From the chapter on encouraging patience.

The Shaykh :
Our hadith today is the second hadith from the chapter on encouraging patience, and it is an authentic hadith, as indicated by
the following takhrij, which is his statement (may Allah have mercy on him): "And from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'And whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient' — this is how the hadith is, because it is a fragment — and no one is given a gift better and more expansive than patience." It was narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim in a hadith that came earlier in the issue, namely in the chapter on zakah, and it was narrated
by al-Hakim from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in a shortened form: "Allah does not provide a servant with a good better and more expansive than patience." He said,
"It is authentic according to their conditions." These two hadiths, one from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, which is agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, and the other from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, which al-Hakim uniquely extracted in al-Mustadrak. The hadith of Abu
Hurayrah is a long hadith, or contains some length. The author (may Allah have mercy on him) cited it in the chapter on prohibiting
the issue in the book of zakah. He says in the hadith that some of the Ansar came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asking for

The Shaykh : something from the charity and money, so the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) gave to them, then they asked again, so he gave to them also, and so on for the third time.
They asked, so he gave to them, then the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) admonished them to turn them away
from returning to the aforementioned asking again, except for a pressing necessity. So he (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) said, "Prayer" — on this occasion, whoever is modest,
Allah will make him modest, then he said, "And whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient." The point is that this passage mentioned by the author here has a clear connection
to the chapter on encouraging patience. But we note in this hadith that he did not say "And whoever is patient," but rather said
"Whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient." Here is a legal, educational, and moral benefit, as they say today. This benefit is that
morals are of two types: some are innate, intellectual, and natural, and some are acquired through the effort of the one obligated. There is no doubt
that many people are naturally disposed and created with many good and beautiful morals, such as patience, generosity,
and kindness, and courage, and the like of good and righteous morals. But this does not mean that the matter
depends only on luck and on the nature and disposition. Rather, there is also a field in which the Muslim can acquire from these
morals what he was not provided with, by the grace of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and a disposition from Him for this human being directly. So this
came to draw attention to this reality. He says, "Whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient," meaning whoever seeks and exerts himself
to compel himself to patience, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will help him with it and make him patient for it. So a man should not despair if he
notices some weakness in himself in a certain moral trait and says that morals are divided like provisions, because we will say that
this is a correct statement, but this does not negate at all that the Muslim should engage in the means by which he strengthens in himself
the good morals that the Shari'ah has commanded. Perhaps the famous and authentic hadith
regarding the chain of narration, which is his statement (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him), "I was sent to perfect the noble morals," contains a subtle
attention to this issue. Otherwise, what is the benefit of this sending if the matter is tied to the persons who were created
and disposed with good morals, and the masses of people go thus in vain and scattered, because there is no way for them
to be adorned with righteous morals? The answer to the command is not so. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has undoubtedly created people with
natures and morals, but He (Blessed and Exalted is He), for the perfection of His lordship, also disposed them and created them with what enables them
to rectify the bad morals in them. And if it were not for this, there would be no benefit in sending the messengers
and sending down the books, because every person would be "I and what I was created with of good or evil." This issue is exactly related to striving and engaging in the means, like the other issues, and the most important of which is the issue of divine decree and destiny,
which occupied the scholars, both ancient and modern, whether legal scholars or philosophers and the like. Many of these, even
among the legal scholars, understood from the divine decree what is equivalent to compulsion, and that the human being has no control whatsoever
absolutely, but rather it is the divine decree. That is, in their view, compulsion. The matter is not so. Rather, there is striving for the human being, and will, and acquisition
of this will and this acquisition. The legal rulings came to say, "Do this and do not do that." Among that is, "Be patient, and
your patience is only by Allah." If the human being, for example, could not be patient unless he was created and disposed with patience, then
there would be no benefit in such a command. Rather, that would be from the category of obligating what is not within capacity. And obligating what is not within capacity is a closed door
that has no basis in the Shari'ah, except for some people who deviated in creed, who imagined their Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He)
in His might and His greatness as a tyrant who does what He wills without wisdom and without any justice. Thus they imagine. And the people of
the Sunnah, whom Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) guided to understand this serious issue of divine decree and destiny in a way that does
not conflict with the texts or with the principles of morals, say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is undoubtedly the Doer of what He wills,
and He is not questioned about what He does. But this does not mean that its interpretation is to say, "The Doer of what He wills" means He oppresses, because He is the Doer of what He
wills, and He is not questioned about what He does because He is the Tyrant, and there is no one above Him who takes hold of Him and prevents Him from His action. The interpretation
of such verses is not this interpretation. Rather, the meaning of "The Doer of what He wills" is that He does not will for His servants except good, and He does not will
for them except faith, as He said in the explicit Qur'an: {And He does not accept for His servants disbelief}.
