صبرthree origins — restraint/detention, the upper part or rim of a thing, and a kind of … (root sbr)

Al-ṣabr (الصبر): the opposite of jazaʿ (جزع, distress/impatience). Al-ṣabr also means setting a person up for killing, so he is maṣbūr (مصبور); ṣabbarūhu (صبروه) means they set him up for killing. Al-ṣabr also means taking a person's oath: you say ṣabartu yamīnahu (صبرت يمينه), 'I made him swear by God with the utmost oath.' Al-ṣabr in oaths only occurs before rulers/judges. Al-ṣibr (الصبر), with kasra on the bāʾ: the juice of a plant whose leaves are like knife-sheaths, long and thick; in [111] its greenness there is a dull grayish, bristly appearance; from its middle emerges a stalk bearing a yellow blossom whose scent the wind carries, [and it is] foul. Al-ṣubbār (الصبار): the fruit of a tree, more sour in taste than whey, with a broad red seed, imported from India — called tamarind (al-tamr al-hindī). Ṣabr al-ināʾ (صبر الإناء): its sides, and its aṣbār (أصبار); from this one says 'he drank it with its aṣbār (بأصبارها),' a proverbial expression. Aṣbār al-qabr (أصبار القبر): its sides. Al-ṣabra (الصبرة) of stones: what is hard and coarse, plural ṣibār (صبار), as he said: 'As if the murmuring within it — / just before dawn — were the sounds of the hard rocks.' [112] Umm Ṣubbār (أم صبار) [113]: war, and severe calamity. Ṣabr of everything (صبر كل شيء): its top, also said to mean its side; one says ṣabr (صبر), and baṣr (بصر) is its metathesis. It is said: 'Sidrat al-Muntahā is the ṣabr of Paradise' [114]; he said: its ṣabr is its highest point. Al-ṣabr (الصبر): a layer of cloud lying flat above the dense cloud [115]. Ṣabīr al-khiwān (صبير الخوان): its broad thin bread-sheet spread beneath the food to be eaten [116]. Ṣabīr al-ṭaʿām (صبير الطعام): the one who stays on patiently with them and remains with them in their affairs [117]. (Al-ṣabra of food is like al-ṣūfa, some of it atop the other) [118].

Al-ṣabr (الصبر): restraining the self from jazaʿ (impatience). One says: fulān ṣabara ʿinda al-muṣība yaṣbiru ṣabran (فلان صبر عند المصيبة يصبر صبرا), 'So-and-so bore the calamity patiently.' Ṣabbartuhu anā (صبرته أنا): 'I restrained him.' God Almighty said: 'And keep yourself patient with those who call upon their Lord...' (Quran). ʿAntara said, recalling a war he was in: 'So I restrained a noble, steadfast soul for that — / it remains firm when the coward's soul flees.' He means: I held back a patient soul. In the ḥadīth of the Prophet (peace be upon him), concerning a man who held another while a third killed him, he said: 'Kill the killer, and confine the one who held him [i.e., execute him too]' — meaning: confine the one who detained the victim for death until he dies. Ṣabartu al-rajul (صبرت الرجل): I made the man swear ṣabran (صبرا), or I killed him ṣabran (صبرا). One says: 'So-and-so was killed ṣabran' and 'swore ṣabran,' when he was held for killing until killed, or for the oath until he swore. Likewise aṣbartu al-rajul (أصبرت الرجل) with hamza. Al-maṣbūra (المصبورة): it is the oath. Al-maṣbūra which was forbidden is that which is held for death. Every living being held alive then shot at until killed has been killed ṣabran (صبرا). Al-taṣabbur (التصبر): forcing oneself to be patient. You say iṣṭabartu (اصطبرت); one does not say iṭbartu, because ṣād is not assimilated into ṭāʾ. If assimilation is desired, the ṭāʾ is converted to ṣād and one says iṣbartu (اصبرت). Al-ṣabīr (الصبير): the guarantor. From it: ṣabartu aṣbiru (with ḍamma) ṣabran wa-ṣabāratan (صبرت أصبر صبرا وصبارة), 'I stood surety for him.' From it: iṣbirnī yā rajul (اصبرني يا رجل), 'give me a guarantor, O man.' Al-ṣabīr (الصبير): the white cloud that scarcely rains. The poet said: 'A herd returns to them lowing in the evening — / as if its rumbling were the thunder of the white cloud.' Al-Aṣmaʿī said: al-ṣabīr is the white cloud layered one part above another in succession. He said, describing an army: 'Like piled-up rain-clouds having layered white clouds.' Plural: ṣubur (صبر). Al-ṣibr (الصبر), with kasra on the bāʾ: this bitter medicine [aloe]. It is not vocalized with sukūn except in poetic necessity. The rājiz said: 'More bitter than aloe (ṣibr), and murr, and ḥaẓaẓ.' [Footnote 1] Yaʿqūb, from al-Farrāʾ: al-aṣbār (الأصبار): the white clouds, singular ṣubr/ṣibr (with both ḍamma and kasra). Aṣbār al-ināʾ (أصبار الإناء): its sides. One says: akhadhahā bi-aṣbārihā (أخذها بأصبارها), 'he took it complete, in full,' singular ṣubr (صبر) with ḍamma. Adhaqtu l-kaʾsa ilā aṣbārihā wa-aṣmārihā (أدهقت الكأس إلى أصبارها وأصمارها): 'I filled the cup to its brim.' Al-Aṣmaʿī said: when a man meets hardship in full, one says: laqiyahā bi-aṣbārihā (لقيها بأصبارها), 'he met it in full.' Al-ṣabr (الصبر) also: a clan of Ghassān. Al-Akhṭal said: 'The Ṣabr of Ghassān ask him, when they were present, / and al-Ḥazn — how the unbridled young men entertained him as guests.' (Variant: 'So ask the Ṣabr of Ghassān...') [entry continues]

