صبر
Ṣabara
To resist evil or tragedy and remain firm in adherence to the cause of Islam; the root of ṣabr, patience.
What it means
Ṣabara is the verb for holding firm. It means to resist evil or hardship and to remain steady in obeying God and in loyalty to the cause of Islam. The noun ṣabr is usually rendered “patience”, but it names active endurance, not passive waiting. The Quran tells believers to seek help through patience and prayer, and says that God is with the patient (2:153). It promises that the patient will be given their reward without measure (39:10). The prophets are held up as examples of this steadfastness under trials.
Often misunderstood as
That patience means passive resignation, when ṣabr is firm resistance and perseverance.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 35, listed as ṢABARA. The definition is restated here.