Patience (Sabr

Patience (Sabr)

1998 7-8 July-August 3-4 Patience (Sabr) (335) Patience is the exercise of restraint in trying situations. It is a virtue which enables the individual to proceed towards worthy goals, undeflected by adverse circumstances or repeated provocations. If he allows himself to become upset by opposition, taunts or other kinds of unpleasantness, he will never reach his goals. He will simply become enmeshed in irrelevancies.

The only way to deal with the irksome side of daily living is to exercise patience. Patience will ensure that whenever one has some bitter experience, he will opt for the way of tolerance rather than that of reaction to provocation. It will enable one to absorb shocks and to continue, undeterred, on one’s onward journey.

Patience, as well as being a practical solution to the problems faced in the outside world, is also a means of positive character building. One who is failing to exercise patience, gives free rein to negative thoughts and feelings develops a personality which is likewise negative while one who remains patient is so morally bolstered by his own positive thoughts and feelings that he develops a positive personality.

Sabr is no retreat. Sabr only amounts to taking the initiative along the path of wisdom and reason as opposed to the path of the emotions. Sabr gives one the strength to restrain one’s emotions in delicate situations and rather to use one’s brains to find a course of action along result-oriented lines.

The present world is fashioned in such a way that everyone is necessarily confronted with unpleasant matters at one time or another. Things which are unbearable have somehow to be borne; harrowing events have to be witnessed and all kinds of pain have to be suffered. In such situations, succumbing to impatience leads to the kind of unnecessary emotional involvement which is counter-productive, while a demonstration of patience has a healing, beneficial effect, allowing one to tread the path of discreet avoidance. Success in the present world is destined only for those who adopt the path of patience in adverse circumstances.

WHAT THOSE WHO SIT WITH LEADERS SHOULD BE LIKE

1998 7-8 July-August 3 WHAT THOSE WHO SIT WITH LEADERS SHOULD BE LIKE (119) Abdullah ibn Abbas tells of how his father once said to him: “My boy, I see how the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab, invites you to his meetings and takes you into his confidence. He also turns to you as well as to the other Companions for advice. I am going to give you three pieces of advice which are worth remembering: firstly, fear God, and never let it be said of you by Umar that you told a lie; secondly, keep his secrets well, and thirdly, never speak ill of anyone in his presence.” Amir says that each one of those pieces of advice was better than a thousand. “Better than ten thousand,” rejoined Abbas.

(AI-Tabarani)