What Does Sabr Mean? Patience in Islam and in Arabic

Sabr (صبر) is the Arabic word for patience, but it carries more than the English word does: perseverance, steadfastness, self-restraint and quiet endurance under pressure. In Islam it is one of the central virtues, named in the Quran more often than almost any other quality, and it describes an active holding-firm rather than passive waiting. This article explains what sabr means, how to pronounce it, where it appears in the Quran and hadith, the kinds of sabr scholars describe, and why we chose to embroider it.

Sabr in one sentence

Sabr is holding yourself steady, in your heart, your tongue and your actions, while you do what is right and endure what is hard.

The Arabic word

Sabr comes from the three-letter root ص ب ر (s-b-r), whose basic sense is to restrain, hold or bind. The classical dictionaries define sabr as habs, holding back: the self from panic, the tongue from complaint and the limbs from lashing out. The same root gives sabara (to be patient), sabir (a patient person) and as-sabirin, "the patient ones", which the Quran uses again and again.

In Arabic it is one syllable, "sabr", with an emphatic s and a rolled r. Urdu, Persian and Turkish borrowed the word and usually say it with two syllables, "sabar" or "sabır". A patient man is sabir; a patient woman, sabira.

Everyday Arabic is full of it. "Sabr!" on its own means "hold on" or "bear with it". "Al-sabr miftah al-faraj", patience is the key to relief, is a proverb across the Arab world. "Sabr Ayyub" is the patience of Job. And "sabrun jameel", beautiful patience, comes straight from the Quran.

Sabr in the Quran

Words from the root s-b-r appear more than ninety times in the Quran. A few of the best known, in the Sahih International translation:

• "O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient." (2:153)
• "And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient." (2:155)
• "Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account." (39:10)
• "O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful." (3:200)
• "...and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience." (103:3)

"Sabrun jameel", beautiful patience, is what the Prophet Yaqub (Jacob) says when his sons bring him Yusuf's shirt (12:18), and again when they return without Binyamin (12:83): patience that complains to no one but God.

Sabr in the hadith

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ passed a woman weeping at a grave and told her to be mindful of God and be patient. Not recognizing him, she told him to leave her alone, since he had not suffered her loss. When she learned who he was and came to apologize, he said: "Patience is at the first strike" (Bukhari and Muslim). Sabr is measured at the moment the blow lands, not afterwards when it is easier.

In other narrations he said that no one has been given a gift better or more comprehensive than patience (Bukhari and Muslim), and that the believer's affair is remarkable because all of it is good: when ease comes he gives thanks, and when hardship comes he is patient (Muslim).

Three kinds of sabr

Scholars including Ibn al-Qayyim, in his book on patience, describe sabr in three settings. It is one common way of dividing it, not the only one.

• Patience in obedience: keeping up prayer, fasting and good conduct when they are tiring or inconvenient.
• Patience away from sin: restraining yourself from what is forbidden when it is available and tempting.
• Patience under trial: bearing illness, loss, injustice or hardship without despair, and without complaint against what God has decreed.

The first two are about what you do; the third is about what happens to you. All three are sabr.

Sabr is not passivity

Because the English word "patience" suggests waiting, sabr is often misread as resignation. The Quran pairs it with prayer, with striving and with standing firm; the three verbs in 3:200 carry the sense of outlasting an opponent and holding a frontier post. Yaqub's beautiful patience did not stop him sending his sons back to Egypt to look for Yusuf. Sabr is the strength to keep going and to keep your dignity while you do. It is not the absence of action, and it is not the absence of grief: the Prophet wept at the death of his son Ibrahim and said that the eye weeps and the heart grieves, but we say only what pleases our Lord.

Sabr and shukr

Sabr is often paired with shukr, gratitude. One is the right response to hardship and the other to ease, and the hadith about the believer's affair puts them side by side. Many Muslims describe faith as living between the two.

Sabr across the Muslim world

The word traveled with Islam into Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Swahili (as subira), Malay and Indonesian, and keeps its meaning in all of them. "Sabar karo" in Urdu, "sabır" in Turkish and "sabar" in Indonesian are the everyday way to say "be patient", which is why the Arabic word on a hoodie reads the same from Istanbul to Jakarta.

Why we embroider Sabr

Our embroidered Sabr hoodie has صبر stitched on the chest in a clean, rounded Arabic hand on a 100% cotton hoodie that runs small, so size up. The Sabr Outline hoodie traces the same letters in outline. The Sabr collective carries the word on a sweater, long sleeve, oversized T-shirt, denim T-shirt and two caps, and it sits beside Salam and the other words in our Islamic and Arabic calligraphy hoodies. It is a gift for hard seasons, and for Eid and graduations: one word that says keep going.

Frequently asked questions

What does sabr mean in Islam?

Patience, perseverance and steadfastness: holding firm in obedience, away from sin and under trial, with trust in God. It is one of the most-mentioned virtues in the Quran.

How do you pronounce sabr?

In Arabic as one syllable, "sabr", with an emphatic s and a rolled r. In Urdu, Persian and Turkish it is "sabar" or "sabır".

What is the difference between sabr and shukr?

Sabr is patience in hardship; shukr is gratitude in ease. Together they describe the believer's response to everything that happens.

Is sabr mentioned in the Quran?

Yes, more than ninety times in its various forms, including 2:153, 2:155, 3:200, 39:10 and 103:3.

What does sabr jameel mean?

"Beautiful patience": patience that complains to no one but God, from the words of the Prophet Yaqub in Surah Yusuf (12:18 and 12:83).

What does the Sabr hoodie say?

صبر, sabr, the Arabic word for patience, embroidered on the chest.