What is the difference between the rank of patience and the rank of contentment in the face of calamity?

The questioner : The questioner says: You mentioned, may Allah reward you with good, that the rank of patience is lower than the rank of contentment. However, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned that some of the Tabi'un, or Musa, or someone else, had a child who died, and he smiled. When he was asked about it, he said, "I only smiled because of the decree of Allah." The Shaykh said: The state of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is more beautiful, when he said, "The heart is in pain, the eye is weeping, and we say nothing but what our Lord is pleased with." So his state (peace and blessings be upon him) was patience, as that is more appropriate for the station. This is the end of its meaning. They presented, Honorable Shaykh, and clarified this issue.

The Shaykh : Yes. In reality, smiling in the face of calamities does not indicate the perfection of the rank, but rather indicates a deficiency in the rank, and that the person wanted to drive away the sadness in his heart with this smile. But if the sadness did not enter the heart in the first place, that is more perfect. Accordingly, if a person is struck by a calamity and is sad about it, but by looking at the divine decree and destiny, it is the same for him as if it had not happened, then this is contentment. But for a person to be struck by a calamity, his son dies, and he meets him in the cemetery laughing or smiling, this is not appropriate. This indicates that his heart could not bear it and he wanted to drive this away with that, so his state fell short of the state of one whose heart was able to bear it without anything apparent appearing to drive this thing away. Otherwise, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) explicitly stated in *Al-Fawa'id*, and Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) explicitly stated that contentment is more perfect, and that patience is obligatory by consensus, and that there is disagreement regarding contentment, and the majority of scholars hold that it is recommended.