Patience in the face of trials and the struggle against the self

The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The presenter:
Lord of the worlds. And may prayers and peace be upon the leader of the white-ankled ones, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. Welcome, brothers and sisters, to a blessed meeting on the program *Light on the Path*. The guest for this meeting is the Honorable Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan, a member of the Senior Scholars Committee and a member of the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta. Welcome to the Shaykh in this meeting. May Allah greet you and bless you.

The questioner:
This questioner, Abd al-Rahman al-Dahim, says: How is patience in the face of trials, and the struggle of the self toward obedience and away from sin?

The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. To proceed: Patience regarding trials is that one avoids trials, stays away from them, and asks Allah for safety from them. As for the rest of the question—patience in the face of trials, and the struggle of the self toward obedience and away from sin. Yes, the struggle of the self toward obedience is obligatory upon the Muslim not to surrender to laziness and obey his self, but rather to take hold of himself, resolve to do so, accustom him to obedience, and train him for it. For the struggle against the self is the first type of jihad and the greatest type of jihad. So whoever does not struggle against his self does not struggle against anyone else. Yes.