Lesson 5 of 6 · What feeds it, and what to stop adding
Two reports that get handed over badly
Both of these are sound and both are commonly delivered as an instruction to produce a feeling. Read what they actually say. The first describes an outcome for a believer rather than prescribing an emotion, and whether it can be asked of somebody in an episode with no capacity for pleasure is a question for a scholar and not for us. The second is about the first moment of a shock, which is a narrower claim than it usually gets used for.
Qur’an and Sunnah
All of a believer's affairs are good: thanks in ease, patience in hardship. Read what it actually says, which describes an outcome rather than prescribing a feeling. Whether it can be asked of somebody in an episode with no capacity for pleasure is a question for a scholar and not for us.
Suhaib reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said:Strange are the ways of a believer for there is good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except in the case of a believer for if he has an occasion to feel delight, he thanks (God), thus there is a good for him in it, and if he gets into trouble and shows resignation (and endures it patiently), there is a good for him in it
Sahih Muslim 2999graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
Patience is at the first blow. That is a narrower claim than the use this report usually gets, and it is the second of the two being corrected here.
Narrated Anas bin Malik:The Prophet (ﷺ) passed by a woman who was weeping beside a grave. He told her to fear Allah and be patient. She said to him, "Go away, for you have not been afflicted with a calamity like mine." And she did not recognize him. Then she was informed that he was the Prophet (ﷺ) . so she went to the house of the Prophet (ﷺ) and there she did not find any guard. Then she said to him, "I did not recognize you." He said, "Verily, the patience is at the first stroke of a calamity
Sahih al-Bukhari 1283graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading