Half of Faith

Abstract Patience is one of the central virtues in Islam. Within the Islamic tradition, patience has been suggested as a virtue comprising half of one’s faith, with gratitude comprising the other half. As patience has been granted such a high status in Islam, religious scholars have discussed the centrality of patience in Islamic character development. This chapter provides a conceptual overview of patience in Islam based on the Quran, sayings of Prophet Muhammad (ahadith), and classical Islamic literature. Patience is considered a higher-order virtue in Islam, which subsumes many related virtues and character strengths, such as abstinence, self-control, forbearance, and asceticism. This chapter focuses on two categorizations of patience according to two famous scholars of Islam, Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya. The first categorization pertains to patience in matters that are desirable and undesirable. The second categorization pertains to patience in observing religious laws and patience in worldly affairs. The chapter concludes by discussing Islamic guidance on the cognitive and affective methods of cultivating patience, including the role of knowledge acquisition, behavioral modification, and motivation.