Living Without Sabr

Ṣabr; without ṣabr, no dīn; without ṣabr, no success in life; without ṣabr, no test passed in life. A job cannot be kept without ṣabr — for getting up in the morning, catching the bus, making it to work; without ṣabr toward the people at work, a job will never be held onto, because of constant fighting with one's superiors. A family cannot be had without ṣabr: without ṣabr toward the idiosyncrasies, the moments and moods of a spouse, or of children, or of siblings, family life cannot succeed. Without studying and fulfilling the requirements of a particular career, nothing can be achieved without ṣabr. These are the worldly reasons where the direct punishment, the invoice, is presented.

What of the lack of ṣabr toward the commandments of Allah (swt); the lack of ṣabr shown toward the ḥarām of Allah (swt); and the lack of ṣabr toward the qadar of Allah (swt)? When complaints begin to be made to other people, it is in fact Allah's (swt) qadar being complained about, which is one of the major sins in Islam. Rasūlullāh (peace be upon him) says, in one particular ḥadīth: whoever wakes up early in the morning with much complaint on his tongue about his condition, about his lack of means, about the tribulations and adversities he goes through, complaining to other people, always full of complaints, never happy — this person, Rasūlullāh (peace be upon him) says, has reached the morning in a state where he is angry with Allah (swt); Allah (swt) is angry with him too.

A second kind of person wakes up in the morning with much trouble in his heart, but does not say it to people; he is truly unhappy with his condition, not accepting his qadar, who he is, what he is, what he is meant to do — no shukr, no ṣabr in his heart, and yet: what am I going to do, what am I going to do, constantly complaining, not accepting. This person too, Rasūlullāh (peace be upon him) says, has woken in the morning as one angry with his Lord.

Thirdly, Rasūlullāh (peace be upon him) says: whoever bows, out of respect, to a rich person's wealth — "let me kiss your hand, sir; welcome, sir; how are you, sir" — merely because he is a millionaire and has money, trying to show respect to his wealth, when the man himself might be the most despicable, the most disgusting, the most worthless person on earth but for his money — shaking his hand, wanting to be in his good books, wanting some benefit out of him — this Muslim, Rasūlullāh (peace be upon him) says, has lost two-thirds of his dīn, because he does not trust that Allah (swt), the Giver of rizq in the first place, is the one who provides, but thinks instead that this person is going to give it to him. These are very serious matters in the dīn.

Ṣabr is one of the strongest attributes of a Muslim; without it, one cannot be a walī of Allah (swt), cannot be an ʿābid, cannot be an ʿārif, cannot achieve or progress at all upon the path of Allah (swt). Ṣabr is such a virtue. May Allah (swt), inshāʾAllāh, make His servants among the ṣābirīn, among the ṣādiqīn, and give His servants ṣabr, inshāʾAllāh.