O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer. Verily, Allah is with the patient.
Surat al-Baqarah 2:153
What is patience (sabr)?
• The famous scholar Nasir al‑Din al‑Tusi said: “Sabr means restraining the self from agitation when confronted with undesirables.”
• The great gnostic (`arif) Khwajah `Abd Allah al‑Ansari said: “Sabr means restraining the self from complaint about hidden anguish.”
Patience makes a person capable of finding a positive and successful solution to any problem. When someone explodes with anger while facing his adversary, he loses the faculty to respond effectively or to think of well-planned action. But when he applies patience and tolerance, he finds himself competent to make a rational move instead of an impulsive reaction. History testifies that one who acts on impulses and emotional reactions, invariably fails; and one who responds rationally, always succeeds.Patience is undoubtedly the superior solution to all problems.
Division of patience
According to Ibn Al-Qayyim in his work ‘Uddat al-Ṣābirīn, patience is divide into three components:
Patience in worshiping Allah and adhering to His commands.
Patience in avoiding sins and acts of disobedience.
Patience with the decree of Allah and calamities.
The reward of Sabr
• Imam al-Sadiq (a) said: “Whoever of the believers that bears patiently with a tribulation that befalls him, has the reward of a thousand martyrs.”[Al-Kulayni, al‑Kafi, vol.2, bab al‑Sabr, hadith # 17]
The one who practices Sabr will never be deprived of success, even though it may take a long time.
What is with you must vanish: what is with Allah will endure. And we will certainly bestow on those we patiently persevere their reward according to the best of their actions (16 : 96)
However, when things don’t go the way we planned or the way we wanted, even when it seems that fears and worries are pushing us under, we accept what God has decreed and continue to strive to please Him. Being patient is hard work; it does not always come naturally or easily. Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said, “Whoever tries to be patient then God will help him to be patient”.[4]