Chapter Fourteen: Patience and Forbearance

Having recognized their innate talents and evaluated their will, a person must, in the third stage, assess the strength of their patience, tranquility (soothing calm), and capacity for self-restraint from committing wrongful acts, as well as their endurance in challenging and unpleasant situations. The vigor and resilience of will, the measure of personal equilibrium, and the control of opaque emotions and distressing experiences are proportionate to one’s aspiration, patience, forbearance, ability to endure hardships, satisfaction, and transcendence through love for God’s most perfect order.

Patience is defined as the preservation and self-protection from anxiety, restlessness, and agitation, maintaining calm and serenity by voluntarily and authoritatively limiting personal freedoms, and persisting in overcoming obstacles without deviating from the path toward one’s goal. In psychology, patience is recognized as self-regulation and the ability to tolerate delays in need fulfillment, which is associated with emotional regulation and anxiety reduction.

The Essence of Patience

I have comprehensively and precisely elucidated the concept of patience in the lessons on self-care of the mind and heart. Patience denotes a chosen and voluntary state, not an imposed one. Thus, the term patience does not apply to conditions forced upon an individual, where they refrain from action due to incapacity, fear, or shame. Shame and modesty arise in the face of weakness or deficiency. A weak individual feels embarrassment and disgrace. One who is perfect, like the Exalted Truth, is devoid of shame. A person who perspires from shame has a body afflicted by some form of weakness or impairment, rendering them incapable of being patient, forbearing, or resilient. Modesty is a consequence of decorum; outward decorum stems from inner character, virtues, and disposition, which, in turn, are products of awareness. Among the causes of immodesty are poverty and deprivation. A poor individual cannot uphold decorum or modesty.

Patience is a profound and intrinsic capacity. An individual with limited patience remains unseasoned, immature, and unripe. The Holy Quran states that your strength and resolve in your endeavors depend on your commitment to the spiritual virtue of patience and the moral excellence of forbearance: “And be patient over what befalls you; indeed, that is of the matters [requiring] determination” (Luqman: 17). Patience entails not becoming anxious, worried, emotional, discordant, restless, or hasty during hardships, calamities, or internal desires. It involves maintaining a state of steadfastness in the face of problems and obstacles, refraining from impulsive or untimely actions outside divine decree, not succumbing to ingratitude or complaints, and remaining steadfast in duty—or, more precisely, in a state of selflessness and love—without abandoning it until the door of salvation opens through divine grace at the appointed time.

Quranic Models of Patience

Patience, as a spiritual attribute in positive psychology, is linked to faith and the meaning of life, contributing to psychological well-being. An individual with a high capacity for patience and forbearance, who can consciously choose to be patient, gains an authoritative foundation to attain knowledge and faith. Faith, worship, and remembrance are effective for such a person who can access their heart and its events. Patience, alongside certainty and assurance, forms the foundation for building faith, entering the paradise of divine tranquility, and achieving satisfaction and contentment with life. Faith without patience is likened to a body without a head; it lacks vitality and efficacy. According to the Quran, attaining the rank of divine prophethood follows faithful patience and seasoned experience at the appointed time: “And We made from among them leaders guiding by Our command when they were patient and believed with certainty in Our signs” (As-Sajda: 24).

Patience and composure in hardships, poverty, losses, and constraints, as well as dignity and poise in competitive arenas, conflicts, and excruciating pressures, create the conditions for the blossoming of will, senses, intellect, talents, and inner endowments. The Quran declares: “So be patient as the Messengers of firm resolve were patient, and do not seek to hasten [punishment] for them” (Al-Ahqaf: 35). The concept of patience in religious texts aligns with resilience and perseverance in the face of adversities, as explored in the psychology of religion.

Divine prophets, as exemplary models of patience, exhibited forbearance against obstinate enemies and the harms of malevolent adversaries. The Quran advises seeking divine support through patience and prayer, for God’s power and grace are with the patient: “O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient” (Al-Baqara: 153).

Patience: The Pinnacle of Virtues

Patience in pursuing righteous deeds, undertaken without greed and with love—an endeavor far surpassing mere satisfaction—is empowering and invigorating, regulating and tempering intense nervous and emotional reactions. Emotional regulation refers to the processes through which an individual evaluates, monitors, and sustains or modifies their emotions. Patience, as a mechanism of emotional regulation, is associated with mental health and the reduction of impulsive behaviors. There exists a positive correlation between patience and psychological well-being. Patience, by regulating emotions, prevents behavioral impulsivity and hasty decision-making, thereby facilitating the recognition of truth and righteousness and the pursuit of the rightful path.

Patience counters panic and lack of self-control, opposing a form of anxiety that undermines stability and steadfastness in pursuing the path of truth, rendering a person vulnerable. Thus, patience is psychological resilience in the face of adversities or emotionally charged situations, a fortifying force that prevents capitulation to temptations or psychological suggestions contrary to truth.

