Discover the meaning of the term Al-astdraj (استدراج) in Islamic vocabulary.
Contents :
Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readThat God grant His servant the granting of his need, one time after another, to the end of his life, in order to exchange it thereafter for affliction and punishment; it has been said: humiliation, with regard to the end.
To be far from God's mercy and near to His punishment, gradually.
Drawing near to God's punishment by respite, little by little.
That Satan raise a person degree by degree to a high place, then cast him down from it to his destruction.
That God bring the servant near to punishment, severity and trial on the Day of Reckoning, as related of Pharaoh, who asked God, before his need, for trial by punishment and affliction in the hereafter.
That God give the servant all he desires in this world so that his error, straying, ignorance and obstinacy increase, and he grows each day further from God.
In Persian: rafar amush kardan va bakarkh ridan-i danaz, 'leading astray gradually and little by little'. With the theologians: what will be mentioned under the breach of habit (kharq al-'ada), God willing.
The alternating of favor without fear of trial; it has been said: the spread of fame without fear of ruin; it has been said: lending hope without fulfillment, and grounding without payment.