Ibnul Qayyim al Jawziyyah
رحمه الله
Patience may be of two types, either physical or psychological,
and both types may either be by choice, or without choice, as follows:
1. Physical patience by choice, such as
doing hard labour willingly.
2. Physical patience without choice, such as
patiently bearing illness, beatings and extremes of heat and cold.
3. Psychological patience by choice, such as
refraining from things which both the Sharî‘ah and common sense say are wrong.
4. Psychological patience without choice, such as
patiently bearing an enforced separation from one whom you love.
Different degrees of patience
As mentioned above, patience is of two types, by choice or without
choice. Patience by choice is of a higher status than patience without
choice, as the latter is common to all people, but the former is not attainable
by all. Therefore the patience of Yûsuf عليه السلام in disobeying
the wife of al-‘Azîz, and his patience in bearing the resulting punishment, is
of higher status than his patience in response to his brothers’ actions, when
they threw him in the well, separated him from his father and sold him as a
slave. This superior, voluntary, patience is the patience of the Prophets, of
Ibrâhîm, Mûsâ, Nûh, ‘Īsâ and the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (صلّى اللَّهُ عليه وسلّم). Their patience was in calling the
people to Allâh and in striving against the enemies of Allâh.
The patience of men and the patience of
animals
These four types of patience apply only to human beings. Animals
share only the two types of patience in which there is no choice, and man is
distinguished by having the patience in which there is choice. However, many
people have only the types of patience that animals have, i.e. patience without
choice.
The patience of jinn
Jinn share the quality of patience with humans, as they are
responsible for their actions like humans are. They need patience to fulfill
their responsibilities towards Allâh سُبحانه وتعالى the same way that we do. One might ask: are they
responsible in the same way that we are, or in a different way? The answer is
that with regard to matters of emotion and feelings they are responsible just
as we are, and share the obligation to love for the sake of Allâh and hate for
Allâh سُبحانه
وتعالى, to believe and have
faith, to take believers for friends and unbelievers for enemies, etc. But as
far as physical matters such as ghusl, wudû‘, washing after relieving oneself
and circumcision are concerned, they are not the same as us. Their duties in
that regard are in accordance with the way they are created.
