"I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer..." Is this sacred hadith sound? Does our Lord hesitate? How can it be explained?

- Does our Lord hesitate? How can it be explained?

Dear Brother / Sister,

This statement is a part of a long sacred hadith.

 "I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer.” This statement is followed by the sentences “For, he hates death, and I hate to disappoint him” (Bukhari, Riqaq, 38), which explains the reason for the hesitation. 

As for the concept “taraddud (hesitation)”, which is not appropriate to use for Allah in the sense it is known, we will present the summary of the interpretations made by scholars regarding the issue in a few items:  

- According to Khattabi, the word taraddud mentioned in the hadith can be interpreted in two ways:

a. A believer contracts a deadly illness. He asks Allah to save him from this illness. Allah cures him and eliminates his trouble. People express such things with a kind of statement that is regarded as hesitation by saying “Allah who kills did not kill”. The “hesitation (taraddud)” of Allah mentioned in the hadith is similar to that usage.

b. The word taraddud in the hadith is in the sense of tardid = sending again and again. As a matter of fact, in the famous story between the death angel that came to Hz. Musa (Moses) and Hz. Musa, the angel of death had to apply to Allah several times and Allah sent him back to Hz. Musa again. Accordingly, the meaning of the hadith is as follows: “When I send my messengers to do something that I want, I do not hesitate as much as I hesitate when I send the angel of that to take the life of a believing slave.” That is, I send my messengers only once to do something regarding other issues but I allow them to go and come a few times related to the death of a believing slave (cf. Ibn Hajar, the explanation of the hadith in question)

- No matter how it is interpreted, the word “taraddud” in the hadith expresses Allah’s compassion, mercy and grace toward His believing slave. (Ibn Hajar, ibid)

- According to Kalabadhi, the attribute of taraddud of the deed was used in the hadith instead of the attribute tardid. That is, there is no taraddud (going and coming back) in Allah’s essence. Taraddud is related to the slave’s own state, which is the attribute of the deed.

The summary of the issue is as follows: The believing slave does not like death; therefore, he hesitates between the desire to meet Allah and the feeling of the fear of death. Allah saves him from going and coming back with His mercy and by increasing his enthusiasm to meet Allah; thus, he gets ready for death and starts to like death, which he has disliked. After eliminating his hesitation, Allah takes his life. 

In the hadith, the attribute of taraddud, which is an attribute of the slave, was used instead of the attribute tardid (to eliminate the fear of the slave, to save him from taraddud), which belongs to Allah (cf. Ibn Hajar, ibid)

Click for the whole hadith in question and its explanation:

Allah states the following in a sacred hadith: "When I love my slave, I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks." Can you explain this?

Questions on Islam