الصبور
This Is the last name of the Asma-al-Husna in many lists. As-Saboor is derived from the word sabar i.e patience. Allah is Greatly Patient because Allah Azza wa Jall doesn’t catch a person at once when he /she commits sins. Rather Allah gives him / her long time to repent to Allah and to improve their faith and actions. Allah said in surah Faatir verse 45 (its translation is):
(35:45) If Allah were to take people to task for their deeds, He would not leave any living creature on earth, but He grants them respite to an appointed time. When their appointed time comes to an end, surely Allah fully observes His servants.
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Surah Al-Nahl (An-Nahl) 61:
(16:61) Were Allah to take people to task for their wrong-doing, He would not have spared even a single living creature on the face of the earth. But He grants them respite until an appointed term. And when that term arrives, they have no power to delay it by a single moment, nor to hasten it.
Surah Al-Kahf 58:
(18:58) Your Lord is All-Forgiving, full of mercy. Had He wished to take them to task for their doings, He would have hastened in sending His scourge upon them. But He has set for them a time-limit which they cannot evade.*55
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Exp. note *55:
* 55. This is to warn the foolish people that they should not be deluded by the respite that is given to them and presume that they will never be taken to task whatever they may go on doing. They forget that Allah gives them respite because He is Forgiving and Forbearing and does not punish the evil doers on the spot, for His Mercy demands that the evil doers should be given respite so that they may mend their ways.
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So Allah is very Patient, Allah Azza wa Jall gives time again and again so that the sinner may take benefit of the respite given to him /her and repent from their sins. But it doesn’t mean that he/she is left free, no. Rather they will surely be caught in case they continue in making sins!!!
You must note that the more a person i.e. a Muslim fears Allah, the more punishment is hastened for him /her in this world. This is because Allah doesn’t want to catch him/her in the Hereafter. So with the punishment here he/she becomes clean from sins and passes to the next world clean from the sins. This statement is correct according to the ahaadeeth [saying of the Prophet (Allah’s Peace and Blessings be upon him)]. Also you must know that the punishment in this world is much lighter and lesser than that of the Hereafter!!! So an obedient servant of Allah is punished here for his sins that he makes by mistake. And in the next world he/she will be in the gardens of Paradise while an unbeliever and thankless disobedient servant will be in Hell there!!! Hell is a very bad place to return to!!! A hadeeth says that: “Ad-Dunya sijnul-mo’min wa jannatul-kaafir”. It means: “This world is a prison for a mu’min (practicing believer) and a garden for kaafir (unbeliever).
That means that a mu’min has restrictions here. He cannot live free from duties. He/she has to get up early in cold nights, make ablution and make salaatil-fajar. Similarly he/she has to fast in the month of Ramadaan and so on.
Allah is Patient and also Allah gives patience to the believers. So the believers exercise many types of patience. They are patient on “al-makaarah” i.e. they have to abstain from sinful things like listening to music and also from unlawful earnings etc.
They are patient on ita’aat i.e. to do the acts of obedience with patience. So they do all obligatory duties on their proper time. They will pay zakat (obligatory charity) once a year and shall keep away from riba (interest /usury).
Patience on masaa’ib i.e. they tolerate troubles and trials in the Way of Allah.
Thus Allah is As-Saboor (very Patient) and gives more and more time to the sinners and criminals. BUT the criminals must repent with humbleness soon after their crime and should not delay until they are caught by death.
