Shifa al-Darar bi-Fahm al-Tawakkul wa al-Qada wa al-Qadar
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- Shifa al-Darar bi-Fahm al-Tawakkul wa al-Qada wa al-Qadar
Shifa al-Darar bi-Fahm al-Tawakkul wa al-Qada wa al-Qadar (شفاء الضرر بفهم التوكل والقضاء والقدر; Remedying Harm Through Understanding Reliance upon God, Divine Decree, and Predestination) is a treatise by Abu Faysal al-Badrani examining the Islamic theological doctrines of predestination (al-qada wa al-qadar), reliance upon God (al-tawakkul), and certainty in His promise.
Scope and Structure
The work is organized as a concise compendium formatted in bulleted thematic points, outlining both general principles and detailed rulings concerning predestination and reliance. The author defines qadar as God’s preordainment of all created entities in accordance with His eternal knowledge and wisdom, or His knowledge, inscription, will, and creation of all things.
Core Themes
Pillars and Levels of Divine Decree
The treatise articulates belief in divine decree through four foundational pillars (maratib al-qadar):
- Knowledge (al-ʿIlm): Affirming that God possesses eternal, absolute knowledge of what was, what will be, and how it occurs, without acquisition following ignorance or forgetfulness after knowledge.
- Writing (al-Kitabah): Affirming that God inscribed the destiny of all creation until the Day of Resurrection in the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz).
- Will (al-Mashiʾah): Affirming that whatever God wills happens, and whatever He does not will never comes to pass.
- Creation (al-Khalq): Affirming that God is the sole creator of all entities, including human voluntary actions, which are created by God while being performed and acquired by human beings.
The author also delineates temporal categories of decree: lifelong preordainment (al-taqdir al-ʿumri), annual preordainment on the Night of Decree (al-taqdir al-sanawi), and daily preordainment (al-taqdir al-yawmi).
Mubram and Muʿallaq Decrees
A major focus of the book is distinguishing between irrevocable decree (al-qada al-mubram) and conditional decree (al-qada al-muʿallaq):
- Al-Qada al-mubram resides in Umm al-Kitab (the Mother of the Book) and God's eternal knowledge; it is unalterable and experiences no cancellation or change.
- Al-Qada al-muʿallaq refers to what is recorded in the scrolls held by the angels, where erasure and confirmation occur based on specific actions, such as supplication (duʿa), charity, and upholding family ties.
To clarify this distinction, the text cites classical discussions by scholars such as Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di, emphasizing that supplication and material causes are themselves part of God's decree.
Reliance and Secondary Causes
The work clarifies that true reliance (tawakkul) does not contradict utilizing lawful means (al-asbab). The author explains that the One who commanded reliance also commanded adopting permissible means, and that repelling one decree with another—such as repelling illness through medication, sin through repentance, or an enemy through defense—is an integral part of dealing with God's decree. Furthermore, it highlights universal laws (al-sunan al-kawniyyah) as fixed divine systems governing the cosmos that are only suspended for a profound divine purpose, such as miracles.
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