The letters ṣād, bāʾ, and rāʾ have three root meanings: the first is confinement/restraint (al-ḥabs), the second is the upper part of a thing, and the third is a type of stone. The first: ṣabr (الصبر) is al-ḥabs (confinement). One says ṣabartu nafsī ʿalā dhālika al-amr (صبرت نفسي على ذلك الأمر), i.e. ḥabastuhā (حبستها) 'I restrained it.' He said: 'So I restrained a noble, steadfast soul for that — / it stands firm when the coward's soul flees.' Al-maṣbūra (المصبورة) is that which is confined for death, and the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) forbade killing any beast by ṣabr (confinement for shooting). From this same root is al-ṣabīr (الصبير), the guarantor (al-kafīl), so called because he patiently bears (yaṣbiru) the loss/debt. One says ṣabartu nafsī bihi aṣbiru ṣabran (صبرت نفسي به أصبر صبرا), 'I stood surety for him,' so I am ṣabīr (صبير) for him. And ṣabartu al-insān (صبرت الإنسان) means I made a person swear by God with the utmost oath. As for the second root: they said ṣabru kulli shayʾ (صبر كل شيء) is its topmost part. They said aṣbār al-ināʾ (أصبار الإناء) are its sides, singular ṣabr (صبر). He said: 'So I filled it with dark blood up to its brims.' As for the third root: al-ṣabra (الصبرة) of stones is what is hard and coarse, plural ṣibār (صبار). In the book of Ibn Duraid, al-ṣubāra (الصبارة) is a piece of iron or stone, as in the saying of al-Aʿshā: 'Who will convey to ʿAmr that man was not created [as] stone.' Ibn Duraid said the Baghdadis transmitted it as 'ṣubārahu' and 'I do not know what they meant by this.' We say: what the Baghdadis meant is what was transmitted, that al-ṣubār (الصبار) is what is hard and coarse, as in al-Aʿshā's saying: 'Just before dawn, the sounds of the hard rocks.' This is what the Baghdadis meant, and the hāʾ is added to it for the plural. Abū ʿUbayd said: al-ṣibr (الصبر) is land containing gravel that is not rough; from this the rocky lava-tract (al-ḥarra) is called Umm Ṣubbār (أم صبار). Related to this is the Arabs' saying 'the people fell into Umm Ṣubūr (أم صبور)' when they fell into a great calamity.

