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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Provisions for the Journey (Mishkat), Volume 2 Lesson 36: Forbearance, Moderateness and Trust in Allah as Stated by the Prophet (S) Sentences which were examined in the previous session centered on piety and self-restraint. In this section of the Noble Prophet’s (S) hadith , in addition to self-restraint and abstinence, forbearance and the station of trust in Allah have also been mentioned. The Noble Prophet (S) stated: “O Abu Dharr!

Whoever on the Day of Resurrection is devoid of three things is a loser.” Abu Dharr asked, “May my father and mother be sacrificed for you.

What are those three things?” In response, the Noble Prophet (S) stated, “Self-restraint [ wara‘ ] with which he abstains from forbidden things, forbearance [ hilm ] with which he encounters fools, and good morals with which he coexists harmoniously with people.” Self-restraint [ wara‘ ] is the first quality that will cause loss for a person on the Day of Resurrection if not obtained.

In the previous section, we said that usually self-restraint is applied to a habit of piety and merely abstaining from one sin cannot be considered to be self-restraint.

The Noble Prophet’s (S) expression in this section confirms that interpretation and clearly explains that self-restraint is applied to a spiritual nature or habit which inhibits man from committing sin; for this reason, the characteristic of self-restraint is that it prevents man from committing forbidden acts and it is natural that a man that is not endowed with this attribute becomes tainted by sin and consequently meets with defeat and failure and ends up in hell.

The Lofty Status of Forbearance The second attribute that is necessary to be endowed with and protects man from loss and failure on the Day of Resurrection is forbearance [ hilm ]. It has been asserted that forbearance means controlling the self and not allowing incitement of the faculty of anger.

Without the least doubt, patience and forbearance are commendable and invaluable attributes and can be considered to be soldiers of intellect, and anger [ ghadab ]—which is in opposition to forbearance [ hilm ]—can be considered to be a soldier of ignorance. It is well known that man has been advised not to make decisions, discipline someone nor take action on something while in a state of anger because he will likely later regret his deeds.

That is so because man’s intellect does not function well when he is in a state of wrath.