Patience and steadfastness, meaning the preservation of self from restlessness and worry, are the root from which numerous moral virtues branch, such as the profoundly significant spiritual virtue of generosity, as well as courage, justice, trust, the capacity to seek forgiveness, and the avoidance of vengeance, retaliation, or punishing others. Furthermore, openness, refinement, and love are extensions of faithful patience and its outcomes.

Patience is the fruit of spiritual flourishing and transcendence (enduring hardships, calamities, and adversities to attain divine proximity with love for the acts of the Exalted Truth), forbearance (tolerance and endurance of trials and difficulties), satisfaction (acceptance and adaptation to the present state without complaint, embracing what the current situation offers), perseverance (steadfastness and consistency in tasks and activities), and restraint (self-control in the face of desires and mastery over internal impulses). Tolerance in crises and resilience under stress and pressure are constructs of patience. Resilience implies the capacity to return to a prior state, a notion absent in patience. Forbearance (hilm), another spiritual virtue in contrast to folly (safah), involves rational self-restraint and avoidance of reckless outbursts in moments of anger, forming part of the meaning of patience. Forbearance and its pretense may be accompanied by weakness, but patience is always an inner strength and fortitude.

Patience provides assurance in treading the path of truth and righteousness, enhancing the quality of life, serving as a factor in avoiding procrastination, anxiety, and depression, and fostering hope for the future and anticipation of relief. It is a resistance that brings the sense of God’s presence and divine success alongside the individual. The Quran states: “And He rewarded them for their patience with a Garden and silk [garments]” (Al-Insan: 12). The degrees and ranks of paradise are proportionate to individuals’ patience and forbearance. In Surah Al-Furqan, the lofty stations of paradise, referred to as al-ghurfa, are described as the reward for enduring and persevering in inevitable matters, a steadfastness granted by God’s grace: “Be patient, and your patience is not but through Allah” and based on the noble verse “And for your Lord, be patient” (Al-Muddathir: 7), ultimately returning to God: “Those will be rewarded with the highest place for what they patiently endured, and they will be met therein with greetings and peace” (Al-Furqan: 75).

Forbearance, avoiding agitation, constriction, or distress in the face of hardships, maintaining resilience, and refraining from lamentation or complaint in response to events and problems—all of which pave the way for sound problem-solving and adherence to divine decrees at their appointed time with love—constitute the essence of patience and forbearance.

The Deficiency of Patience

A lack of patience and weak forbearance are the roots of certain psychological issues and disorders. Some instances of insomnia, irregularity, sleeping at inappropriate times, nocturnal anxieties, or poor eating habits stem from impatience. Until the issue of patience is resolved, disorders related to sleep, eating, or unhealthy abstention will persist. One who lacks patience cannot bring any task to perfection in its proper place. An individual with limited patience experiences abundant anxiety, distress, and emotional turmoil. Such a person will have a shorter lifespan. Patient individuals tend to live longer.

Low self-control and limited tolerance are associated with anxiety, insomnia, and nutritional issues. No matter how challenging worldly problems and adversities may be, they pass with patience, forbearance, and divine support and grace. What remains is the manner in which a person confronts worldly events and occurrences, and the choices they make through their will and volition. The fortunate individual is one who, in every incident, upholds purity, sincerity, and allegiance to the Exalted Truth, safeguarding their eternal well-being rather than merely seeking temporary solutions to transient problems.

The world is an expanse of fleeting moments, none of which are permanent or enduring. Yet, a person carries the burden of their responsibilities at every moment to the eternal abode. While they may be relieved of the actions and tasks of a given moment, they remain forever a guest of their deeds in that moment. The eternal reckoning is tied to actions performed consciously, voluntarily, and consistently with steadfastness. A person sits at the table of their enduring sustenance, and the good or ill of their persistent deeds is a primary factor in their health and felicity or deprivation and misery, not imported etiquette or superficial habits.

The worldly movement, with all its pains and tribulations, possesses a fervor that propels the caravan of human life forward without pause, urging phenomena toward effort, zeal, and awareness. It grants them vitality, motion, endeavor, and enduring perseverance, stripping away stagnation, despair, confusion, sorrow, doubt, and deficiency, while sustaining hope and self-belief, rendering life with the Exalted Truth replete with love, struggle, and vibrancy.

The characteristic of the transient visages of the material world is that their description and observation are more delightful and pleasing than their attainment, except in love that bears the countenance of fidelity and permanence, and in the blessings of the hereafter, where union with them is more delightful than their description. Hearing descriptions of material pleasures or beholding their beauties enchants a person, but their attainment lacks charm. In contrast, attaining the perfect blessings of the hereafter, embedded within the fabric of vibrant society, brings joy and enchantment, which cannot be fully grasped or understood through mere description. Possessions, wealth, fame, power, grandeur, and the outward manifestations of the material world are pleasing to a person in a state of want, but worldly possessions lack the savor of the time of deprivation. Poverty or wealth, if they lead a person to negativity, regret over what is absent, pride in what is possessed, or intoxication thereof, distance them from the Exalted Truth.

