God Is With Those Who Are Patient

O you who believe! Seek help in patience and As-Salat (the prayer). Truly! Allah is with As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.).

Quran, 2:153 .....God is with those who are patient.

SABR, commonly translated as patience, is usually applied to a situation from which an individual cannot escape, leading to desperation and helplessness. When there is no hope of actively affecting the situation, the advice given is “have patience,” to the extent that even someone suffering great injustice at the hands of another, when he can do nothing to improve the situation, calms his inner struggle through the mantra of “patience.” In other words, this interpretation of “sabr” carries a connotation of passivity.

The root meaning of SABR, however, is constantly and continuously to struggle towards a goal or purpose, to stand steadfastly. This root meaning is derived based on its usage by the desert Arabs in their daily lives. In other words, a connotation of activity.

A part of a cloud, if it stays in exactly the same spot for 24 hours without apparently shifting, is called AS-SABEER. AL-ASBIRAH is the word used to describe camels or goats that leave during the day to graze, and later return retracing their footsteps exactly, without a single one of them going astray or being left behind (Taj). These concrete examples allow one to visualize how the Arabs understood SABR to mean steadfastness, persistence and perseverance, to firmly adhere to a principle or way, commitment to an action. It is this unshakable resolution towards a way or principle that was considered SABR by the Arabs.

Moving on, if passengers or goods created an uneven balance on a boat such that it begins to be unstable, the boatman would place a heavy rock in order to balance the load. This rock would be called AS-SABOORAH. (Taj) Therefore, the second characteristic of SABR is that if one’s footsteps begin to waver from the path, it is SABR that provides the support upon which balance is regained, keeping the footsteps firmly on the chosen path. Because this kind of steadfastness leads to success and accomplishment, AS-SABRAH is used to describe a pile of grain that is unmeasured (Muheet).

In the face of the forces of change through time, the aforementioned features of Arabic greatly facilitate arriving at the true, original meanings of words; however, while the above form a fundamental basis for the meanings that is inescapable, there is yet another level of depth to attaining the full and true meaning of a book like the Quran. The reason for this is that this book is an outline for the eternal values of life, unchanging and all-encompassing upon whose truths our entire belief is based. It is, therefore, necessary that its understanding be complete and without doubt, something that can be difficult to attain if relying purely on the language as mentioned above.

Language (or linguistic science) is the product of human efforts, and thus, is inherently open to mistakes and external influences. In addition, there are certain words that the Quran uses as a form of terminology. These terms represent very important core Quranic principles and concepts cannot be adequately elucidated by pure language alone. For example, SALAT, ZAKAT, TAQWA, IMAN, ISLAM, KUFR, FISQ, etc. These terms are a comprehensive condensation of fundamental Quranic concepts that contain depth beyond (but linked to) their linguistic understanding. By carefully studying the whole Quran, linguistic ambiguities can be eliminated and the full extent of the terminological meanings can be brought to light.

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