Can we reconcile the two hadiths: (Knowledge is only acquired through learning, and forbearance is only acquired through practicing forbearance) and the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (Indeed, you cannot change his character until you change his nature)?

The questioner: Can we reconcile the two hadiths: and the hadith of 'Abdullah? Forbearance is acquired by practicing forbearance, meaning by learning how to be forbearing. As for the one who does not seek to practice forbearance, his state is like that of this person. If a person does not try, it is not possible to change his nature, because he did not try in the case of this person.

The Shaykh : Yes, but he does not mean that.

The questioner: He does not mean that.

The Shaykh : Of course, he does not mean that. The whole point of the discussion is that a person must strive against himself and train himself to oppose his disposition and his nature, which is distorted from the Shari'ah. In summary, every person among us, every male and female, knows that they have been created with beautiful traits, for which they should praise Allah (Mighty and Majestic). They also find in themselves other traits that are deviant from sound character. One should not surrender to such speech, and to the speech of many people that we hear from men and women: "There is no modesty in him, leave him alone!" No, that is despair, and it contradicts those texts that direct the Muslim to care for his self and to purify it. Then we must know that for every term there is a record. For example, a person created with stinginess cannot return and make his self generous and liberal in the span of a month, two months, a year, or two years. This requires continuous striving. Therefore, if some of us is afflicted with a child or a friend who has a deviation in some character trait, and he treats this deviation in his friend for a month or two, or in his child for a year or two, he should not despair and not say there is no hope, because for every term there is a record. This is the benefit of those texts we mentioned, applying them to this text narrated by the author from Ibn Mas'ud, which leads us to understand that a person's character cannot be changed or altered. We say: If we cannot change it radically, we can certainly modify it. For example, we may not be able to make a stingy man, by nature and disposition, like Hatim al-Tai of his time. We may not be able to do that, but we can purify his self from the stinginess and miserliness that, if he falls into it, the Lord of the Worlds will torment him for. For example, if he does not pay the obligatory zakah of his wealth, we may be able to raise him to the level where he pays only the zakah of his wealth that is obligatory upon him. That would be a great and very great stage.