The Afflictions of Impatience

Narrow-minded and constricted individuals are both impatient and, due to their limited scope, rarely compatible with others, depriving themselves of others’ capabilities and becoming frail. A heart harboring resentment and hatred, or an individual who is wrathful, selfish, recognizes no love beyond ego, and habitually engages in deceit and trickery, is subdued and scorned by the intelligent nature (the force of the cosmos). This intelligent nature denies them entry into the system of attracting benevolent spiritual forces. Instead, under the influence of constrictive, malevolent, and mischief-inducing forces, they are veiled from perceiving truth. Due to misunderstanding, denial of truths, and enmity toward them, they succumb to narrow-mindedness and corruptive incompatibility.

Patience, self-restraint, forbearance, and resilience enhance the capacity for awareness and understanding, shaping the quality of life. These qualities can be strengthened through practice to endure both adversities and inappropriate inclinations, desires, and emotions, fostering rational steadfastness.

The absence of beautiful patience, lack of self-control, and impatience can be evaluated through the following: restlessness in the face of loss or the death of a loved one, frustration during waiting, impulsive and hasty anger in provocative or lustful situations, abandoning tasks and deviating from goals due to problems, afflictions, personal or social obstacles, lack of funds or resources, or financial deprivation, hasty decision-making, lack of resilience in the face of others’ inappropriate tone or behavior, harm from people, ignorant actions, enticing temptations, or others’ criticisms.

Patience, perseverance, and steadfastness in the face of adverse events and problems are realized through effort, endeavor, activity, and clinging to a healthy, truth-seeking life, with a sense of God’s presence woven into the fabric of a transformative life—not through retreat, passivity, stagnation, or inertia, which are themselves forms of abandoning tasks and goals.

God, while immutable, possesses an existential and intrinsic motion. The motion of the Exalted Truth imbues all manifestations with movement. God and His manifestation are the essence of motion. Thus, no trace of stagnation exists in either the Exalted Truth or His manifestation, though God’s constancy and preservation prevail over all.

Hyperactivity and Inattention

Hyperactivity (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental and mental brain disorder, is characterized by inattention, impatience, restlessness, irregular hyperactivity, incessant movement, excessive activity, recurrent agitation, sudden and unpredictable behaviors, a sense of spontaneous action, impulsivity, unstable and inappropriate emotions, and hasty outbursts such as sudden laughter or crying on a continuous basis. The accumulation of problems stemming from this disorder, coupled with negative self-judgment and pessimism, traps the afflicted individual in a cycle of successive failures in life. It should be noted that weak concentration resulting from depression or anxiety should not be counted among the symptoms of hyperactivity.

A hyperactive individual fails to perform tasks, especially significant events, in the appropriate place and time according to divine decree, often completing them with delay, at the last moment. This sense of inability to perform tasks swiftly and at the right time induces stress and pressure. The symptoms of hyperactivity overlap with those of irritability and hyperthyroidism.

A hyperactive person cannot prioritize essential and primary tasks over important but secondary ones, focusing instead on non-essential, peripheral tasks and neglecting critical, vital responsibilities. Hyperactivity, rooted in childhood and potentially persisting into adulthood, can be diagnosed based on an individual’s history and childhood records.

Hyperactivity leads to weaknesses and disruptions in performance (such as work, study, or education) and in managing emotions and thoughts. A hyperactive individual lacks control over their anger and, due to outbursts of rage and mood swings, struggles to establish healthy relationships with others. Hyperactivity hinders the ability to focus on a single task, maintain a stable state for an extended period, or pay attention to details and accuracy. Many such individuals, due to impaired perception and difficulties in establishing healthy environmental interactions, fall behind in education and skill acquisition.

Hyperactivity can expose an individual to learning deficits, anxiety, low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy, negative and pessimistic self-perception (such as clumsiness despite abundant talent and learning capacity), diminished self-confidence, excessive self-criticism, intolerance of minor disappointments and despair, fatigue (especially from sleep disorders), paranoid disorders, unfounded accusations against others, emotional concerns, strained sibling, friendly, or parental relationships, poor and unbalanced nutrition, aggression, and a higher likelihood of social deviances such as cigarette addiction and norm-breaking behaviors.

Hyperactive individuals, being prone to anxiety, may experience excessive restlessness and anxiety that lead to worry and irritability, potentially causing heart palpitations. A hyperactive person cannot sit still, frequently paces in inappropriate settings, struggles with remaining seated due to restlessness, talks excessively, and tends to interrupt others’ conversations or answer questions before they are completed, finding it difficult to wait for the conversation to conclude. They lack tolerance for criticism, tire easily, and appear apathetic, irresponsible, and uncommitted.

