Chapter: On Contentment with Divine Decree

باب فی الرضاء بالقضاء — قضا وقدر پر راضی رہنے کے بارے میں

بَابٌ فِي الرِّضَاءِ بِالْقَضَاءِ

On remaining content with qaḍāʾ and qadar (the divine decree and destiny).

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: يٰٓاَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ارْجِعِيْٓ اِلٰى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً فَادْخُلِيْ فِيْ عِبٰدِيْ وَادْخُلِيْ جَنَّتِيْ ۔

(al-Fajr 89:27–30)

[reading uncertain]

Translation: Allah Most High says: O soul at peace! Return to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing; then enter among My (special) servants, and enter My Paradise.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوْا عَنْهُ ذٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ رَبَّهٗ ۔

(al-Bayyina 98:8)

Translation: Allah Most High says: Allah became pleased with them and they became pleased with Him. This (for whom is it?) is for the one who fears his Lord (whose heart holds the awe and majesty of Him).

Gentlemen! As long as the fear of God is not in a man's heart, he neither does good deeds nor gives up bad deeds. One who is not a good servant of God can be neither a good subject of the king, nor good offspring of his parents, and, if a woman, nor an obedient wife to her husband. Fear God. Remember: there is no harm in fearing. The one in whose heart there is no majesty of God has no good thought in his heart and no good deeds. One day one must die and show one's face to God. Whoever is good-natured is successful.

الْاِيْمَانُ بِالْقَدَرِ يُذْهِبُ الْهَمَّ وَالْحُزْنَ ۔

(al-Ḥākim in his Tārīkh, and al-Qāḍī, from Abū Hurayra; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl.)

[reading uncertain]

Vocabulary: yudhhibu — removes; al-hamm wa-al-ḥuzn — anxiety and grief.

Translation: It is narrated from Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him): He [the Prophet ﷺ] said: Faith in destiny (taqdīr) removes anxiety and grief.

فِي الْحَدِيْثِ الْقُدْسِيِّ وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى مَنْ لَّمْ يَرْضَ بِقَضَائِيْ وَلَمْ يَصْبِرْ عَلٰى بَلَائِيْ فَلْيَلْتَمِسْ رَبًّا سِوَائِيْ ۔

(al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-Īmān, from Anas; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl, likewise.)

Vocabulary: man lam yarḍa — whoever was not content; bi-qaḍāʾī — with My decision; fa-l-yaltamis — then he should search out.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is in a ḥadīth qudsī [a narration in which the Prophet ﷺ relates Allah's words]): Allah Most High said: Whoever is not content with My decision and is not patient over My trials, he should seek out some other lord besides Me.

اَلْقَدَرُ سِرُّ اللّٰهِ مَنْ لَّمْ يُؤْمِنْ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهٖ وَشَرِّهٖ فَاَنَا بَرِيْءٌ مِّنْهُ ۔

(Abū Yaʿlā, from Abū Hurayra; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl.)

[reading uncertain]

Vocabulary: sirru Allāh — the secret of Allah; khayrihi wa-sharrihi — its good and its evil.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him): Destiny is a secret of Allah; good and evil come about through destiny. Whoever does not believe in it, I am free of him.

اَلْقَدَرُ نِظَامُ التَّوْحِيْدِ فَمَنْ وَّحَّدَ اللّٰهَ وَاٰمَنَ بِالْقَدَرِ فَقَدِ اسْتَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقٰى ۔

(al-Ṭabarānī, al-Awsaṭ, from Ibn ʿAbbās; Kanz al-ʿUmmāl.)

Vocabulary: istamsaka — he took hold of; bi-l-ʿurwati al-wuthqā — the firm handhold.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him): "Destiny is the order of tawḥīd (Divine Unity). So whoever acknowledged the Oneness of Allah and believed in destiny has taken hold of the firm handhold."