التَّأوِيلُ الإِسمَاعِيلِيُّ لِلرِّضَا — الرِّضَا الإِلَهِيُّ وَالقَبُول: كَيفَ تُقرَأُ فِكرَةُ الرِّضَا القُرآنِيَّةُ [رِضَا اللهِ عَنِ العَبدِ وَرِضَا العَبدِ عَنِ اللهِ — 98:8 'رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنهُم وَرَضُوا عَنهُ ذَلِكَ لِمَن خَشِيَ رَبَّهُ'] فِي التَّأوِيلِ الإِسمَاعِيلِيِّ بِوَصفِهَا اكتِمَالَ دَورَةِ البَيعَةِ وَالوَلَايَةِ حَيثُ يَصِلُ رِضَا اللهِ عَبرَ قَبُولِ الإِمَامِ لِلمُؤمِنِ التَّائِبِ وَرِضَا المُؤمِنِ هُوَ طُمَأنِينَةُ التَّأوِيلِ المُتَلَقَّى
In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Rida (الرِّضَا — Pleasure, Acceptance, Contentment; from *r-d-y*: to be pleased, to accept, to be content; rida as a Sufi station: rida is one of the highest maqamat [stations] on the Sufi path — the state of complete acceptance of God's will; al-Ghazali places rida as the culmination of the stages of love; 98:8 'God is pleased with them and they are pleased with God' — the mutual rida; 89:28 'Return to your Lord, radiyatan mardiyyah [pleased and pleasing]'; the theological reciprocity of rida: the Quran's rida-language is remarkably mutual — God's rida with the servant is paired with the servant's rida with God; this mutuality is unusual; rida-in-zahiri Islam: the zahiri understanding of God's rida is that God accepts the servant's deeds, forgives sins, and grants mercy; the servant's rida with God is acceptance of divine decree [qada'] including trials; Sufi rida: rida as the station of unconditional acceptance of everything that comes from God — the mystic who is in rida feels no resistance to any divine decree because they see all decrees as expressions of divine wisdom and love; Ismaili ta'wil of al-rida: [1] rida as the completion of the tawbah-bay'ah cycle: the tawbah is the turning [return to walayah]; bay'ah is the formal reception [entry into walayah]; rida is the settled state of the mu'min who has completed the tawbah-bay'ah cycle and now receives ta'wil regularly through the da'wa; [2] God's rida as the Imam's acceptance: when the Imam receives the bay'ah and the mu'min is admitted into the da'wa, God's rida is actualized; 'God is pleased with them' means the Imam — as the most complete bearer of the divine walayah — has accepted them; [3] the mu'min's rida as ta'wil's tranquility: the mu'min's rida is the settled tranquility that comes from regularly receiving and understanding ta'wil; the anxiety of zahiri-only practice [which always seeks more but is never satisfied] is resolved; the mu'min in rida has found the spring they were seeking; [4] 'radiyatan mardiyyah' — returning already in the rida-state: 89:28's description of the soul that returns to God 'pleased and pleasing' is in Ismaili ta'wil the mu'min whose bay'ah has resulted in deep ta'wil reception — they return to the Imam's presence [at each da'wa gathering] already in the rida-state; [5] rida and tawadu — the cycle: tawadu [humility] opens bay'ah; bay'ah produces tawbah [return to walayah]; tawbah deepens into rida [settled acceptance]; rida generates further tawadu before the Imam's deeper batin; this is the spiritual cycle of advanced walayah; [6] what rida is not in Ismaili ta'wil: rida is not fatalistic acceptance of whatever happens; it is not quietism; it is the specific tranquility of one who has received ta'wil and has oriented their batin toward the Imam's batin — tranquility grounded in received understanding, not passive acceptance of conditions) is the Ismaili spiritual state of completed walayah.
The Mutual Rida
The Quran’s rida-language is distinctively mutual: “God is pleased with them and they are pleased with God” (98:8). This is not merely that the servant receives divine approval and feels grateful; it is a genuine reciprocity — God’s pleasure and the servant’s pleasure arriving together. The verse does not sequence them (first God’s rida, then the servant’s rida) but presents them as simultaneous.
In Ismaili ta’wil, this mutuality corresponds to the completion of the bay’ah cycle: when the Imam receives the mu’min’s bay’ah and admits them into the da’wa’s ta’wil, the Imam’s walayah (as the most complete earthly expression of divine acceptance) and the mu’min’s reception of ta’wil-tranquility arrive together. The mutual rida is not a linear sequence of divine action followed by human response; it is the simultaneous event of walayah completed.
Rida as Tranquility Against Zahiri Anxiety
The zahiri-only Muslim’s spiritual life has a distinctive anxiety: however much one prays, however strictly one observes the zahir, there is always a sense that more zahiri practice might be needed, that one has not done quite enough, that the divine acceptance remains uncertain. The zahir, by its nature, cannot confirm whether the batin has been reached — because the batin requires a different kind of reception.
The mu’min who has completed bay’ah and receives ta’wil regularly has found the spring that resolves this anxiety. The rida is the tranquility of the mu’min who has received what the zahiri practices were always pointing toward but could not by themselves deliver.
Returning Already in Rida
89:28’s image — the soul returning to God “pleased and pleasing” (radiyatan mardiyyah) — is in Ismaili ta’wil the mu’min who comes to each da’wa gathering already in the rida-state that the previous gathering’s ta’wil produced. Each ta’wil reception deepens the rida; each gathering’s return builds on the previous settled state.
See also: Bayah And Walayah, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Tawbah, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Mumin, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Mithaq, Tawil Esoteric Interpretation