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 tolerance rather than a reaction to provocation. It will enable one to absorb shocks and continue undeterred on one’s onward journey.
Patience and being a practical solution to the problems faced in the outside world also means positive character building. Failure to exercise patience gives free rein to negative thoughts and feelings, resulting in the development of a negative personality. While one who remains patient is so morally bolstered by his 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 emotions. Sabr gives one the strength to restrain one’s emotions in delicate situations and instead use one’s brain 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 that are unbearable have 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. Therefore, success in the present world is destined only for those who adopt the path of patience in adverse circumstances.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is an Islamic spiritual scholar who has authored over 200 books on Islam, spirituality, and peaceful coexistence in a multi-ethnic society.