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Five Categories of Patience
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Patience can also be divided into categories following the five categories of deeds, namely wajib (obligatory), mandub (encouraged), mahdhur (forbidden), makruh (disliked) and mubah (permissible).
Obligatory (wajib) patience:
1. Patience in abstaining from forbidden (haram) things and actions,
2. Patience in carrying out obligatory deeds,
3. Patience in facing adversity which is beyond one’s control, such as illness, poverty, etc.
Encouraged (mandub) patience:
1. Patience in abstaining from disliked (makruh) things,
2. Patience in performing acts of worship which are liked and encouraged (mustahabb) 3.Patience in refraining from taking revenge.
Forbidden (mahdhur) patience:
1. Patience in abstaining from food and drink until death.
2. Patience in abstaining from eating haram meat, carrion and blood, when the alternative is death and starvation. Tawus and Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “Whoever has no choice but to eat carrion, haram meat and blood, but refuses to eat it and dies as a consequence, will enter Hell.”
3. Patience in refraining from begging: There is a debate about whether begging is forbidden or permissible. Imam Ahmad believed that patience and abstaining from begging are allowed. When asked if a person might die without begging, he answered that Allah would provide for them. Imam Ahmad did not support begging, believing that Allah would send provision to those in need who sincerely refrain from begging. On the other hand, some scholars, including some of Imam Ahmad’s companions and Imam ash-Shafi, argued that it is obligatory for a person to beg to protect themselves from death, considering it wrong not to do so.
4. Patience in enduring things that may lead to death, such as predators, snakes, fire and water.
5. Patience during fitnah when Muslims are fighting each other: Patience in abstaining from fighting when Muslims are killing each other is permissible and preferred. The Prophet (PBUH) advised, “Be like the better of the two sons of Adam (AS),” and in other reports, he said, “Be like the slave of Allah who was killed, not the one who killed,” and “let him (the killer) carry his own wrong action and your wrong action.” He also said, “If the sword is too bright, put your hand on your face.” Allah praised the better son of Adam (AS) for surrendering and not fighting back. This is different from when Muslims are fighting non-believers (kafirun), where Muslims must defend themselves, as Jihad means defending oneself and Islam.
Disliked (makruh) patience:
1. Patience in abstaining from physical appetites (food, drink, sex) to the extent of causing damage to one’s health.
2. Patience in doing a makruh deed.
Permissible (mubah) patience:
Patience in abstaining from mubah deeds.
