Qur’an verses and hadith about patience
Ṣabr is wider than gritted teeth: it covers holding steady in hardship, holding back from what is forbidden, and staying with an act of worship past the point it stops feeling like one. Each one carries its full source and a short explanation of what it was answering.
- The most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little.Sahih al-Bukhari 6464
- Patience is radiance.Sahih Muslim 223
- Wondrous is the affair of the believer, for all his affairs are good. If prosperity comes to him he is grateful, and that is good for him; if hardship befalls him he is patient, and that is good for him.Sahih Muslim 2999
- No fatigue, illness, worry, grief, harm or distress befalls a Muslim, even the prick of a thorn, but that Allah expiates by it some of his sins.Sahih al-Bukhari 5641
- The greatest reward comes with the greatest trial. When Allah loves a people, He tests them; whoever is content attains His pleasure, and whoever is discontent attains His displeasure.Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2396
- Whoever tries to be patient, Allah will make him patient. No one is granted a gift better and more comprehensive than patience.Sahih al-Bukhari 1469
- Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler.Sahih al-Bukhari 6416
- Fear Allah wherever you are; follow a bad deed with a good one to wipe it out; and treat people with good character.Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1987
- O Allah, I seek refuge in You from anxiety and grief, from weakness and laziness, from cowardice and miserliness, and from being overcome by debt and overpowered by men.Sahih al-Bukhari 6369
- O Allah, grant my soul its piety and purify it, for You are the best of those who purify it; You are its Guardian and Protector.Sahih Muslim 2722
- All the children of Adam sin, and the best of those who sin are those who repent.Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2499
- The strong man is not the one who overpowers others; the strong man is the one who controls himself at the time of anger.Sahih al-Bukhari 6114
- Do not become angry.Sahih al-Bukhari 6116
- Dunya is not the resting place, it is the testing place.Reflection
- Whoever plants thorns will not reap grapes from them.Arabic proverb
- In deliberation there is safety, and in haste there is regret.Arabic proverb
- Whoever seeks something will find it — and if he does not find it, he will soon land close to it.Arabic proverb
- My son, I have never once regretted being silent. If speech is silver, then silence is gold.Luqman the Wise
- Whoever walks the path will arrive.Arabic proverb
- Whoever keeps knocking at the door will soon have it opened.Arabic proverb
- Every steed has its stumble.Arabic proverb
- The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.Arabic proverb
- The best of all matters are those in the middle.Arabic proverb
- The answer to a fool is silence.Arabic proverb
- Verily, with hardship comes ease.Quran 94:6
- Indeed, Allah is with the patient.Quran 2:153
- And whoever fears Allah, He will make for him a way out.Quran 65:2
- So do not weaken and do not grieve.Quran 3:139
- Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.Quran 2:286
- Do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins.Quran 39:53
- And seek help through patience and prayer.Quran 2:45
- Do not fear and do not grieve, but receive good tidings of Paradise.Quran 41:30
- Indeed, adversity has touched me, and You are the most merciful of the merciful.Quran 21:83
- Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your full compensation on the Day of Resurrection.Quran 3:185
- Allah will bring about, after hardship, ease.Quran 65:7
- Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us.Quran 9:40
- It is He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers.Quran 48:4
- Despair not of relief from Allah.Quran 12:87
- Perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not.Quran 2:216
- So that you do not despair over what has eluded you, nor exult over what He has given you.Quran 57:23
- No disaster strikes except by permission of Allah; and whoever believes in Allah, He will guide his heart.Quran 64:11
- And when I am ill, it is He who cures me.Quran 26:80
- I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allah.Quran 12:86
- So patience is most fitting, and Allah is the one whose help is sought.Quran 12:18
- Indeed, We found him patient - an excellent servant. Indeed, he was one repeatedly turning back to Allah.Quran 38:44
- No! Indeed, with me is my Lord; He will guide me.Quran 26:62
- Patience is the key to relief.Arabic proverb
- What can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart; wherever I go, it goes with me and never leaves me.Ibn Taymiyyah
- O son of Adam, you are but a collection of days; whenever a day passes, part of you passes away.al-Hasan al-Basri
- Let the days do what they will, and be content when fate has decreed.Imam al-Shafii (Diwan)
- Whoever does not taste the hardship of learning for an hour will drink the humiliation of ignorance for a lifetime.Imam al-Shafii (Diwan)
- The real prisoner is the one whose heart is locked away from his Lord, and the real captive is the one taken captive by his desires.Ibn Taymiyyah
- Whoever imagines he can escape people’s criticism and fault-finding is out of his mind.Ibn Hazm (al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar)
- The fool addresses me with every ugliness, and I would rather not answer him. He grows in foolishness and I grow in forbearance, like aloeswood that burning only makes more fragrant.Imam al-Shafii (Diwan)
- If patience and gratitude were two camels, I would not care which of them I rode.Umar ibn al-Khattab
- No one truly understands the religion who does not count hardship a blessing and ease a trial.Sufyan al-Thawri
- We found the best of our life through patience.Umar ibn al-Khattab
- Allah never grants a servant a blessing, then takes it from him and gives him patience in its place, except that what He gave in exchange is better than what He took.Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
- Many a calamity leaves a man no room to breathe, yet with Allah lies the way out. It closed in, and just when its links were locked tight, it gave way — though I had thought it never would.Imam al-Shafii (Diwan)
- Resisting a desire is easier than bearing what the desire brings with it.Ibn al-Qayyim (al-Fawaid)
- If you load your heart with the worries and burdens of this world and neglect its daily devotions — its food and life — you are like a traveller who overloads his mount and does not feed it. How quickly it will stop beneath him.Ibn al-Qayyim (al-Fawaid)
Questions on this
- Why do Muslims fast in Ramadan?Qur’an 2:183 · Qur’an 2:185
- Is fasting only about food and drink?Sahih al-Bukhari 1903
- How am I supposed to deal with anger?Qur’an 3:159 · Sahih al-Bukhari 6114
- Do I have to forgive someone who genuinely wronged me?Qur’an 42:40 · Qur’an 24:22
- I keep failing at this. Does that mean I was never sincere?Qur’an 3:135 · Qur’an 2:286
- If Allah is merciful, why is there so much suffering?Qur’an 2:155 · Qur’an 2:156
- I get intrusive, blasphemous thoughts about Allah. Am I sinning?Sahih al-Bukhari 3276 · Qur’an 2:286
- What should I do when the Muslim community is divided and fighting?Sahih al-Bukhari 7084 · Qur’an 3:103
- I went years without fasting Ramadan. Where do I start?Qur’an 39:53 · Qur’an 2:184