Patience and Subjugating Oneself to Allâh

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم

Praise be to God the Creator of the world, the One Who exists without beginning, without end, without location, without a "how" and Who does not depend on time. Nothing resembles Him in anyway and He hears and sees everything without organs. Whatever you imagine, God is different from that. May the elevation in degree and preservation of his community of what he fears for it, be granted to our master Muḥammad Al-‘Amin, the Honest One, who called for following Islam, the religion of truth, the religion of all the Prophets: of the First, Adam, to the last Muḥammad.

Sabr Patience is restraining one’s self and subjugating it to endure displeasures (adversity) or to depart pleasures (prosperity).

Allâh, ta`âlâ, said in the Qur'ân

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَعِينُواْ بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ

Yâ 'ayyouha l-ladhîna 'âmanû Ista`înû bis-Sabri was-Salâti inna lLâha ma`a s-Sâbirîn.

Ayah 153 of Suratul-Baqarah means: "Strengthen yourselves by patience and prayer, and know that God supports the patient people".

Patience is among the obligations of the heart. It is of three kinds:

1- Patience in performing what Allâh made obligatory.

2- Patience in avoiding what Allâh made unlawful.

3- Patience with hardships and calamities.

Patience in performing the obligations: is forcing oneself to perform the obligations like praying on time, fasting the month of Ramadan, attending the circles of knowledge to learn the Islamic obligatory knowledge, and other obligations, even if one feels lazy to do them.

Patience in avoiding what Allâh made unlawful: is restraining oneself from committing the sins. It takes a lot of effort to stop oneself from committing the unlawful, like leaving out the prayer, drinking alcohol, stealing, and other unlawful matters. It is one’s nature to lean towards laziness and easy coming pleasures, even if they are unlawful.

Patience with hardships and calamities: is being patient -seeking the reward from God- with what bothers one, such as pain, hardship, poverty, sadness, or other afflictions that befall the person in this life, because this world is a place of calamities, tests, and a workplace, while the Hereafter is the place for judgment. For this type of patience to take place, one needs not to act or talk in a way that reflects one’s impatience.

The Prophet, sallallâhu ^alayhi wa sallam, said:

إِنَّ اللهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يَقُولُ: إِذا ابْتَلَيْتُ عَبْدِي بِحَبِيبَتَيْهِ فَصَبَرَ عَوَّضْتُهُ مِنْهُمَا الْجَنَّةَ.

Innallâha `azza wa jalla yaqûl: idha-btalaytu `abdî biHabîbatayhi faSabara `awwaDtuhu minhuma l-Jannah.

Which means: “If Allâh inflicts on someone the calamity of losing one’s sight and one is patient with it, then the reward of one’s patience will be Paradise.” (Narrated by al-Bukhariyy.)

Subjugating oneself to Allāh: It is obligatory upon the pubescent person to refrain from objecting to Allāh and to be content with Allāh's Decree and Will. Subjugating oneself to Allāh is among the obligations of the heart. Objecting to Allāh is a blasphemous act. Many people fall into blasphemy because they do not subjugate themselves to Allāh, rather, they object to Him.

The Muslim should be patient and should make an effort to train oneself in patience to get used to it. One should also rely on Allāh in all one’s matters.

patience sabr calamities hardships obey to Allâh worship Allâh worship God