Al-ṣabr (الصبر): restraint in straitness. One says ṣabartu al-dābba (صبرت الدابة): 'I confined the animal,' i.e., held it without fodder; and ṣabartu fulānan (صبرت فلانا): 'I installed so-and-so permanently, with no way out for him.' Al-ṣabr is restraining the self according to what reason and religious law require, or from what they require it be restrained. So ṣabr is a general term, and its names may differ by context: if it is restraint of the self at a calamity, it is called ṣabr alone, its opposite being jazaʿ (جزع, distress). If in war, it is called courage (shajāʿa), its opposite being cowardice (jubn). If in a vexing trial, it is called 'breadth of chest,' its opposite being irritation (ḍajar). If in withholding speech, it is called concealment (kitmān), its opposite being disclosure (al-madhl). God Almighty named all of this ṣabr, alluding to it in His sayings: 'and the patient in poverty and hardship' (al-Baqara 2:177); 'and the patient over what has befallen them' (al-Ḥajj 22:35); 'and the patient men and patient women' (al-Aḥzāb 33:35). Fasting was called ṣabr because it is a species of it, and he (peace be upon him) said: 'The fasting of the month of ṣabr and three days each month removes the rancor of the chest.' His saying: 'What makes them so patient in enduring the Fire!' (al-Baqara 2:175) — Abū ʿUbayda said this is a dialectal usage meaning boldness, citing the saying of a Bedouin to his adversary: 'How bold you are against God!' This imagines a metaphor in literal form, for its meaning is: 'how persistent you are toward God's punishment, in your own reckoning, given your daring to commit that.' To this returns the saying of one who said: 'How long-lived they are for the Fire!' and of one who said: 'How capable they are of the deeds of the people of the Fire!' — for one may be described with ṣabr who in reality has none, considered from the standpoint of the observer, and use of wonder-expression in such a case is from the standpoint of the creature, not the Creator. His saying: 'Be patient and be more patient' (iṣbirū wa-ṣābirū, Āl ʿImrān 3:200), meaning: restrain yourselves in worship and struggle against your desires. His saying: 'and be patient in His worship' (Maryam 19:65), meaning: bear ṣabr with utmost effort. His saying: 'those will be rewarded the high chamber for what they patiently bore' (al-Furqān 25:75), meaning: for the ṣabr they bore in reaching God's pleasure. His saying: 'so [my course is] graceful patience' (Yūsuf 12:18), meaning it is a command and exhortation to that. Al-ṣabūr (الصبور): one capable of ṣabr. Al-ṣabbār (الصبار) is used when there is some self-imposed striving involved; He said: 'Indeed in that are signs for every ṣabbār (patiently-enduring) and shakūr (thankful)' (al-Shūrā 42:33). Waiting is expressed by ṣabr, since true waiting cannot be separated from ṣabr — rather it is a type of it. He said: 'so be patient for the judgment of your Lord' (al-Ṭūr 52:48), meaning: await His judgment against the disbelievers on your behalf.

Among the names of God Almighty: al-Ṣabūr (الصبور), Exalted and Sanctified, is the One who does not hasten to punish sinners; it is a form of intensification (mubālagha), close in meaning to al-Ḥalīm (the Forbearing). The difference between the two is that the sinner is not safe from punishment under the attribute of al-Ṣabūr, as he would be under the attribute of al-Ḥalīm. Ibn Sīda: ṣabarahu ʿan al-shayʾ yaṣbiruhu ṣabran (صبره عن الشيء يصبره صبرا): 'he restrained him from the thing.' Al-Ḥuṭayʾa said: 'I said to her, restraining it with effort: / Woe to you! The likes of Ṭarīf are few.' Al-ṣabr (الصبر): setting a person up for killing, so he is maṣbūr (مصبور). Ṣabru al-insān ʿalā al-qatl (صبر الإنسان على القتل): setting him up for it. One says: 'he killed him ṣabran (صبرا),' and 'qad ṣabarahu ʿalayhi (قد صبره عليه).' The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) forbade that a living being be confined [and shot at], i.e. tuṣbara al-rūḥ (تصبر الروح). A man is called ṣabūra (صبورة), with the hāʾ: one confined/set up for killing — reported by Thaʿlab. In the ḥadīth of the Prophet (peace be upon him), that he forbade killing any beast by ṣabr (صبرا): it is said this means holding a bird or other living creature confined alive, then shooting it with something until it is killed. He said: the root of ṣabr is confinement, and whoever confines something has 'ṣabara' it. From this is the ḥadīth: 'He forbade al-maṣbūra and forbade ṣabr of a living being' — and al-maṣbūra forbidden is that which is confined for death. Every living being confined alive then shot at until killed has been killed ṣabran. In another ḥadīth, concerning a man who held another while a third killed him, he said: 'Kill the killer, and confine the one who held him' — meaning: confine the one who detained him for death until he dies, as he did to him. From this it is said of a man brought forward and beheaded: 'he was killed ṣabran (قتل صبرا),' meaning he was held facing death. Likewise, if a man restrains himself for something he wants, he says 'ṣabartu nafsī (صبرت نفسي).' ʿAntara said, recalling a war he was in: 'So I restrained a noble, steadfast soul for that — / it remains firm when the coward's soul flees.' He means: I held back a patient soul. Abū ʿUbayd said: he means he restrained himself, and anyone killed other than in battle, war, or by mistake is killed ṣabran. In the ḥadīth of Ibn Masʿūd: that the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) forbade ṣabr al-rūḥ (صبر الروح), which is castration (al-khiṣāʾ) — castration being a severe form of ṣabr. From this too is yamīn al-ṣabr (يمين الصبر), when the ruler detains a person over an oath until he swears by it; if a person swears without being compelled, it is not said 'he swore ṣabran.' In the ḥadīth: 'Whoever swears a false yamīn maṣbūra (يمين مصبورة)...'; and in another: 'upon yamīn ṣabr (يمين صبر),' meaning he was bound and held to it, and it was binding upon him by judicial ruling. It was called maṣbūra even though its holder is, in reality, the one who is maṣbūr (confined), because he was confined only for its sake; so it [the oath] was described with ṣabr and attributed to it metaphorically. Al-maṣbūra: it is the oath. And al-ṣabr: to take someone's oath... [entry continues]