Raja'
Definition
Raja' is the confident expectation that God will fulfill His promise of mercy to those who strive sincerely toward Him. Al-Ghazali is very precise: raja' is not wishful thinking (tamanni), which is passive and effort-free, but an active, effort-coupled expectation — the hope of the farmer who has done everything in their power and now awaits the divine completion of what they cannot control. The foundation of raja' is knowledge of God's names — Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim, Al-Ghafur, Al-Wadud — and the firm conviction that divine mercy is vaster than any sin. But this knowledge must be paired with sincere striving; without effort, 'hope' becomes a spiritual alibi for sloth.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Raja'.
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"worshipped what they admired among stones, forgetting their original teachings. In authentic narrations, Abu Raja al-Taridi said, in the days of ignorance, if we could not find a stone, we would gather dirt, milk a sheep onto it and then circle around it. Ibn Ishaq continued that they replaced the religion of Ibrahim and Ismail, peace be upon them, with idol worship and followed the misguidance of previous nations. Yet remnants of the covenant of Ibrahim remained, such as honoring the house, performing tawaf, observing hajj and umrah, standing at Arafat and Muzdalifah, offering sacrifices and proclaiming their intention for hajj and umrah while incorporating practices"
— Ibn Kathir, Volume 2 — From the Israelite Prophets to Pre-Islamic Arabia
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"kind. And what does correspond to reality in the outer world is of two sorts: a sort by whose perception and knowledge the soul is perfected — and that is knowledge of God, His names, His attributes, His acts, His books, His command, and His prohibition; and a sort that yields the soul no perfection — and that is every science ignorance of which does no harm, for knowledge of it brings no benefit. The Prophet used to seek refuge in God from knowledge that does not benefit. Such is the case with most of the sound, corresponding sciences whose ignorance harms nothing — like the science of the celestial spheres, Faith Has an Outward and an Inward"
— Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume One
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"The hadith master Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani related it thus: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Kaysan related to us, saying: Abdullah ibn Raja related to us, saying: Isra'il informed us, from Abu Yahya al-Attab, from Mujahid, from Ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of God, God's peace and blessings be upon him, said: "It is not fitting for anyone to say, 'I am better in God's sight than Yunus ibn Matta.'" Its chain is sound, though they did not include it."
— Ibn Kathir, The Destroyed Nations & Yunus
Appears in
1 book in the library
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