Thus, when believers are struck by a calamity—such as illness, poverty, or humiliation—they bear Allah’s judgment with patience, even if the ordeal results from someone else’s sin. Suppose, for instance, a man’s father squanders his wealth in acts of disobedience and the children are consequently impoverished; they must still endure what has befallen them. If they reproach their father for depriving them of their worldly share, they are to be reminded of the divine decree.

[Contentment with Allah’s Decree Is a Rank Above Patience]
Patience is obligatory by consensus of the scholars, yet higher than patience is contentment with Allah’s ruling. Some have maintained that contentment itself is compulsory; others regard it as recommended, and this second view is correct. Loftier still is to thank Allah for the calamity, seeing in it His favor: He makes it a cause for one’s sins to be wiped away, one’s rank to be raised, and one’s heart to return to Him in humility and supplication, placing its trust and hope in Him alone, not in created beings.

[The Transgressors: Qadaris in Obedience, Jabaris in Sin]
As for the people of rebellion and error, you will find them appealing to the divine decree when they sin and follow their desires, yet claiming any good deed for themselves when Allah grants it to them. One of the scholars captured their inconsistency: “You are a Qadari when you obey and a Jabari when you sin; whichever doctrine suits your whim, you adopt.”

The people of guidance and rectitude, on the other hand, when they perform a righteous act, acknowledge Allah’s grace upon them: that He is the One who blessed them, made them Muslims, enabled them to establish prayer, inspired them with piety, and that there is no power and no strength except through Him. Through this awareness of the decree, self-admiration, boasting, and harm are removed from them,