Is patience in the face of affliction greater than patience in the face of sins?
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The student: Patience in obedience is greater than patience in ......
The Shaykh : It pains you, but it is something beyond your choice, beyond your choice. I mean, you left the sins by your own choice; you were able to do them, but you did not. As for this, you cannot remove the affliction. The affliction that has befallen you, you cannot remove it. So suppose an affliction befalls a person; can he remove it by standing up and slapping his face, or tearing his clothes?
The student: It does not benefit him, but if he is patient and submits ..
The Shaykh : No, no, because submission to the Shari'ah is better than submission to divine decree. Submission to the Shari'ah is what a person is praised and commended for. But submission to divine decree, everyone submits to divine decree, even... Do you not hear the saying of the pre-Islamic poet:
And I am resolute against the mockers, showing them that I do not crumble before the trials of time
Even the disbelievers now, their actions bring down calamities upon them, but he says: it does not matter, he is patient and... and he is a disbeliever who does not hope for reward or recompense for it.
The student: But in the face, O Shaykh .. patience in hardships, patience in obedience, a person trains himself for it, and that is it .. upon it, like training for prayer, for fasting. But if a great calamity befalls him .. this is something he has not trained for.
The Shaykh : No, he can train for it if he is afflicted ... No, he cannot train for it, even for worship .. like Hajj, which does not come except once in a lifetime, and yet it is considered patience in obedience despite its physical, financial, and security hardships. The issue of falling or not falling is another matter. Although we say: is the man who struggles with obedience and finds difficulty in his soul in dealing with it when performing the obedience, or another person who has trained in obedience so that it has become easy for him, which of the two is better?
The student: The one for whom it is easy.
The Shaykh : As for the first, his work is more arduous, and the second is in a more complete state. The second, for whom obedience has become like an innate trait in his soul, is undoubtedly in a more complete state than the first, because for him, obedience has become an instinct from his love for it and its ease for him. But the first is more arduous in his work, so he is given the reward of the complete ones, and that one is given the reward of the patient, meaning there is a type of struggle and hardship. The scholars differ on this issue as to which is better, but the correct view is this detail: it is said that the one who performs obedience and it is easy for him and he submits to it without struggle is undoubtedly in a more complete state than the first, without doubt. And the second is more arduous for him, so he is given the reward according to the degree of psychological hardship. Now look, for example, one person attends the lesson with ease and submission and sees it as a gain, and another does not; he struggles with himself, "Allahu Akbar, let me get out of the house" and come to attend the lesson. Which of the two is in a more complete state?
The student: The first.
The Shaykh : The first, and although the second is rewarded for his action, the first is in a more complete state and closer in rank.
The Shaykh : It pains you, but it is something beyond your choice, beyond your choice. I mean, you left the sins by your own choice; you were able to do them, but you did not. As for this, you cannot remove the affliction. The affliction that has befallen you, you cannot remove it. So suppose an affliction befalls a person; can he remove it by standing up and slapping his face, or tearing his clothes?
The student: It does not benefit him, but if he is patient and submits ..
The Shaykh : No, no, because submission to the Shari'ah is better than submission to divine decree. Submission to the Shari'ah is what a person is praised and commended for. But submission to divine decree, everyone submits to divine decree, even... Do you not hear the saying of the pre-Islamic poet:
And I am resolute against the mockers, showing them that I do not crumble before the trials of time
Even the disbelievers now, their actions bring down calamities upon them, but he says: it does not matter, he is patient and... and he is a disbeliever who does not hope for reward or recompense for it.
The student: But in the face, O Shaykh .. patience in hardships, patience in obedience, a person trains himself for it, and that is it .. upon it, like training for prayer, for fasting. But if a great calamity befalls him .. this is something he has not trained for.
The Shaykh : No, he can train for it if he is afflicted ... No, he cannot train for it, even for worship .. like Hajj, which does not come except once in a lifetime, and yet it is considered patience in obedience despite its physical, financial, and security hardships. The issue of falling or not falling is another matter. Although we say: is the man who struggles with obedience and finds difficulty in his soul in dealing with it when performing the obedience, or another person who has trained in obedience so that it has become easy for him, which of the two is better?
The student: The one for whom it is easy.
The Shaykh : As for the first, his work is more arduous, and the second is in a more complete state. The second, for whom obedience has become like an innate trait in his soul, is undoubtedly in a more complete state than the first, because for him, obedience has become an instinct from his love for it and its ease for him. But the first is more arduous in his work, so he is given the reward of the complete ones, and that one is given the reward of the patient, meaning there is a type of struggle and hardship. The scholars differ on this issue as to which is better, but the correct view is this detail: it is said that the one who performs obedience and it is easy for him and he submits to it without struggle is undoubtedly in a more complete state than the first, without doubt. And the second is more arduous for him, so he is given the reward according to the degree of psychological hardship. Now look, for example, one person attends the lesson with ease and submission and sees it as a gain, and another does not; he struggles with himself, "Allahu Akbar, let me get out of the house" and come to attend the lesson. Which of the two is in a more complete state?
The student: The first.
The Shaykh : The first, and although the second is rewarded for his action, the first is in a more complete state and closer in rank.