Rajāʾ in the Qurʾan: The Ease of God and the Negation of Despair

A Qurʾanic study of a concept in which hope (rajāʾ), despair (yaʾs) and utter hopelessness (qunūṭ) stand face to face, beginning from the counsel of Yaʿqūb to his sons. By Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali Abouseif, President of the American Imams Academy (AIA).

After Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him) had lost Yūsuf, and then lost his brother too, and his eyes had turned white with grief, he did not say to his sons: sit down and wait. Nor did he say: everything has come to an end. He said to them: ﴿يَا بَنِيَّ اذْهَبُوا فَتَحَسَّسُوا مِن يُوسُفَ وَأَخِيهِ وَلَا تَيْأَسُوا مِن رَّوْحِ اللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّهُ لَا يَيْأَسُ مِن رَّوْحِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْكَافِرُونَ﴾ ("O my sons, go and inquire about Yūsuf and his brother, and do not despair of the rawḥ of God; none despairs of the rawḥ of God except the disbelieving people") (Yūsuf 12:87). In this verse hope gathers in its purest form: movement ("go and inquire"), a prohibition of despair, and a reason that ties despair to disbelief.

A Methodological Note: Hope by Its Word and by Its Meaning

It must be made clear at the outset that the word "hope" (rajāʾ) itself, that is, the root r-j-w, does not appear in Sūrat Yūsuf. The concept appears there through its lexical opposite, despair (yaʾs) and giving up hope (istiyʾās), and through vocabulary that carries its meaning: the "rawḥ of God." This study therefore reads the concept in this sura by its meaning, and sets it against what occurs with the actual word rajāʾ in the rest of the Qurʾan. This is a legitimate approach in the study of concepts, so long as the researcher states it openly.

The Linguistic Sense

In Arabic, rajāʾ is the expectation that a desired good will come about in the future, with a cause that calls for it. Scholars have distinguished it from tamannī (wishing) by saying that wishing is asking for what has no cause behind it, whereas rajāʾ is joined to action and effort. Rawḥ, with a fatḥah on the rāʾ, means relief, deliverance and mercy, from rīḥ (wind) and nasīm (breeze), as though deliverance were a breeze that lightens hardship. So "the rawḥ of God" is His granting of relief and His mercy. Yaʾs is the cutting off of hope; qunūṭ is stronger than it, being the despair whose effect shows upon the one who suffers it.

Hope in the Qurʾan: The Condition of Action

The occurrences of the root in the Qurʾan reveal that in most of its contexts hope is paired with action, not with bare wishing. In Sūrat al-Kahf: ﴿فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاءَ رَبِّهِ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا﴾ ("So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous work and let him not associate anyone in the worship of his Lord") (al-Kahf 18:110). In al-Baqarah God describes those who hope: ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أُولَٰئِكَ يَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ﴾ ("Indeed, those who have believed and those who have emigrated and striven in the cause of God, those hope for the mercy of God") (al-Baqarah 2:218); that is, those who hope are the believers who emigrate and strive, not those who sit back. In al-Aḥzāb: ﴿لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ﴾ ("There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of God an excellent example for whoever hopes in God and the Last Day") (al-Aḥzāb 33:21). And in al-Isrāʾ hope comes joined to fear: ﴿وَيَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَهُ وَيَخَافُونَ عَذَابَهُ﴾ ("and they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment") (al-Isrāʾ 17:57).

These passages establish that hope in the Qurʾan is not separable from action and fear. Whoever hopes and does not act is a deluded wisher; whoever fears and does not hope is in despair. This balance is what the people of spiritual travel (ahl al-sulūk) know as joining fear and hope, like the two wings of a bird.

