How can a person be content with destiny when they are compelled by it?

Patience in the face of calamities is obligatory by the consensus of scholars. As for contentment with calamities, it is recommended and not obligatory; it is a higher spiritual station than patience.

Evidence for the recommendation of contentment includes the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying to Ibn Abbas: "If you are able to work for Allah with contentment coupled with certainty, then do so. If you are unable, then there is much good in patience regarding what you dislike."

Among the causes of contentment are: certainty that Allah decrees nothing but good for the believer, contemplating the reward of contentment, and being immersed in love for the One who afflicts, His majesty, and His perfection.

The difference between patience and contentment: Patience is restraining the soul from complaining while pain is present. As for contentment, it necessitates a joyful and expansive heart, and it lessens the feeling of pain, and may even remove it. The patient person may wish for their situation to change, whereas the content person does not wish for a state other than their current one.

Patience can be voluntary and praiseworthy, which is the patience of the noble ones, or it can be involuntary, occurring after despair, which is the patience of the ignoble ones. The noble person is patient by choice, knowing the good outcome of patience, while the ignoble person is patient out of necessity after their fruitless attempts at despair.