A hyperactive individual struggles to remember various activities, experiencing significant forgetfulness, particularly of daily tasks. For instance, they frequently lose or misplace items and lack focus on where they placed them. They make frequent mistakes and are easily distracted. In inappropriate settings, they are restless, unable to wait in lines, for their turn, or in traffic, and incapable of performing quiet activities. They are disruptive and fearless, disregarding rules, regulations, and protocols for tasks. In driving, they exhibit haste and high speed, lack caution, and rarely adhere to traffic laws.

A hyperactive individual may exhibit symptoms of inattention disorder. They crave constant attention but lack focus and precision in attending to others or their own responsibilities, often forgetting their duties and overlooking the details of a matter. Consequently, they exhibit destructive behaviors, causing significant damage to surrounding objects or their own body. Conversely, they may excessively focus on a specific topic that is pleasurable, engaging, or of interest to them. They are variety-seeking, regularly replacing prior choices with new ones. They are addicted to shopping, impulsive purchases driven by excitement, incurring expenses beyond their financial capacity (such as buying expensive goods), and making financial contributions disproportionate to their lifestyle.

For a hyperactive individual, accidents or mishaps are frequent. They enter relationships with others recklessly, without foresight or consideration of consequences, neglect their commitments, and, through thrill-seeking and risky behaviors, jeopardize their family life, potentially leading to separation or divorce.

A hyperactive individual may experience depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, or antisocial personality disorder. In such cases, the symptoms of these disorders must be addressed first.

Alongside these symptoms, a hyperactive person can be creative in emergent situations or innovative in short timeframes, energetic, and risk-tolerant, pursuing high-risk solutions to achieve goals with intense focus. Adapting to such individuals, who constitute approximately 15% of society, is extremely challenging and discouraging, particularly due to their frequent misunderstandings and disregard for those around them.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy, excessive television use, visual overstimulation, and scattered attention that prevent self-awareness and deep sleep, as well as weak will, may contribute to hyperactivity in individuals. Sleep disorders are among the most significant factors in hyperactivity. A hyperactive individual lacks deep sleep.

To manage hyperactivity, one should consult a therapist or cognitive neuroscience specialist using non-invasive treatment methods to regulate brain activity and modulate the amygdala. Alongside prescribed treatment plans, prioritizing sleep hygiene, timely and sufficient sleep, and adequate rest to allow the brain to recover is crucial. Consistent exercise, such as regular dance, which improves sleep, is also effective. Proper and healthy consumption of suitable foods, such as meat, beans, nuts, various fruits and vegetables, and zinc-rich foods, positively impacts behavior management.

Vitamin B1 (thiamine), which plays a critical role in the nervous system, is rarely deficient in adults but, in children, its deficiency can lead to increased irritability, fatigue, impatience, irritability, and nervousness, causing disruptions in the nervous system, heart, and brain. This vitamin is involved in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and its deficiency impairs the transmission of data and information between nerves and muscles, particularly the heart muscle, leading to irregular heartbeats. Additionally, if the monoamine neurotransmitter in the brain functions improperly, mood disorders arise. Adequate consumption of this vitamin improves mood. Vitamin B1 counteracts stress and anxiety, serving as an effective calming agent and aiding the body and mind in combating physical and mental stress. It also reduces the risk of cataracts, regulates appetite, and alleviates stress. Excessive consumption of tea, coffee, and red cabbage contributes to reduced absorption and deficiency of this vitamin. Vitamin B1 can be obtained through a balanced and proper diet, found in beans, lentils, mung beans, other legumes, fish, orange juice, sunflower seeds, low-fat milk, spinach, eggplant, tomatoes, whole grains like wheat bread, and white rice.

Deficiency in Vitamin B3 (niacin) causes agitation, apprehension, unease, and anxiety. This vitamin is essential for converting food into energy, maintaining healthy skin, hair, and nervous system, and strengthening the brain. Severe deficiency can lead to hallucinations, delusions, forgetfulness, and sleep disorders. Adequate intake enhances deep sleep. A proper diet can provide sufficient amounts of this vitamin, found in chicken breast, fish, ground beef, roasted peanuts, cooked white rice, baked potatoes, lentils, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, bread, bananas, raisins, cashews, and low-fat milk.

Iron deficiency leads to impaired mental focus, memory and learning disorders, irritability, persistent fatigue, low tolerance, and lethargy. Iron facilitates oxygen delivery to cells, and its deficiency results in anemia. It is vital for numerous bodily functions, including energy, focus, immune system regulation, and body temperature control. Key sources include thyme powder, turmeric powder, basil powder, pumpkin seeds, roasted sesame seeds, beans, pistachios, raisins, baked potatoes, and lamb. Excessive iron consumption can damage the brain. Iron can be obtained through a balanced diet. To determine appropriate levels or deficiencies of vitamins, consultation with a nutrition specialist and necessary tests are required.

