Patience is not waiting

In English, patience often suggests sitting still until something passes. The Arabic word sabr means something more active.

What the word means#

The root ص-ب-ر is about restraint: holding something back and keeping it in place. The classical Arabic scholar Ibn Faris gives its first meaning as habs, confinement, with the example sabartu nafsi, "I held myself back." Sabr takes effort.

The Quran pairs it with prayer:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ١٥٣

O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allāh is with the patient.

Prayer is done five times a day at set times, whether or not you feel like it. Sabr works the same way. You hold on to it on purpose, especially when it is hard.

What it holds firm against#

Two verses later, the Quran names the hardships:

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ١٥٥

And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,

Fear, hunger, and the loss of wealth, lives and crops. The verse does not say these will be easy or short. It says they will come, and it gives good news to those who stay patient through them.

It is not meant to be easy#

Surah Ali 'Imran asks for more than patience alone:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱصْبِرُوا۟ وَصَابِرُوا۟ وَرَابِطُوا۟ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ٢٠٠

O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allāh that you may be successful.

Be patient, outlast others in patience, and stay at your post. The last word, rabitu, comes from the same root as ribat, guarding a frontier.

The reward is described in an unusual way too:

قُلْ يَـٰعِبَادِ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ ۚ لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا۟ فِى هَـٰذِهِ ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةٌ ۗ وَأَرْضُ ٱللَّهِ وَٰسِعَةٌ ۗ إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى ٱلصَّـٰبِرُونَ أَجْرَهُم بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ١٠

Say, "O My servants who have believed, fear your Lord. For those who do good in this world is good, and the earth of Allāh is spacious. Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account [i.e., limit]."

Elsewhere, the Quran often gives rewards a measure, such as ten times the deed (6:160) or seven hundredfold (2:261). Here, the patient are promised their reward without account.

Patience in good times too#

Hardship is not the only test. The Quran says people are tested with evil and with good (21:35). Comfort is a test as well: of whether it changes you, and whether you remember who gave it.

Narrated Suhayb:

Amazing is the affair of the believer - indeed, all of his affairs are good. And that is for no one except the believer. If ease comes to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him. And if hardship befalls him, he is patient, and that is good for him.

Gratitude in good times and patience in hard times go together. The believer needs both.

Why this matters#

If patience only means waiting, then hard times are wasted time until they end.

If patience means holding firm, then hard times are not a pause in your life. How you get through them is part of the life you are meant to live.