Sabr: meaning, Arabic and everyday examples

How is sabr written in Arabic?

The Quran prints the word in more than one shape, and the English changes with it. Here are three, each cut from the verse itself. All three share the consonants ṣ-b-r.

English has more than one word for it. This page's translation of the Quran uses steadfastness, the steadfast and endurance, while this page's own English for the hadith below uses patient and patience.

What does sabr mean?

In al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran, al-Raghib al-Asfahani opens the entry for sabr with al-imsak fi dayq, holding in a tight place (source 4). In the same entry he then defines it as habs al-nafs 'ala ma yaqtadihi al-'aql wa-l-shar': holding the self to what reason and the sharia require, or back from what they require it to be held back from. That is one dictionary entry from one work, not the only definition scholars have given.

The report below is about a woman weeping beside a grave.

What does the Quran say about sabr?

This page quotes two verses. Al-Baqarah 2:153 is addressed to those who believe. Az-Zumar 39:10 opens with "Say: O My bondmen who believe!" and speaks of what the steadfast are paid.

Neither verse gives a date by which a particular problem will end. Keep the reference with any line you share, because a caption cut from the middle of a verse can lose who is being addressed.

What does patience at the first shock mean?

Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet passed a woman weeping beside a grave and told her to fear Allah and be patient. She said, "Go away from me, for you have not been struck by my calamity," and she did not know him. It was said to her that he was the Prophet. She went to his door and found no doorkeepers there, and said she had not known him. He said:

1AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 1283

The report does not say who was buried, what the woman had lost or who told her who he was, so this page adds none of it. Whose words are whose: the Prophet spoke the first advice and the sentence above; the woman's reply, "Go away from me", is hers.

The Quran also names the steadfast in a passage about misfortune. Its words in 2:156 are the subject of Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.

What do the reports say about tears?

In the reports on this page, the Prophet's eyes shed tears and he spoke of grief in the heart, and he told a weeping woman to be patient. This page cites no scholar on whether crying lessens sabr, and Sahih al-Bukhari 1303 does not use the word sabr at all.

Anas reported that he went with the Prophet to the blacksmith Abu Sayf, whose wife was the wet nurse of the Prophet's son Ibrahim, peace be upon him. The Prophet took Ibrahim, kissed him and smelled him. Later they entered again. Ibrahim was breathing his last, and the Prophet's eyes began to shed tears. 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf, may Allah be pleased with him, asked, "And you, O Messenger of Allah?" The Prophet answered that it was mercy. Then he said:

2AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 1303

He ended with the words "O Ibrahim, we are grieved at your parting". The report gives the tears, the grief and the restraint in speech side by side. It gives no ruling on how anyone else should mourn.

What does the hadith about the believer's affairs say?

Suhayb, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet said:

3AuthenticSahih Muslim 2999

The report says the response is good for the believer. It does not say that harm is pleasant or that pain should not be felt.

Is there a dua for sabr?

Al-Baqarah 2:250 records a prayer that asks for sabr. The passage before it, 2:247 to 249, names Saul (Talut in the Arabic) and the army that set out with him, and 2:250 says that when they went into the field against Goliath (Jalut in the Arabic) and his hosts, they said:

The verse asks for endurance, a sure foothold and help. It assigns no count and no time, and it is given in the setting above, so this page does not present it as a promise about a present-day situation. Its first line, transliterated, is rabbana afrigh ʿalayna sabran wa-thabbit aqdamana, and the verse goes on.

Sabr quotes: where the lines come from

Each line below is from the Quran or the hadith, with its reference. The page cites no sayings of scholars or poets, so you will not find a quote here without a source you can open.

If you are struggling

This page does not try to tell you how to feel. If a loss or a worry is weighing on you, a GP is a good first person to speak to. For a religious question about your own situation, ask a scholar you trust. If a friend is grieving, the reports above give no script for comforting them; ordinary kindness, from us and not from a source, is to listen, ask what would help, and bring food if you can.