Asking Allah for every decree to be good
📖Sunan Ibn Mājah 3846
Aisha reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, taught her among the comprehensive supplications, “O Allah, I ask You for Your every decree upon me to be good.”
Explanation
This hadith highlights the humility of the believer before Allah’s Qadr (decree). The Prophet ﷺ taught Aisha a short but comprehensive supplication – to ask Allah that whatever He decrees for us turns out good.
- Decree does not mean we can change Allah’s will – it means we accept His judgment, even when it does not match our desires.
- It is an act of glorifying Allah, submitting fully to His wisdom, and trusting that He knows what we do not.
Types of decree
Scholars explained there are levels of decree:
- Absolute decree (what Allah wrote before creation in Al-Lawh al-Mahfuz)
- Example: The moment of your death, your provision, your lifespan. This does not change, for Allah already knows all things.
- Conditional or witnessed decree (what happens through human actions and choices, yet still under Allah’s knowledge and permission)
- Example: If someone kills me unjustly, Allah already knew it and wrote it down, but the killer is still responsible for his action. Allah allowed it to occur as part of His decree, but He did not force the person to commit the sin.
Thus, Allah’s decree includes both:
- What He directly determines (life, death, provision, creation).
- What He allows humans to do, though He already knew and recorded it.
Examples
- If you fall sick, it is decreed by Allah – but if someone poisoned you, that too was seen and written by Allah, yet the killer bears responsibility.
- If you lose wealth in a fire, it is from Allah’s decree – but if a thief steals it, Allah permitted it to occur, while the thief will be judged.
- If your lifespan ends naturally, that is Allah’s direct decree – but if a person commits murder, your death still falls under Allah’s knowledge, though the murderer is punished for his deed.
Quranic Context
📖Quran 64:11
No disaster strikes except by permission of Allah. And whoever believes in Allah – He will guide his heart. And Allah is Knowing of all things.
📖Quran 57:22
No calamity strikes upon the earth or within yourselves except that it is in a register before We bring it into being – indeed that, for Allah, is easy.
📖Quran 3:26
Say, “O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent.”
📖Quran 2:286
Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear.
So, this dua is a surrender – recognizing that Allah’s decree is final, whether direct or through human action, and we ask Him to make every decree upon us good for our dunya and akhirah.