Sabr Jamil
Definition
Sabr jamil — beautiful patience — is Yaqub's response to the apparent loss of Yusuf, and it became one of the most spiritually significant phrases in Islamic devotional vocabulary. When his sons brought him Yusuf's blood-soaked shirt as evidence of the wolf attack, Yaqub said simply: 'Sabr jamil — patience is beautiful, and Allah is the one sought for help against what you describe.' Ibn Kathir explains that classical scholars defined sabr jamil as patience without complaint to anyone other than Allah — not performing patience for social approval, not transferring grief onto others, and not losing trust in divine wisdom. Yaqub maintained this patience for decades, weeping until his eyes turned white, yet never losing certainty that Allah's plan was unfolding toward something he could not yet see.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
2 books in the library
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