At the First Moment It Strikes

Imām Ibn Taimiyyah, may Allāh have mercy on him, said:

People who’ve been afflicted by calamaties are only [considered] to be [from] those who are patient when they are patient the first moment they are struck, as the Prophet ﷺ said: “It’s only patience when [its] at the first moment [a calamity] strikes.”¹

Or else, one who isn’t patient with the patience of those of noble character, will [eventually] come to forget [his pain] the way animals forget [their pains]. [Meanwhile], someone who’s able to understand things well does on the first day what someone with weak understanding does after three days.

¹Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Bukhārī (4336); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1062).

Jāmiʿ Al-Masāʾil, vol. 8, p. 232.