Rida, or contentment, in Sufism is not a feeling of never being hurt. In the chapter on rida in his Risala, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465 AH) quotes his teacher Abu Ali al-Daqqaq: contentment is not that you stop feeling the trial, but that you stop objecting to what Allah has decreed. This guide walks through that chapter in plain English, working from the Arabic text of al-Risala al-Qushayriyya.
Quick answer
Short answer: For Qushayri, the one content with Allah is the one who does not object to His decree. Contentment does not mean approving of sin. It begins as an effort the servant makes and ends as a gift that settles in the heart.
Is rida a stage or a state?
Qushayri reports a real disagreement. The teachers of Khurasan counted rida among the maqamat, the stages a seeker reaches by effort, and called it the end point of trust in Allah (tawakkul). The teachers of Iraq counted it among the ahwal, the states that descend on the heart and cannot be earned.
His answer brings the two together. The beginning of contentment is earned and belongs to the stages. Its end is a state and is not earned. In practice, you work at not complaining, and the deeper calm is given.
What contentment is not
Qushayri draws a line that is easy to miss. The servant is asked to be content with the decree he was commanded to accept. Not everything that happens is something a person may, or must, be content with. He names sins and the trials that afflict Muslims as examples. Contentment is about not resisting Allah’s choice for you. It is not indifference to wrongdoing or to other people’s suffering.
Signs of contentment from the early teachers
The chapter gathers short sayings, each describing rida from a different side. A few of them, in paraphrase:
- Dhu al-Nun al-Misri: three signs. You stop insisting on your own choice before the decree, you lose the bitterness after it, and love stirs in you even in the middle of hardship.
- Rabi’a al-Adawiyya: asked when a servant is content, she said: when a hardship pleases him as much as a blessing does.
- Abu Bakr ibn Tahir: contentment means removing dislike from the heart until only gladness remains.
- Ibn Khafif: the heart resting in Allah’s rulings and agreeing with what He has chosen.
- Fudayl ibn Iyad to Bishr al-Hafi: contentment is better than renunciation (zuhd), because the content person does not wish for a rank above his own.
Qushayri adds a caution from al-Wasiti: use contentment as hard as you can, but do not let it use you. If you start enjoying your own contentment, that pleasure becomes a veil between you and Allah.
The Prophet’s dua for contentment after the decree
The chapter quotes a phrase from a prophetic supplication: أسألك الرضا بعد القضاء, “I ask You for contentment after the decree.” Asked why it says after, Abu Uthman al-Hiri explained that contentment before the decree is only an intention to be content. Contentment after the decree is the real thing.
The text gives this phrase as part of the Prophet’s dua. It sets no number of repetitions and promises no particular reward, so neither do we. It suits a quiet moment after something has happened that you did not choose.
Allah’s pleasure comes first
Qushayri notes that a servant hardly becomes content with Allah until Allah is first pleased with him, pointing to the verse “Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him” (Qur’an 98:8). He then tells of a student who said he could know Allah was pleased with him: when he found his own heart content with Allah. He also cites the saying of the early teachers that rida is “Allah’s greatest door” and, in the words of Abd al-Wahid ibn Zayd, “the paradise of this world.”
For more on how the Risala is arranged, see our reader’s introduction to Qushayri’s Risala.
FAQ
What does rida mean in Sufism?
Rida means contentment with Allah’s decree. In Qushayri’s Risala, the core of it is not objecting to what Allah has ordained, even while you still feel the pain of a trial.
Does contentment mean accepting sin or injustice?
No. Qushayri says plainly that not everything that occurs is something a servant may be content with, and he gives sins and the trials of Muslims as examples.
Is there a dua for contentment in the Risala?
Yes. The chapter quotes the Prophet’s words “I ask You for contentment after the decree.” The Risala gives no count or promised reward for it.
Source: Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, Bab al-Rida, Arabic text.
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