The 365 · Tazkiyah · Day 360 · Heart
ʿAdam al-Riḍā · The Refusal of His Decree
The disease
عَدَمُ الرِّضَا بِالْقَضَاءِ
ʿAdam al-Riḍā bi al-Qaḍāʾ
The story
Imām Aḥmad on his deathbed kept saying: 'laʾ, laʾ'. His son asked. He said: 'Iblīs was standing at the head of my bed saying: you have escaped me, Aḥmad. I was saying no, I have not yet, until I die.' At the moment of death, he said: 'al-ḥamdu lillāh.' His riḍā sealed his life.
Why it's named first
Riḍā is the highest station of the soul: pleased with what Allah chose. The disease is the resistance: 'why me?', 'why now?', 'why this?'. The questions are human; the resistance becomes disease when it lasts and hardens.
In the Qur'an
لا يُصيبَنَا إِلا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا (التوبة 51).
In the Sunnah
«رضي باللّه ربّا، وبالإسلام ديناً، وبمحمد رسولاً: وجبت له الجنّة». (Muslim 1884)
The cure
When a difficulty arrives, say first: 'innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rājiʿūn.' Then: 'qaddara Allāhu wa mā shāʾa faʿal.' Then act. The order matters: riḍā first; action second.
What is at stake
Resistance to qaḍāʾ exhausts the soul. The thing decreed will happen; the only choice is whether to suffer through it with peace or with bitterness.
A du'a for this day
«رضيت باللّه ربّا» three times daily, especially morning and evening.
The door of mercy
Al-Ḥakam (the Final Arbiter). His decisions are wise; riḍā trusts the wisdom.
A reflection to carry
Riḍā is the heart's highest station. The peace is contingent on the surrender.
Read the longer reflection
Riḍā is the Heart cluster's last preparation before the seal. The believer who is pleased with Allah finds Allah pleased with him; the verse pairs them (Q 5:119). May Allah make us of those who said riḍītu bi-Allāhi rabbā with the heart, not just the tongue.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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