Verses about patience in the Quran, with the commentaries

Words from the root of patience, sabr, occur 100 times in the Quran, in 90 verses across 43 surahs. This article reads the main verses and, at each one, gives the Sunni reading of al-Tafsir al-Muyassar first, then the Shia readings of al-Safi (al-Fayd al-Kashani) and al-Mizan (al-Tabataba'i).

Quotations from the three commentaries are my renderings of the Arabic.

"Seek help through patience and prayer"

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

(Al-Baqarah 2:153)

Al-Muyassar: believers, seek help from God in all your affairs: by patience with misfortunes and calamities, by leaving sins, by patience in acts of obedience, and by prayer, which brings the soul to rest and forbids indecency and wrongdoing. God is with the patient by His help, His enabling and His guidance. The verse affirms God's special "withness" with the believers; His general withness, of knowledge and encompassing, is with all creation. Al-Safi: seek help through patience — away from sins and the soul's appetites — and prayer, the mother of acts of worship, the believers' ascent and their private converse with the Lord of the worlds; God is with the patient by victory and answering prayer; and relays from al-Sadiq: whoever bears patiently though unwillingly, without complaining to people or panicking at being exposed, is among the general, and his share is "give good tidings to the patient"; whoever meets trials with an open heart and bears them with calm and dignity is among the special, and his share is "God is with the patient". Al-Mizan: this withness is not the withness shown by "He is with you wherever you are" (Al-Hadid 4), which is the withness of encompassing and sustaining; the withness with the patient is a withness of help.

All three agree that patience is a means of seeking help, and that God is with the patient by helping them: al-Muyassar says "by His help, His enabling and His guidance", al-Safi "by victory and answering prayer", and al-Mizan "a withness of help". Al-Muyassar and al-Mizan agree that this withness is not the general withness that covers all creation. Al-Safi adds a report dividing the patient into general and special.

"Give good tidings to the patient"

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,

Who, when disaster strikes them, say, "Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return."

Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the [rightly] guided.

(Al-Baqarah 2:155, Al-Baqarah 2:156, Al-Baqarah 2:157)

Al-Muyassar: We will test you with a little fear and hunger, loss of wealth, of lives through death or martyrdom, and of the fruits of palms, vines and grain; give good tidings, Prophet, to those who are patient through this, of a good end in this world and the next. Among the marks of the patient: when something they dislike befalls them they say, we are servants owned by God, directed by His command; He does with us as He wills; and to Him we return, by death and then by being raised for reckoning and reward. Those patient ones have praise from their Lord and great mercy from Him, and they are the rightly guided. Al-Safi: We will surely strike you as one who tests, whether you are patient in trial and accept the decree; give good tidings to the patient — of the Garden; and relays from Ali: our saying "we belong to God" is an acknowledgement over ourselves of His ownership, and our saying "to Him we will return" is an acknowledgement over ourselves of perishing; and on "blessings": it has been said that the blessing from God is purification, forgiveness, mercy, kindness and goodness. Al-Mizan: what is meant by the saying is plainly not merely uttering the sentence without its meaning in mind, nor merely calling it to mind without realising its truth — that man is truly owned by God and returns to Him; by this the finest patience is realised, which cuts the roots of panic and grief and washes away the rust of heedlessness.

Where they agree

All three agree that what the verse describes is a test, and that what the patient say in calamity acknowledges that they belong to God and return to Him. Al-Mizan adds that what is meant is not merely saying the words but realising their meaning.

Where they differ

They differ on the meaning of "blessings": al-Muyassar takes it as praise from God, while al-Safi relays that from God it means purification, forgiveness, mercy, kindness and goodness.

"Their reward without account"

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

(Az-Zumar 39:10)

Al-Muyassar: the patient are given their reward in the next world without limit, count or measure — a mark of how great their recompense is. Al-Safi: the patient — through the hardships of obedience, bearing trials and leaving their homelands for it — are given a reward that no reckoner can reckon; and relays from al-Sadiq: on the Day of Resurrection a band of people will come to the gate of the Garden and knock; they will be asked who they are and say, we are the people of patience; asked what they were patient in, they will say, we were patient in obeying God and patient in keeping from disobeying Him; and God will say, they have spoken the truth, let them in. Al-Mizan: the patient are given their reward only as a giving without account: they are not called to account for their deeds, no record is opened for them, and their reward is not measured by the weight of their work. The verse speaks of the patient without qualifying patience as being in obedience, away from sin or in calamity, though what fits the setting of the verse is patience with the calamities of this world.

Where they agree

All three agree that the reward of the patient is given without limit or count.

Where they differ

They differ on which patience is meant: al-Muyassar speaks of the patient without qualification; al-Safi makes it patience through the hardships of obedience, bearing trials and leaving one's homeland, and his report makes it patience in obeying God and in keeping from disobeying Him; al-Mizan says the verse is unqualified, though what fits its setting is patience with the calamities of this world.

"Patience is most fitting"

And they brought upon his shirt false blood. [Jacob] said, "Rather, your souls have enticed you to something, so patience is most fitting. And Allah is the one sought for help against that which you describe."

(Yusuf 12:18)

Al-Muyassar: my patience is a beautiful patience, with no complaint to any created being, and I seek God's help in bearing the lie you describe, not my own power and strength. Al-Safi: "so beautiful patience": my course is beautiful patience; and in the Prophet's saying: beautiful patience is the one in which there is no complaint to people. Al-Mizan: "so beautiful patience" praises patience, putting the cause in place of the effect; the sense is: I will be patient with what has struck me, for patience is beautiful; and leaving "patience" indefinite, without naming its quality, points to the greatness of its matter, or to the bitterness of its taste and the difficulty of bearing it.

All three agree that Jacob resolved to be patient with what had struck him. Al-Muyassar and al-Safi make beautiful patience the patience with no complaint to people; al-Mizan reads the indefinite form as pointing to its greatness or its bitterness.

What the verses do not say

• They do not confine patience to one kind of trial.
• They do not state a measure for the reward of the patient; they say it is without account.
• Al-Baqarah 155 does not say what the good tidings are; the next two verses give the reward.

Counted on the mushaf

• The root of sabr: 100 times in 90 verses across 43 surahs.
• "With the patient": four times, Al-Baqarah 153 and 249, Al-Anfal 46 and 66.
• "Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return": once in the whole Quran.
• "So patience is most fitting": twice, Yusuf 18 and 83.

Sources

• al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran.
• Tafsir al-Safi — al-Fayd al-Kashani.
• al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Quran — al-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn al-Tabataba'i.

Read:

• Verses about gratitude in the Quran, with the commentaries
• The story of Joseph (Yusuf) in the Quran
• "With hardship comes ease": what Ash-Sharh 5-6 promises