Chapter: Patience in bearing calamity when it first strikes
Anas b. Malik reported Allah's Messenger ( صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم ) as saying: Endurance is to be shown at the first blow.
Anas b. Malik reported that Allah's Messenger ( صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم ) came to a woman who had been weeping for her (dead) child, and said to her: Fear Allah and show endurance. She (not recognising him) said: You have not been afflicted as I have been. When he (the Holy Prophet) had departed, it was said to her that he was the Messenger of Allah ( صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم ), she was mortally shocked. She came to his door and she did not find doorkeepers at his door. She said: Messenger of Allah. I did not recognise you. He said: Endurance is to be shown at first blow, or at the first blow.
A hadith like this is narrated with the same chain of transmitters but with the addition of these words: The Apostle of Allah ( صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم ) happened to pass by a woman (who was sitting) by the side of a grave.