The Model of Yaʿqūb: A Hope That Does Not Remove Grief

What stands out in the story of Yaʿqūb is that his hope did not cancel his grief. He said: ﴿يَا أَسَفَىٰ عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ وَابْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ﴾ ("Oh, my sorrow over Yūsuf! and his eyes turned white from grief, and he was filled with suppressed distress") (Yūsuf 12:84), and then, a little after it, he said: "and do not despair of the rawḥ of God." Grief and hope meet in the same heart. Hope is not that pain should vanish, but that pain should remain while the door of relief is not shut. Yaʿqūb had earlier expressed the station of patience: ﴿إِنَّمَا أَشْكُو بَثِّي وَحُزْنِي إِلَى اللَّهِ وَأَعْلَمُ مِنَ اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("I only complain of my suffering and my grief to God, and I know from God what you do not know") (Yūsuf 12:86). Complaining to God does not contradict hope; it is among its most distinctive forms.

The link between hope and action can be seen in Yaʿqūb's counsel itself: "go and inquire," that is, search and follow the traces. He did not leave the matter to destiny while sitting idle; he joined reliance on God (tawakkul) with striving. In this lies a correction of the understanding of hope held by those who take it to be passive waiting.

Despair and Hopelessness: The Opposite and the Danger

The Qurʾan makes despair of the rawḥ of God a trait of the disbelievers: "except the disbelieving people" (Yūsuf 12:87), and it makes hopelessness (qunūṭ) about His mercy a trait of those who have gone astray: ﴿وَمَن يَقْنَطُ مِن رَّحْمَةِ رَبِّهِ إِلَّا الضَّالُّونَ﴾ ("And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except those who are astray?") (al-Ḥijr 15:56). This shows that despair is not merely a passing feeling; when it settles and becomes a held conviction, it points to a flaw in one's knowledge of God. Whoever is certain that God is powerful and merciful will not let despair settle in his heart. As for passing moments of distress, the messengers themselves went through them: ﴿حَتَّىٰ إِذَا اسْتَيْأَسَ الرُّسُلُ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ قَدْ كُذِبُوا جَاءَهُمْ نَصْرُنَا﴾ ("until, when the messengers gave up hope and thought that they had been denied, Our help came to them") (Yūsuf 12:110). This is among the last verses of the sura, and it shows that victory comes after the most severe moments of distress.

And in the call to those who have transgressed: ﴿قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا﴾ ("Say: O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of God; indeed, God forgives all sins") (al-Zumar 39:53). Hope here embraces sinners as well; it is the open door of repentance.

The Prophetic Witness

The Prophet ﷺ says, in what he reports from his Lord: «أنا عند ظنّ عبدي بي، وأنا معه إذا ذكرني» ("I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him when he remembers Me")^[1]. And he ﷺ said, three days before his death: «لا يموتنّ أحدُكم إلا وهو يُحسن الظنّ بالله عز وجل» ("Let none of you die except while thinking well of God, the Mighty and Majestic")^[2]. Thinking well of God (ḥusn al-ẓann) is thus a pillar of hope. The scholars stipulated that thinking well must be joined to action, otherwise it becomes delusion, and this is a meaning transmitted from the early generations (the salaf) in warning against the one who pleads good opinion of God while doing no deeds.

A Maqāṣid Reading

Hope protects the soul from collapse and protects society from helplessness. It is among the psychological purposes (maqāṣid) of religion: that a human being remain able to rise however severe the trial. And the hope in the Qurʾan is directed toward a guaranteed source, God, and not toward means alone. Hence a person may lose the means and his hope remain, just as Yaʿqūb lost his two sons and did not lose his hope.

It appears in the sura that hope is tied to knowledge of God: ﴿وَأَعْلَمُ مِنَ اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("and I know from God what you do not know") (Yūsuf 12:86). Yaʿqūb's knowledge of God is the source of his hope. The more a servant knows his Lord, the greater his hope in Him.

