Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
SABR (PATIENCE): The Superior Solution
Patience is a superior solution to the problems faced by the individual. It also contributes to building a heavenly personality.
Patience is a great virtue without which a person’s aim to lead his life in this world with high ideals can seldom be achieved. The reality is that at every step an individual is faced with experiences so unpleasant and so provoking that they divert him from his true purpose in life – to the point of making him lose sight of his ideals.
This being so, if he allows himself to be provoked at every turn and becomes embroiled in every unpleasant issue, he will cease to be able to surmount the hurdles in his onward journey. He will just keep frittering away his time and energy in irrelevant matters.
The sole solution to this problem is the exercise of patience. Patience is that prolonged self-control which enables the individual to tread the path of restraint when he has bitter experiences, instead of allowing himself to be provoked into vengeful or retaliatory behaviour. It makes it easier for him to face life’s vicissitudes with equanimity and forge ahead on the path of truth.
The exercise of patience, on the one hand, is a solution to the problems faced by the individual. On the other hand, it is a major aid in the building of a superior personality. Those without patience fall a prey to negative influences, while those are patient develop positive personalities.
It should be emphasized that patience means neither retreat nor capitulation. It means rather curbing turbulent emotions in order to follow a course marked by sanity and wisdom. Being patient and using one’s brain makes it easier to determine which is the most beneficial course of action to follow.