Similarly, His statement (Mighty and Majestic), "He is not questioned about what He does," does not mean that no one can object to His way,
but the truth is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in everything He does, His action is not devoid of His other attributes, among which is wisdom.
Or when He does something, wisdom is coupled with this action. Similarly, justice, and the transcendence of Allah from oppression, all of this is coupled
also with His actions (Blessed and Exalted is He) and His deeds with His servants. So when that is the case, the meaning of His statement (Mighty and Majestic): "He is not questioned about what He does"
is that there is no place to question Him (Glorified and Exalted is He) about what He did, because He did not do anything but the very wisdom and the very justice.
So just as it is said in the topic of divine decree and destiny, it is also said in the topic of morals: Is it not permissible for us to imagine
that moral education does not benefit anything, because the matter returns to the nature and the disposition only? Otherwise, this means, as the meaning
of understanding compulsion from the divine decree, negating the benefit of sending the messengers and sending down the books. If it is said the human being is equipped, then why
is it said that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says to all the servants, "Do and do not do," and the human being is compelled? Similarly, why are we commanded to
be adorned with good morals, among which is patience, if we assume that there is no way to it except for the one created with it? So this hadith came
to affirm this pure principle, which is that the human being is able to adorn himself with the morals of the righteous. And
of this type is also the famous hadith, which is a good hadith from other chains, and it is his statement (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him), "Indeed,
knowledge is by learning, and forbearance is by practicing forbearance." All of this falls under this chapter. Here he says, "And whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient." And there
he says, "Indeed, forbearance is by practicing forbearance," meaning the human being should not despair if he is not provided with forbearance, that there is no way for him to this forbearance, because
it is possible to be deliberate and treat the human being's self by adorning himself with some of the righteous morals that he was not
created with and not disposed with. And from this principle, supported by the Qur'an and the Sunnah, as you see, we can understand the falsity
of a hadith in terms of its chain of narration, and although it is weak in terms of its chain of narration, that hadith which says, "If you hear that a mountain
has moved from its place, believe it, and if you hear that a man has moved from his moral character, do not believe it." If this hadith
were authentic, it would negate the sending down of the books and the sending of the messengers, and the command to be adorned with good morals and to imagine and strive
and the like of morals, as long as the matter is, "Believe if you hear of a mountain moving from its place, and do not believe if
a man moves from his nature and his moral character." If all the principles and all the Shari'ahs have no value, and far be it that the matter
is so. So in this hadith is a noble attention from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). If this principle is moral,
and it is that the Muslim, even if he is not patient by nature, is able to make himself patient, so he should not make an excuse by saying, "I am narrow-minded."
And likewise with other good character traits, as long as the matter is truthful. If you hear that a mountain has been moved from its place, do not believe it, but if
a man departs from his nature and his character, then all principles and all laws are worthless, and God forbid that the matter be
so. So in this hadith there is a noble point of attention from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This is a principle of mine,
and it is that a Muslim, even if he is not patient by nature, is able to restrain himself, so he should not make excuses by saying, “I am short-tempered.”
Patience is like this. Allah created me, and Allah created you, in this state. He did not create you to remain this way, but rather to strive against your own self, just as
a person, from a material standpoint, can be illustrated by a material example. If a person leaves
himself as Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created him, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has prescribed a certain type of life for the human being, but there are things
that are not prescribed for him. I want to say that a person comes from his mother’s womb small, knowing nothing, and then he grows
and grows. This is prescribed for him, whether he wills it or not. But we find that people, by their own choice, each individual
takes a direction in this life, choosing a profession or a craft or something similar that is permissible, and sometimes what is not permissible. And we find
a man, for example, with strong muscles, and another with weak ones. We cannot say that the first was created by Allah in
the opposite of that. The first is exactly like the second. Both were created on the same tune and with the same nature. No child is born with muscles, nor does a child grow up and become four or five years old with muscles. Rather, when
he begins to understand life and understands the benefits of exercise, training, movement, going out, walking, and so on... and some
people adopt these means, especially since they are permissible, and thereby his body becomes strong, and this body becomes
immune to many diseases and plagues, unlike the other person, who is like the first in terms of innate nature,
remains physically weak and frail, lacking the patience that the other has for enduring diseases
and hardships, and so on. How is it that the first utilized the means and thereby his body became strong, while the other neglected these means
and remained as he was? This is an approximate example of how a Muslim can also strengthen the moral aspects by training
his self for that. For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in this hadith: “And whoever strives to be patient, Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, will make him patient.” And if we look at the reason for the coming of the hadith to which the author referred, the book of Zakat, which we mentioned to you earlier,
