Sabr (Islamic Term) - Classification

Classification

Many Muslim scholars have tried to classify and give examples of sabr. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam sabr is of two kinds:

1. physical, like the endurance of physical troubles, whether active (such as performing difficult tasks) or passive (such as suffering illnesses), and
2. the spiritual, such as renunciation in face of natural impulses.

Fakh̲r al-Dīn al-Rāzī distinguishes four kinds:

1. intellectual endurance (for example in disputed points in religious dogma),
2. endurance in completing tasks one is bound or recommended to do by Islamic law (such as fasting),
3. being steadfast in refraining from forbidden activities, and
4. resignation in times of calamity.

He also gives an application of the concept, Muṣābara, in which ones refrains from taking revenge from one's fellow-creature (like neighbors, People of the Book).

Al-Ghazali said that sabr consisted of three parts: maʿrifa (the tree), ḥāl (branches) and ʿamal (the fruits).