A Rank in Paradise Reached Through Trial

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 24 April 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — [Watch the original video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5_s5B6u1-w)

In a ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ, Allah decrees for a servant a rank in Paradise that he cannot reach by his deeds, so Allah afflicts him with a calamity in his person, his wealth or his child, and then grants him patience through it until he reaches that rank by means of it.^[1] In this noble text there is a healing explanation of many of the events that befall us in our lives.

People are not equal in their capacity to accomplish more acts of obedience. You see some people whom you never meet except fasting, until you think they fast more than the days of the year themselves. With others, you cannot speak of anyone without finding that your friend has already preceded you to him with a gift: there is no one who does not owe him some kindness he gave him, or some charity, or a visit, or some piece of news. And some you never enter the mosque without finding them praying, and you ask: where do they get the time? People differ in their accomplishments of worship, while some people are simply not good at this. So you ask: how will these reach the rank of those on the Day of Resurrection?

Then this ḥadīth does not only give me an explanation of how such people reach their ranks; it also gives me a calming and soothing for the human soul amid the trials and tests that follow upon us night and day. You come to know that some people, we seek refuge in Allah, are by nature people of trouble, while others walk close to the wall, bothering no one, and then you are surprised that so-and-so is in prison, for example. How can that be? He was afflicted with a calamity, and we ask Allah for well-being and safety, and you see him spend years of his life in this trial. And is there a greater example than Yūsuf, upon our Prophet and upon him be peace? He was put in prison for many years over a matter in which he had neither fault nor part. Glory be to Allah, the Almighty! How could a servant find any justification, within himself, for this happening to him? And then the ḥadīth says to you, in its meaning: that is your rank in Paradise, and Allah has chosen for you a path to it.

And when someone descends upon you from where you do not expect, and takes money from you or creates a problem for you, you look at the causes and say: I am walking step by step, engineering my life to a degree that keeps me safe; but the Lord of the worlds has another plan in the universe. It is as though the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is telling me that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is aware of your heart and knows the readiness within you: are you qualified for Paradise? Either through more deeds, or more patience, or more submission to Allah, Blessed and Exalted, or more striving in the presence of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him. Whoever's deeds do not carry him to Paradise, his aspiration and his soul carry him to Paradise. And whoever loses both has lost everything, and whoever gains both has gained everything.

I ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted, to be gentle with us always in His decree and destiny, to forgive us our shortcomings in the right of His call and His religion, to set right what is in our hands and what our own hands have spoiled, and to overlook our evil deeds and our errors. Striving for patience is a blessing, and contentment and gratitude to Allah, Blessed and Exalted, bring a servant to what nothing else brings him to. I ask Allah to reward us and you for what is in our hands.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Narrated by Abū Dāwūd (3090) from Muḥammad ibn Khālid al-Sulamī, from his father, from his grandfather, who was a Companion, in the wording: «إن العبد إذا سبقت له من الله منزلة لم يبلغها بعمله ابتلاه الله في جسده أو في ماله أو في ولده، ثم صبّره على ذلك حتى يُبلغه المنزلة التي سبقت له من الله تعالى» ("When a rank has been decreed by Allah for a servant which he does not attain by his deeds, Allah afflicts him in his body, his wealth or his child, then grants him patience through that until He brings him to the rank decreed for him by Allah the Exalted"); al-Albānī graded it authentic.