and he says to those who asked him the first time, so he gave to them, and the second time, so he gave to them, and the third time, so he gave to them, he says
to them: “If you had been patient, it would have been better for you.” What would happen to you if you had not asked me the first, second, and third time? Would
you die of hunger? No. So, “Whoever is modest, Allah will make him modest.” That is, a person may not be modest by nature. This is a beautiful
and good trait in a person, but not every person is granted it. So, if he strives against his self and makes it modest from asking for
things other than dire necessity, then Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will make him modest, meaning He will help him to become modest over time. Likewise, “Whoever strives to be patient,
Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, will make him patient” to speak. This is patience regarding such asking, because asking, as we passed with us earlier in the book of Zakat, is not
recommended except for dire necessity. Perhaps many of you remember that individuals from
the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), among them Abu Bakr, among them Abu al-Darda, and Abu Dharr, pledged allegiance to the Messenger
of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) not to ask people for anything. One of them would not ask people for anything at all. That is because, as
is said in some tribes, asking is humiliation, even for asking “Where is the way?” Therefore, these Companions who pledged allegiance to the Messenger
not to ask people for anything, if one of them was riding his camel and the whip fell from his hand, and a man
was walking with him on the road, by chance or by prior agreement, he would not say to him, “Please, hand me the whip” —
give me the lash. Rather, he would dismount his camel, because if he were riding a small donkey or something similar, it would be easier, but
riding a camel has a specific method, as is observed, so he is compelled to dismount his camel to make it kneel on the ground
to take the whip with his hand, so that he avoids saying to his companion, “Hand me the whip.” So it is better and more preferable not to ask. Those
who pledged allegiance to the Messenger (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) to these noble moral traits, that
they come to the king or the president and say, “Give us... ten thousand. I need...” and so on. “Whoever is modest, Allah will make him modest”
and “Whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient.” This is how the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his ummah (the Muslim community) with good morals. Then
he (peace be upon him) said, explaining the virtue of patience: “No one has been given a gift better and more expansive than patience.” If we link
this hadith to a section of the previous hadith, the lesson of the past: “Purity is half of faith.” And he (peace be upon him) said
“And patience is light.” And we said at that time, regarding hearing or wisdom, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) said of patience that it
is light, and of prayer that it is light. And we mentioned that light derives its strength and brightness from light. And in that is an indication
that prayer is from patience. So whoever does not be patient in obedience to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, does not obey Him and does not pray to Him. And
from here we understand that a person has not been given anything better for him than patience. And patience is what supplies him with strength and energy
to obey what Allah has commanded and to refrain from what Allah has forbidden. Like that is the second hadith, which is the hadith of Abu
Hurayrah: “Allah has not granted a servant anything better for him or more expansive than patience.” Because this patience is what supplies him with strength
and energy to obey what Allah has commanded and to refrain from what Allah has forbidden. Like that is the second hadith, which is
the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: “Allah has not granted a servant anything better or more expansive than patience.” The first of them is fabricated, and the second is very
weak. As for the one after them, it is a mawquf (a report stopping at a Companion) and has a sound chain of narration to its narrator. And it is his saying: “And from 'Alqamah, he said,
'Abdullah said: Patience is half of faith, and certainty is all of faith.’” It was narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir, and its narrators are the narrators of
the authentic (Sahih) collections. And it is mawquf, and some of them raised it (to the Prophet). The correct view regarding this hadith is that it is from the speech of Abdullah, and here
Abdullah is Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him and grant him satisfaction). And this is a point in hadith science: if Abdullah is mentioned among the Companions, the one intended is this Abdullah
ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him and grant him satisfaction), especially here, and there is a clue, which is that the narrator of this athar (report) from Abdullah
is Ibn 'Alqamah. So this chain, 'Alqamah from Abdullah, is certainly Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. And perhaps the author,
(may Allah have mercy on him), mentioned it contrary to his custom, [mentioning] a Tabi'i (successor) for this hadith. You always see that he begins with the name
of the Companion and does not mention the Tabi'i. But here he said, “From 'Alqamah, from Abdullah,” to draw attention to what
we mentioned, which is that this Abdullah is Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, because 'Alqamah only narrates from him. 'Alqamah narrates from
Abdullah that he said: “Patience is half of faith, and certainty is all of faith.” We said that the correct view, as the author said, is that
this hadith is mawquf, meaning it is the speech of Ibn Mas'ud, and some of them raised it. But whoever raised it is weak in himself,
and he is mistaken because he contradicted the trustworthy one who stopped it at Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. But this athar from Abdullah ibn
Mas'ud contains what suggests to us that he quoted...
Then he is mistaken, because he contradicted the trustworthy one who informed him about 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. But this report from 'Abdullah ibn
Mas'ud contains what suggests to us that he derived it from .....