God, but is the last Name in the traditional list. The Qur'an praises patience, ṣabr, more than ninety times and promises: “O ye who believe! Seek help in steadfastness and prayer. Lo! Allah is with the steadfast.” (2:153, Pickthall). God's patience is seen in His delay of punishment (16:61; 35:45).
The Prophet's words in Bukhari 6099 give the clearest picture: God's patience is not indifference. He hears, and still He gives.
Same and different
Exodus 34's 'long-suffering', Romans' 'forbearance and patience' and the Prophet's 'no one is more patient than God' describe the same quality: a God slow to anger who keeps giving. All three faiths honour patience as a virtue. Christians also see God's patience in Christ; Jews and Muslims see it in God's dealings with people directly. Judaism sings God's long-suffering aloud on every fast day, and Islam names it among the 99 and, in this list, ends with it.
A moment to reflect
What tests your patience most?
Have you ever been shown patience you did not deserve? How did it feel?
Who has been most patient with you, and how could you pass that on?
Watch
The University of Queensland's own time-lapse of the pitch-drop experiment.
SciShow Kids on how stalactites and stalagmites form, drip by drip.
Do it together
families / schoolsHoney drip clock
Put a spoonful of honey in a funnel over a glass and time how long the first drop takes. Compare it with water. Talk about the pitch drop and about patience, and read Exodus 34:6 and Qur'an 2:153.
faith groups / neighboursA patient year
Choose one slow project together, such as planting a tree, knitting a blanket or learning a song, that will take a whole year. Meet each month to see how it is growing.
faith groups / neighbours / anyoneA Taizé evening
Many British churches hold Taizé evenings: candlelight, long silences and short chants sung over and over until they settle, in the style of the ecumenical community at Taizé in France. Go to one and notice what repetition does to impatience.
Episode 1