Additionally, noting tasks and employing stress management strategies, as previously discussed, are other methods for managing hyperactivity. Foods containing artificial colors, chemical preservatives, or those causing high sensitivity, particularly in individuals with specific sensitivities, contribute to low tolerance. Regular consumption of sausages, salami, chips, puffed corn snacks, apricots, tomato sauce, cucumbers, pickles, and canned foods with preservatives are among such foods that exacerbate impatience. However, if preservatives are avoided in products like salami, and they contain bone powder, they can be beneficial for the body.

Teacher-centered guidance, devoted acceptance of an experienced mentor, seeking their counsel, and submitting to their guidance can be effective in managing hyperactivity. Persistent recitation of the invocation “Ya Latif” (O Gentle One), forming a connection with it, and maintaining its count, repeating it 129 times in accordance with the numerical value of the divine name Latif, while diligently preserving this count, is effective in treating hyperactivity. The use of perfumes (not colognes) and maintaining personal and clothing hygiene are essential for this invocation. This invocation does not require darkness and is unaffected by light, suitable for all settings—from prayer and prostration to daily commutes, among people, before sleep, or during wakefulness—making it effective and practical.

Self-Care and Divine Liberation: A Synthesis of Dignity, Hope, and Adaptability

Dignity

Dignity, in the realm of psychology, is intricately linked to self-efficacy and self-esteem, manifesting as resilience and the capacity to endure hardships. It embodies intrinsic value, authority, steadfast resolve, and an imperviousness born of courage and sincerity in embracing one’s authentic self. Dignity entails realizing one’s unique nature and divine decree within an environment of freedom, coupled with patience and forbearance in fully and consistently pursuing one’s purpose at the divinely appointed time. It is an inner sovereignty that precludes defeat or subjugation. The fruits of dignity and fortitude include uniqueness, incomparability, behavioral confidence, respect, grandeur, and reverence. In contrast, weak passivity, ignominy, and ruinous susceptibility to failure arise from impatience and lack of forbearance.

Hope

As a psychological construct, hope is closely associated with resilience and mental well-being. To avoid being overwhelmed or undone by the tempests of adversity, one must cultivate hope and eschew despair. Despair engenders weakness, fragility, and abandonment in the face of misfortune. Conversely, the spiritual commitment and responsibility stemming from divine faith serve as predictors of hopeful behavior and an optimistic outlook toward the future. Humanity must place its hope in God, recognizing that within every calamity and hardship lies the seed of ease and comfort. One cannot perceive the facet of relief and liberation without enduring the ordeal’s rigors and, through steadfastness, melting the towering, icy peaks of difficulties. As the Holy Quran proclaims: “Indeed, with hardship [comes] ease. Indeed, with hardship [comes] ease” (Ash-Sharh: 5–6).

The degree of an individual’s patience is influenced by their personality traits, with personality serving as a foundational determinant. Personality, through the mechanism of patience and its components, anticipates strategies for emotional regulation. Patience operates as an interwoven constituent of personality, forming the central nucleus of other character traits. Individuals characterized by traits such as mood instability, impulsivity, vulnerability, anxiety, aggression, or depression lack steadfastness and perseverance in pursuing their objectives. They are more likely to resort to self-blame, blame others, catastrophize circumstances, or ruminate when confronted with life’s adversities and challenges.

Resilient individuals exhibit four primary characteristics: 1) social competence (e.g., empathy, flexibility, kindness, communication skills, and humor); 2) problem-solving skills (e.g., planning, help-seeking, critical and creative thinking); 3) autonomy (e.g., identity, self-efficacy, self-awareness, and mastery of tasks); and 4) purposefulness and optimism about the future (e.g., goal-setting, optimism, and spirituality).

Patience in the Face of Scarcity and Hardship

Enduring hardships is associated with resilience and post-traumatic growth. Living through arduous conditions and exercising patience therein enhances an individual’s endurance, elevating it beyond the resilience of ordinary individuals. Should God intend to test someone, He grants them a life of affluence, rendering them comfort-seeking and impatient. However, if one can engage with apparent deprivations in a healthy and constructive manner, such privations bear inner blessings and energies. Constructive poverty, which fosters growth, liberates the individual from vain desires, enabling mastery over whims and acceptance of divine sustenance without question or complaint. Indeed, such an individual finds purity and sincerity in their sustenance and even in their hardships. One method to assess a person’s susceptibility to desires is to observe their initial reaction to food presented before them.

The broader the scope of deprivation, the more effectively the dust of worldly inclinations obscuring one’s vision is cleared, paving the way for perceiving divine proximity and truth, discerning divine decrees, and advancing toward divine nearness. The Holy Quran advises patience and forbearance in response to others’ slander and inappropriate remarks: “And be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance” (Al-Muzzammil: 10). This noble verse highlights a test of patience, namely, whether an individual can tolerate others’ tone and behavior or succumbs to harshness, aggression, and psychological distress, unable to endure it.

