It offers resistance against those desires and tendencies...

It offers resistance against those desires and tendencies which discourage man from performing compulsory obligations, resists the desires for indulging in sinful forbidden acts, and provides zeal and strength to be able to tolerate the unforeseen and unhappy occurrences, which threaten to break his determination.

With the above explanation one may appreciate the context of this important narration from the holy Prophet (S) as related by the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali (a.s.), as follows: "The Prophet of Allah had said: Patience is of three kinds -- Patience in tragedies and unpleasant events, patience in performance of compulsory obligations, and patience against sin".

On all the above mentioned occasions, like occurrence of a tragic unfortunate happening resulting in loss of life or wealth or both, a situation requiring performance of compulsory obligations, and an alluring sinful pleasure tempting him to indulge in a forbidden act; a type of patience is required where the human being could manifest or display the most superior heroic potential of his hidden exalted qualities.

In order that the complete understanding of these Islamic specialities related to the three types of patience could be made explicitly clear, we will discuss all of them in detail. Patience in Performance of Obligations (Obedience) All duties and compulsory obligations are accompanied with some headaches and inconveniences, or in other words, they demand some amount of efforts and involvements (positive or negative), which are at odd with the easy going and comfort loving nature of human beings.

Starting from the personal compulsory religious obligations such as prayers and fasting till the financial obligations such as"Khums"[^1] and "Zakat"[^2] and collective social obligations such as Hajj, the separation from family and loved ones, sacrificing all the comforts and pleasures of life, and sometimes self-sacrifice itself becomes necessary. Of course, all this does not match with the easy going and comfort loving nature of man.

This holds true for all the laws of the world whether heavenly or man-made, be they right or wrong. Although in principle the law itself has been a necessity and for the same reason it is accepted by mankind, but generally nowhere, it has ever been accepted as something convenient, desirable and sweet by man.