A moral and educational benefit, which is that character traits are both innate and acquired.

The Shaykh : However, we note that this hadith did not say "and whoever is patient," but rather said "and whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient." Herein lies a legal, natural, and educational benefit, as they say today. This benefit is that character traits are of two types: some are innate and natural, and others are acquired through the effort of the one obligated. Undoubtedly, many people are naturally disposed and created with many good and noble character traits, such as patience, generosity, and bravery, and the like of these good and righteous traits. But this does not mean that the matter depends solely on luck, nature, and disposition. There is also room for the Muslim to acquire from these traits what he has not been granted, as a favor from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and a character trait from Him for this human being directly. This hadith came to draw attention to this reality. It says, "And whoever strives to be patient, Allah will make him patient," meaning that if a person strains himself and makes an effort to compel himself to patience, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will help him with it and make him patient. Therefore, a man should not despair if he notices some weakness in himself regarding a certain trait. He might say that character traits are divided like sustenance. We will say that this statement is correct, but that does not negate at all that the Muslim should engage in the means by which he strengthens in himself the good character traits that the Lawgiver has commanded. Perhaps the famous and authentic hadith, which is His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) , contains a subtle attention to this issue. Otherwise, what is the benefit of this sending forth if the matter is tied only to those who were created and disposed with good character traits? Those who were created with good character traits, and the masses of people would go thus in vain and as scattered dust, because there is no way for them to adopt righteous character traits. The answer is that the matter is not so. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has undoubtedly created people with natures and character traits, but He (Blessed and Exalted is He), in the perfection of His Lordship, also disposed them and created them with what enables them to rectify the bad character 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 say, "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 issue, which is more important, namely the issue of divine decree and destiny, which occupied scholars in the past and present, whether religious scholars or materialist philosophers and the like. Many of these, even among the scholars of religion, understood from the decree what equates to compulsion, and that the human being has no control whatsoever, but rather it is the decree, or in their claim, compulsion. The matter is not so; rather, there is striving from the human being, and will, and acquisition through this will and acquisition. The legal rulings came to say, "Do this and do not do that," and among that is "Be patient" . If the human being were unable, for example, to be patient unless he was created and disposed with patience, there would be no benefit in such a command. Rather, that would be from the category of obligating what is beyond capacity. Obligating what is beyond capacity is a closed door with no basis in the Shari'ah, except for some people who deviated in creed. They 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. They imagined it this way. And the people of the Sunnah, whom Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) guided to understand this serious issue of divine decree and destiny, understand that it does not conflict with the texts or with the principles of character. They say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), without doubt, , but this should not be interpreted by saying , meaning He wrongs, because , because He is a tyrant above whom there is no one to take hold of Him and prevent Him from His actions. The interpretation of such verses is not this interpretation. Rather, the meaning of 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 . Similarly, His saying (Mighty and Majestic) 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. So when He does something, wisdom is coupled with this action, as well as justice, and the exaltation of Allah from injustice. All of this is also coupled with His (Blessed and Exalted is He) actions and His dealings with His servants. So at that time, the meaning of His saying (Mighty and Majestic) is that there is no room to ask the Exalted about what He did, because He did not do anything except 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 character. It is not permissible for us to imagine that moral education does not benefit anything, because the matter returns only to nature and disposition. Otherwise, this would mean, like the understanding of compulsion from the decree, negating the benefit of sending the messengers and sending down the books. If it is said that the human being is compelled, then why is it said that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says to all servants, "Do this and do not do that," and the human being is compelled? Similarly, why are we commanded to adopt good character traits, including patience, if we assume that there is no way to it except for one who was created with it? This hadith came to affirm this moral principle, which is that the human being is able to characterize himself with righteous character traits. Also of this type is the famous hadith, which is hasan (good) from other chains, and it is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) . All of this falls under this category. Here he says , and there he says , meaning that the human being should not despair if he is not granted forbearance, thinking that there is no way to this forbearance, because it is possible through training and treating oneself that he characterizes himself with some righteous character traits that he was not created or disposed with. From this principle, supported by the Qur'an and the Sunnah, as you see, we can understand the invalidity of a hadith in terms of its chain, even if in terms of its text, and even if in terms of its chain it is weak. That hadith 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 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 adopt good character traits and to strive for patience and the like of these traits, as long as the matter is "believe it if you hear of a mountain moving from its place, and do not believe it if a man moves from his nature and character." If so, all principles and all laws have no value, and may it be far from that. So in this hadith is a noble attention from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to this moral principle, which 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, "By Allah, I am narrow-chested, this is how Allah created me." "By Allah, He created you this way, but He did not create you to remain this way. Rather, He created you to strive against yourself." Just as, from the material aspect, we can give an example of this. From the material aspect, if the human being left himself as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created him, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) obligated a type of life on the human being, but there are things that are not obligated on him. I want to say that the human being comes from his mother's womb small, knowing nothing, then he grows and becomes big and big. This is obligated on him whether he wills it or not. But we find that people, by their own choice, each individual of them takes a direction in this life. He chooses a profession or a craft or the like of what is permissible, and sometimes what is not permissible. So we find a man, for example, strong in muscles, and another weak in them. We cannot say that the first was created by Allah this way, contrary to the second. The first is exactly like the second. Both were created on the same tune and with the same nature. No newborn is born with muscles, and no child grows up and becomes four or five years old with muscles. Rather, when he begins to understand life and understand the benefits of sports, for example, and exercises and movement and going and walking and so on, some people adopt these means, especially since they are permissible, and thereby their bodies become strong, and this body becomes immune to many diseases and plagues, unlike the other person, who is like the first in terms of disposition, remains in terms of his body weak and frail. He does not have the patience that the other has in bearing hardships and diseases and the like. How is this? The first engaged in the means, so his body became strong by them, and the other neglected these means, so he remained as he was. This is an approximate example of how the Muslim can also strengthen in himself the moral aspects by training himself on that. For this, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in this hadith . And if we look at the reason for the coming of the hadith, which the author referred to in the book of Zakah and we mentioned to you earlier, he says to those who asked him the first time, so he gave them, and the second time, so he gave them, and the third time, so he gave 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 time and the second time and the third time? Would you die of hunger? No." So whoever is modest, Allah will make him modest. That is, the human being may not be modest by nature. This is also a beautiful and good trait in the human being, but not every person is granted it. So if he strives against himself and makes it modest from asking without necessity, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will make him modest, meaning He will help him to become modest with time. Similarly, "and whoever strives to be patient, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) will make him patient," meaning he makes an effort to be patient from such asking, because asking, as passed with us earlier in the book of Zakah, is not recommended except for 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, or Abu Dharr, pledged allegiance to the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) that they would not ask people for anything, that they would not ask people for anything at all. That is because, as is said in some reports, "Asking is humiliation, even if it is for the direction of the way". Therefore, these Companions who pledged allegiance to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) not to ask people for anything, if one of them was riding on his camel and the whip fell from his hand, and a man in front of him 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, if he was riding a small donkey or the like... to say to his companion, "Hand me the whip." So it is more fitting and more fitting that those who pledged allegiance to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) on these noble character traits not come to the king or the president and say, "Give us a hundred papers, a thousand papers, ten thousand papers. I need it, I am such and such," and so on . Thus the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) raises his Ummah on these good character traits.