Summary:
“By offering resistance against this violent instinctive passion, and by remaining patient against this great sin, which was tantamount to waging war against the forces representing the total truth for the sake of forces which were the manifestation of total blasphemy, not only did Hurr rescue himself, but jumped into the kingdom of paradise from the very brink of fire.”
Our conception of sabr is one of waiting, tolerating, of biding time. But interestingly, the tawhidi culture that Islam inherently promotes presents patience as a voracious, moving, strong and balanced trait. In his book Discourses on Patience, Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Khamenei explains this with the diverging stories of Hurr ibn Yazid ar-Riyahi & Omar bin Sa’d. Both soldiers were enlisted in the army of the tyrant caliph Yazid ibn Mua’wiyah, but both found differential paths from one another. Interestingly, the author describes the differentiation as a result of sabr. The author eloquently explains:
“By offering resistance against this violent instinctive passion, and by remaining patient against this great sin, which was tantamount to waging war against the forces representing the total truth for the sake of forces which were the manifestation of total blasphemy, not only did Hurr rescue himself, but jumped into the kingdom of paradise from the very brink of fire.”
Modern Western context would probably find Hurr’s actions heroic, gallant, courageous, a feat to be reckoned with. Intriguingly though, his actions are only representations of sabr – sabr in being aligned with the will of Allah and sabr against the indulgence of sin. As Muslims, it is important for us to grasp onto this narrative, for it takes us away from the abyss of hopelessness and continued frustrations – which in themselves are forms of impatience, and can result in sins.
Source:english.tebyan.net