The Balance of the Two Wings: Fear and Hope Together

The Qurʾan describes God's righteous servants as joining the two states: ﴿تَتَجَافَىٰ جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا﴾ ("Their sides draw away from their beds; they call upon their Lord in fear and aspiration") (al-Sajdah 32:16), ﴿وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا﴾ ("and they supplicate Us in longing and in dread") (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:90), and it commands: ﴿وَادْعُوهُ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا﴾ ("and call upon Him in fear and aspiration") (al-Aʿrāf 7:56). A ḥadīth has come that balances the two matters: «لو يعلم المؤمن ما عند الله من العقوبة ما طمع بجنته أحد، ولو يعلم الكافر ما عند الله من الرحمة ما قنط من جنته أحد» ("If the believer knew what punishment is with God, no one would covet His Paradise; and if the disbeliever knew what mercy is with God, no one would despair of His Paradise")^[3]. The aim is that neither side overwhelm the other: lest hope become feeling secure from God's scheme, or fear become hopelessness about His mercy. The Qurʾan has warned against both errors together: ﴿فَلَا يَأْمَنُ مَكْرَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ﴾ ("None feels secure from the scheme of God except the losing people") (al-Aʿrāf 7:99), and ﴿إِنَّهُ لَا يَيْأَسُ مِن رَّوْحِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْكَافِرُونَ﴾ ("none despairs of the rawḥ of God except the disbelieving people") (Yūsuf 12:87).

The people of spiritual travel differed over which should prevail in life and which at the time of death. The well-known view is that fear should prevail in the time of health, so that it deters from disobedience, and hope should prevail at the point of death, out of thinking well of God. This is an ijtihād about ordering, not a decisive text, and in the earlier ḥadīth of Jābir there is support for the latter part.

The School of Patience in the House of Yaʿqūb

In the sura Yaʿqūb condenses a whole school of patience joined with hope. At the beginning of the trial he said: ﴿فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ ۖ وَاللَّهُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ عَلَىٰ مَا تَصِفُونَ﴾ ("So patience is most fitting, and God is the one whose help is sought against what you describe") (Yūsuf 12:18). And after losing the second brother he said: ﴿فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ ۖ عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَأْتِيَنِي بِهِمْ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ﴾ ("So patience is most fitting. Perhaps God will bring them all to me; indeed, it is He who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise") (Yūsuf 12:83). Notice how he moved from the first utterance, in which no explicit hope appears, to the second, which "perhaps" (ʿasā) has entered. Hope intensifies as the trial intensifies; it does not fade. This is what makes hope the companion of beautiful patience (ṣabr jamīl), the patience in which there is no complaint to creatures.

The Contemporary Practical Dimension

The signs of despair abound in this age: unemployment, mental illness, wars, the collapse of dreams. A person may say: there is no use. The Qurʾanic way does not ask him to deny reality; it asks him not to close the door. The lesson can be summarized in three movements from Yaʿqūb's counsel: inquire (search and move), do not despair (do not close the door of hope), and complain of your distress to God (give your grief a direction). Whoever wishes to help another toward hope should help with action alongside the word, as Yaʿqūb did when he sent his sons out and did not content himself with calming them.

In education: teaching children that failure is not the end, and that God has a rawḥ after every hardship. In calling to God (daʿwah): that the discourse should lead people into the door of repentance and not shut it, for God opens what harsh discourse closes.

The Fruits of Hope in Conduct

Sincere hope has visible fruits in the conduct of the believer. It drives perseverance: ﴿وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ ("So do not weaken and do not grieve, for you will be superior if you are true believers") (Āl ʿImrān 3:139). It drives repentance after a slip, so the sinner does not remain a prisoner of his sin. It drives kindness toward people, because whoever hopes for God's mercy shows mercy to His creation. It drives supplication, since only one who hopes for an answer will call. By contrast, despair cuts off all these fruits: it stops a person from acting, confines him in his sin, and prevents him from supplicating.

It is worth noting that Yaʿqūb, after his sons had despaired or nearly despaired of finding Yūsuf, did not abandon his paternal role of guiding them. This teaches that the leader in a family or a community is the one who keeps hope alive in hard times, and that his duty is not to transmit his own despair, should it overcome him, to those around him, but to complain to God alone, as he said: "I only complain of my suffering and my grief to God."

Conclusion

The counsel of Yaʿqūb to his sons, "and do not despair of the rawḥ of God," is among the shortest and deepest things ever said about hope: movement without hopelessness, grief without closure, and knowledge of God that keeps the door open. The close of the sura bore out his counsel, for relief came from where he had not reckoned. Whoever stands before a closed door should remember that Yaʿqūb did not sit down before it; he sent his sons out to inquire, and his heart stayed suspended upon the rawḥ of God.