Fortitude and Adaptability: The Roots of Forbearance

Indicators of well-being include tranquility, calm, fortitude, and adaptability. A life of well-being remains unscathed by crises and harm only when one maintains the utmost patience and adaptability in the face of adversities and detractors, preserving a sense of security, resolve, and serenity. Individuals with a high capacity for patience in enduring hardships exhibit fortitude, which fosters inner calm when confronting failures, bitterness, or suffering. Such individuals receive greater support from those around them, display empathetic behavior toward others, and anticipate a positive future. Adaptability and resilience are correlated with mental health and social support, facilitating the endurance of adversities.

An individual who lacks patience for malevolence or adaptability with detractors, who is easily offended or angered, who resorts to aggression, and who lacks the capacity for tolerance and forbearance, is neither healthy nor prudent. Such a person becomes vulnerable to the schemes and enmity of detractors, suffering harm as a result. Patience in the face of adversity is even observed in plants and animals, which strive to remain within their natural cycles, rarely becoming agitated or aggressive unless confronted by an irreconcilable aggressor, prompting them to attack. Humans, however, are less forbearing, often resorting to aggression and violence hastily in defense or conflict.

The patience and resilience of those who have lived through harsh conditions surpass those of others, and their strength, authority, and fortitude are more pronounced. For instance, the tamarisk tree, which endures the harsh desert environment, is a soothing plant. Those who have lived in comfort, however, often exhibit inner fragility, weakness, and brittleness, rendering them more incompatible and vulnerable, leading to their quicker demise. Adaptability and flexibility can ensure survival and well-being.

In religious teachings, adaptability to environmental conditions, particularly with detractors, is recommended under the concept of taqiyya (prudent dissimulation). Religion inherently promotes adaptability, aspiring for all of God’s servants, whether believers or non-believers, to coexist peacefully. God, too, is displeased with the actions of many of His servants but tolerates them, exercising patience. Often, He overlooks their deeds, acting as the Concealer of faults (Sattar), or forgives them, embodying the All-Forgiving (Ghaffar). God is noble and magnanimous, and adaptability is a trait of the noble. Adaptability is a positive attribute that fosters resilience and forbearance for progress.

Adaptability for Survival

In the struggle for survival—or, more accurately, the natural reconciliation and adaptability for survival—the entity that is most adaptable endures and achieves greater evolution. The principle of adaptability gains prominence when considering the communal nature of the natural order. The shared nature of existence necessitates that human life increasingly embraces civility and universal harmony. No ordinary individual can accomplish their tasks in isolation; they require ever-greater connection and cooperation with others. The greater an individual’s capacity for adaptability and connection, the more effectively human civilization takes shape. An isolated individual, unable to connect or adapt with others, cannot be dynamic or active. One’s vitality and existence are proportional to their capacity for communication and connection with others. People consider someone truly alive if they can engage in dialogue, be an interlocutor, and demonstrate adaptability within a community.

Patience and Adaptability as a Divine Gift

Patience, adaptability, avoidance of unjust or misplaced conflicts, and other human virtues are, for some, an inherent gift. This means that certain individuals naturally and unconsciously possess commendable qualities without undergoing the toil, hardship, or discipline required to acquire them. They can effortlessly refrain from lying, maintain a compassionate and kind heart, extend generosity and benevolence to the needy, and remain free of envy, malice, jealousy, or hostility, embodying nobility. Many others, however, must acquire these virtues through effort, discipline, toil, and perseverance. For them, being virtuous, truthful, or generous is not initially easy; they must cultivate these qualities through practice, struggle, and dedication until they become ingrained and habitual.

Gentleness: The Root of Adaptability

Adaptability and patience require a gentle, amiable, and virtuous disposition, coupled with the abandonment of selfishness. Only those who relinquish self-centeredness can be adaptable and gentle with others. How could someone who perceives all phenomena as manifestations of the Exalted Truth fail to love them or, believing in the perfection of the cosmic order, not regard them as relatively good? An individual incapable of adaptability sows chaos and turmoil for others and becomes stalled or undone in their own life. In the material realm (nasut), a person gains the capacity for movement and progress only by living harmoniously with others and fostering connection and affinity with those they encounter. Resentment, hatred, or malice in one’s heart yields nothing but deprivation, even if another has unjustly or oppressively wronged them.

An individual who harbors opposition toward another in their heart, allowing hidden layers of resentment or grievance to take root, who resists divine events and lacks acceptance of divine decrees, possesses a heart devoid of space for God’s descent, spiritual phenomena, or divine favor. Such a heart becomes a wasteland, consumed by the rabid dog of inner malice, growing ever more feral. Malice, like certain diseases, however slight, debases and humiliates a person, fostering despair and even physical illness. Hostility and enmity, though natural, inevitable, or necessary in some instances, leave their pernicious mark on the individual. Before enmity overcomes an adversary, it destabilizes and corrupts the soul of the one harboring it.

An individual’s enmity toward something or someone is akin to a honeybee’s sting, which leads to its own demise. Every form of hostility or enmity carries its own harm, and by enacting enmity, a person first victimizes themselves before possibly harming another. Assuming a state of hostility or enmity renders a person unbalanced and distraught, without guaranteeing harm to the adversary. If someone possesses such adaptability that their heart is free of all malice and enmity, achieving an expansive state of sharh-e sadr (openness of the heart), where nothing weighs heavily upon their chest, even the harm of the worst offenders cannot prevent them from loving others or welcoming them to their table. Such a person possesses a boundless, oceanic heart and a sacred, celestial soul. Blessed is the one whose heart expands to accommodate the Exalted Truth and its manifestations, for such a heart has the capacity of God Himself. God resides in a heart unafraid of love, of falling in love, or of the trials of love.

A heart that collapses under the slightest calamity, declaring “no more,” receives that same refusal in return. Such a heart fails to carry its owner forward, resembling an upturned bowl that, despite the downpour of divine mercy through prayer, supplication, knowledge, and love, remains unreceptive, retaining and absorbing nothing. The more adaptable a person is, the healthier they are. True well-being belongs to the one who possesses a heart capable of sitting with their father’s murderer, forgiving them, showing kindness, securing employment for them, accompanying them, hosting them, and inviting them to their gatherings. Such a person has the power to control inclinations, desires, and impulses. Prayer, remembrance, and other spiritual practices take effect only after the heart is purified and one’s morals and behavior are softened. The house must first be cleansed before inviting guests.

One must strive for universal adaptability, not only cleansing the heart nightly of malice, enmity, anger, and wrath but filling it with love for all. One should neither be saddened by others’ wrongs nor elated by their virtues. A constricted heart takes on narrow openings, but a vast, expansive, and simple heart is never confined, resembling a surging sea that no debris or impurity can defile; rather, it repels and purifies all that is impure. One must reach such a state of adaptability that they pray for the discordant: “O God, grant goodness and blessings to those who have wronged me. O God, all are Your servants, and I cannot fail to love anyone.” When facing troublesome individuals, one must forgive them, acknowledging, “What can I do? They are God’s servant.” Through love for God, a servant forgives others, harbors no resentment, and loves God’s servants as they love God Himself.

A servant who attains love does not retaliate against injustices done to them. On the contrary, they show greater care for those who have harmed them most, praying for them and seeking greater divine blessings on their behalf. Moreover, every phenomenon and particle is an expression of God’s love, involving an infinite collective and communal endeavor within its system of love. God employs an abundance of knowledge, power, and divine attributes for every particle, ensuring none is wasted or squandered.

The primary arena for adaptability and compassion is the home. One who cannot be adaptable and kind with their spouse and family forfeits vitality and well-being. True vitality and health belong to the one who has attained chaste love. In life, one must be expansive toward oneself and others, even toward the closed-hearted, and such expansiveness is achieved through a life of love, joy, and ecstasy—a life that is not heedless but calm, free of anxiety and bewilderment; a life neither mournful over losses nor exultant over gains. As the Holy Quran states: “So that you may not despair over what has eluded you nor exult over what has come to you” (Al-Hadid: 23). Life is truth and love; why should one not rejoice in it?

Expansiveness and Constriction

Adaptability requires sharh-e sadr (expansiveness of the heart), an inner, esoteric matter tied to faith, referred to as bast (expansion). Its opposite is qabd (constriction), narrowness, and rigidity. An individual afflicted by constriction is incapable of perceiving inner truths, is deprived of understanding faith, and fails to attain piety and truth-seeking. Their heart becomes a repository of all forms of deprivation and satanic influences. As the Holy Quran declares: “Whomever God intends to guide, He expands their heart to Islam, and whomever He intends to lead astray, He makes their heart tight and constricted, as though they were ascending into the sky” (Al-An’am: 125). Constriction, narrow-mindedness, rigidity, malice, enmity, and hardness of heart form the foundation for rebellion, sin, and ruin, ensnaring the narrow-minded and hard-hearted individual to the point that they can no longer fit within their own frame. In contrast, a believer is expansive, open, free, healthy, and at ease, free from suffocation or tyranny.

Those severed from God, religion, and faith are neither free nor at peace. Worldly attachments ensnare them, subjecting them to such constriction and dissatisfaction in life, along with malice, enmity, hatred, arrogance, and pride, that they are driven to an explosion of misery, as though they die daily. This constriction and distress in worldly life is described as “as though they were ascending into the sky”, and in the hereafter, they face “a tremendous punishment” (Al-An’am: 125). This torment, both immediate and eternal, accompanies them from the material realm to the hereafter. Expansiveness or constriction can characterize the seed, parents, sustenance, environment, time, place, mentors, teachers, and spiritual or inner matters.

