circumstance.”

He therefore thanks Allah because the reward He has arranged for him on account of this calamity exceeds whatever harm befell him.

For that reason it is related that a certain devout woman injured her finger. She glorified Allah for it, and when people asked, “How can you praise Allah when your finger has suffered what it has?” she replied, “The sweetness of its reward has made me forget the bitterness of enduring it.” Allah alone grants success.

The author—may Allah, Exalted is He, show him mercy—then cited the verses that urge patience and praise those who practise it. He said: The words of Allah the Most High, “O you who believe, be patient, vie in steadfastness, stand firm on the frontier, and fear Allah so that you may prosper” (Al ‘Imran 3:200). Allah thus commanded the believers, by virtue of the faith that ennobles them, with four injunctions: “Be patient, vie in steadfastness, stand firm, and fear Allah so that you may prosper” (Al ‘Imran 3:200).

Patience is to refrain from sin; mutual steadfastness is perseverance in obedience; ribāṭ is the abundance and continual pursuit of good; and taqwā (God-consciousness) enfolds them all: “and fear Allah so that you may prosper.”

So be patient in avoiding the prohibitions of Allah—do not commit them, stay far from them, and do not even approach them.

It is obvious that patience in refraining from sin is only required when the soul actually inclines toward it. A person to whom the thought of sin never occurs cannot be said to have exercised patience regarding it. But when your own self urges you to disobedience, then be patient and restrain it.

As for muṣābara, it concerns acts of obedience, for obedience involves two matters: