جَالِسِ الْحَسَنَ أَوِ ابْنَ سِيرِينَ / فَاصْبِرُوا أَوْ لَا تَصْبِرُوا
Keep company with one of the two; be patient or not.
The particle aw occurs in both examples but does not by itself identify the rhetorical force. In the first, it marks an authorized choice between alternatives; in the second, opposite actions are put on the same footing regarding their outcome.
Permission asks whether the alternatives are allowable. Equalization asks whether choosing between them makes any effective difference. The wider speech situation resolves the ambiguity.
FeaturePermissionEqualization
QuestionIs a choice allowed?Does the outcome change?
ForceAllow a selectionEqualize consequences
ExampleJālis al-Ḥasana aw ibna SīrīnFa-ṣbirū aw lā taṣbirū