Sharh-e sadr is a special divine favor and an innate quality not granted to everyone, though it can be cultivated through skill and patience. The Holy Quran describes those endowed with expansiveness and those afflicted by constriction and hardness: “Is one whose heart God has opened to Islam, so that they are upon a light from their Lord, [like one whose heart is hardened]? Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of God. They are in manifest error” (Az-Zumar: 22). An individual endowed with sharh-e sadr and expansiveness possesses a divine, luminous gift, providing a radiant lamp, guidance, and divine composure to navigate the darkness of the material realm and pursue the path of truth. Such a person undoubtedly possesses the stations of patience, forbearance, aspiration, and power, rendering even the grandest tasks small and achievable.

Generosity and the Capacity for Giving

Adaptability with others necessitates generosity and magnanimity, free from worldly attachments, selfishness, stinginess, or avarice. It also requires being forgiving, overlooking others’ faults and errors without becoming distressed or offended. Furthermore, one must be able to forget any evil, corruption, or ugliness witnessed in others, refraining from retaining it or harboring malice, resentment, or anxiety. Such adaptability and expansiveness are attainable only by one who has fallen in love and mastered the art of love. A natural and healthy life exists in expansiveness, and wherever there is constriction, rigidity, or hardship, life lacks well-being. Expansiveness, ease, and fluidity are intrinsic to a healthy life. Anything that causes hardship or constriction is incompatible with human nature, rendering life diseased, incomplete, or defective. A society will experience an abundant life only if it utilizes all natural resources—seas, deserts, plains, and mountains—for the present generation without succumbing to the anxiety of future generations’ access to subterranean resources, ensuring blessings are plentiful for the current era.

The Power of Love

In positive psychology, love and acceptance are linked to well-being and self-regulation, capable of bolstering resilience. Adaptability draws its strength from love, unconditional acceptance, and complete embrace. However, one cannot fully accept others as they are without first accepting themselves as they are. To accept oneself and others as they are is to love oneself and others. An individual who attains love achieves profound inner authority, with a will that is highly penetrating and effective. If such a person undergoes proper guidance, the purity derived from love enables them to gain insight into higher realms and perceive hidden truths. Knowledge of the unseen is possible because the realm of abstractions holds sway over the material realm, and the sacred realm has causal precedence over it. By purifying the inner self of all defilements and aligning with the inhabitants of that sacred realm through a pure heart and love, one can apprehend the non-material attributes of the material world. The inner self must be pure to connect with the sacred realm, a capacity found in those whose love is chaste, untainted, and free of greed, coupled with the power of patience and adaptability.

Adaptability, however, entails appropriate attraction and repulsion. It is crucial to discern where one should avoid harm and where one must endure the bitter sting of adversity. Understanding the nature of such choices requires knowledge, discernment, and awareness of divine destiny to ensure no phenomenon’s right is violated and truth flows in its natural course.

Self-Reconciliation

Self-reconciliation and alignment represent a state of balance that shields the individual from excess or deficiency, keeping them poised for movement and growth. Reconciliation and alignment entail harmony among all forces, desires, motivations, and the necessary caution and prudence to anticipate and prevent personal rebellions. It involves constant self-discipline, control, and guidance to ensure the individual remains in command of themselves, not their inclinations, avoiding sudden ferocity or unexpected savagery. It also entails freedom from hypocrisy, pretense, self-deception, or deceit toward others.

Self-reconciliation and adaptability must be observed in all matters to ensure the individual is relatively content with themselves, unafraid of their own nature, and capable of managing themselves lightly, lest dissatisfaction causes them to falter or encounter difficulties. Dissatisfaction with oneself leads to stubbornness, aggression, and rebellion midway through one’s journey. An individual must adopt a loving gaze and compassionate, merciful behavior toward themselves. A lover is not tyrannical, even toward themselves. Love brings expansiveness, unlike force, which brings constriction, imposing without mutual endurance or interaction.

A lover fosters connection, friendship, and compassion toward all phenomena, loving them by desiring their alignment with divine decrees and advocating for their goodness. One who is reconciled with themselves and satiates their inner self gains the capacity for self-sacrifice. To foster personal growth, one must observe sacred boundaries, show kindness to others, avoid rigidity, refrain from wasting time, steer clear of doubtful or ambiguous matters that lead to confusion, temptation, or obsession, and distance themselves from desires and aspirations. To attain divine proximity, one must abandon desires that captivate and enchant, such as narcissism, self-aggrandizement, self-absorption, or self-admiration, as these preoccupations with the non-divine obstruct the path to divine attainment, leading to descent and decline rather than ascent and elevation.

Conditions for personal growth include abandoning burdens, avoiding rigidity, maintaining a simple disposition, and fostering a cooperative and adaptable spirit. This necessitates eschewing excess, greed, and unnecessary attachments, embracing simplicity and humility. Any form of encumbrance causes one to falter on their path. A person who is unburdened, simple, and approachable can forge connections with the world and its inhabitants, becoming their companion. Even to be reconciled and friendly with oneself and to embody one’s true self, one must avoid burdens and a cluttered, heavy life, lest such chaos becomes a calamity, hindering personal growth and the attainment of self-knowledge and truth.