As-Sabur
He Who is the Patience is the Gentle One Who does not through hostility send disobedience. He is the Forgiver Who delays chastisement, but is prompt in receiving the faint-hearted and dispirited. So submit to being an example of patience in your life, and follow what Allah loves of those who are patient through Him.
From: The Children Around the Table of Allah by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i Head of the Higher Sufi Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land Teacher at the Dome of the Rock (al-Aqsa)
AS-SABUR
Allah is the Most Patient One. In everything He is in perfect measure and in perfect time. He is patient, and He loves and …
is with the patient ones (Surah Anfal 46).
In His creation as in His actions, in His dealings with His creatures, nothing is either bigger or smaller, better or worse, earlier or later than He has determined it must be. He does not delay things beyond their appointed times or fail to finish them as a lazy person might do, nor does He hasten and imperfectly finish things as an impatient person might do. Rather He does everything in its proper time and in just the manner that it ought to be done.
Allah does not hasten the punishment of the sinful. He sends them their sustenance, protects them from harm, and lets them live in health and prosperity, for He has set a particular time for everything. All things must run their course. His patience with sinners is in order to give them time to be heedful, to realize their wrong and come to repent. Allah is Merciful; His Mercy is in giving time for repentance and accepting repentance.
Patience is in Allah’s divine disposition; therefore, patient people reflect this honored disposition. A patient person refuses things that his flesh and ego desire but that are unacceptable to reason and to the religion. He applies himself to things that are acceptable to reason and to the religion, yet hateful for his ego, as he knows how to put a bridle on the wild horse of his lower being.
Patience is a very state for the faithful, because the affairs both of this world and of the Hereafter are resolved by it. No success, no perfection, can be achieved easily and without pain. That pain is the pain of the flesh, which is hasty in things that it wants, lazy in working for what it wants, does not know measure, and always wants more than it need.
The Prophet (pbuh) says that “Paradise is surrounded by things that the flesh does not want.” Allah promises infinite rewards for those who can be patient with the turbulence of the desires of their flesh and of their egos. There are even greater rewards for patience in supporting misfortunes, poverty, accidents, and sickness, which are unavoidable and come from Allah. Indeed calamities come from Allah, but rewards for being patient and accepting them accompany them. If people show patience, they receive rewards that far surpass the pain. If they are impatient, the misfortune doubles – first the initial calamity and then the greater misfortune of having lost the reward.
The meaning of Islam is submission to forego one’s appetites, desires, and will in favor of the will of Allah. To be able to submit, one has to be patient. In Islam, patience is a sign of faith; abasement and humiliation are sins. Do not confuse humiliation caused by fear and laziness with patience and endurance. To give up one’s property, one’s honor, one’s dignity to a tyrant may lead one to give up one’s religion and faith for fear, or to sell one’s soul for this world. The believer who fears Allah fears no one, and is one whom others fear. For the faithful to abase themselves before anyone except Allah is not lawful.
‘Abd as-Sabur is the blessed servant who has perfect equilibrium and moderation in himself and in all that he does, who neither delays nor hastens, but acts in a determined time. He is patient in his continuous battle with his ego and in the opposition of his desires and appetites. He perseveres in keeping Allah’s ordinances and in his worship.
If a faithful person is in difficulty or pain or unjustly accused or tyrannized, reciting ya Sabur 298 times will bring relief, by Allah’s will and his heart will be flooded with Allah’s love.
O Lord, for the sake of Your beautiful Names,
and for the sake of the ones
in whom Your names manifest,
lead us on their path. Let us see
your attributes everywhere without,
and cleanse the mirror of our hearts
that perchance we may see Your Beauty reflected within.
Amin bi hurmati sayyid al-mursalin.
From: The Name & the Named by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti