ʿAdam al-Riḍā · The Refusal of His Decree

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

قُل لَّن يُصِيبَنَآ إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَنَا هُوَ مَوْلَىٰنَا ۚ وَعَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ

“Say, "Never will we be struck except by what Allāh has decreed for us; He is our protector." And upon Allāh let the believers rely.”

9:51Listen Read 9:51 with tafsir

Svenska: Säg: "Ingenting kan drabba oss om det inte är förutbestämt för oss av Gud. Han är vår Herre och vår Beskyddare. Till Gud skall de troende lita!"

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.