return. Praising Allah in the midst of calamity testifies to a person’s patience with His decree and pre-ordination; he endured and therefore extolled Allah while bearing that trial. The Prophet ﷺ, whenever something displeasing befell him, would say, “Praise be to Allah in every circumstance,” and whenever something pleasing occurred he would say, “Praise be to Allah; by His favor righteous deeds are perfected.” Hence, when something delights you, say, “Praise be to Allah; by His favor righteous deeds are perfected,” and when the opposite happens, say, “Praise be to Allah in every circumstance.”
Likewise, Allah—Exalted is He—has informed us through the words of His Messenger ﷺ that no one whose child is taken by Allah, and who then remains patient and seeks his reward, will receive anything less than Paradise in compensation. Al-Bukhārī also reports that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah, Mighty and Majestic, declares, ‘My believing servant has no reward with Me, if I take away his loved one (ṣafiyy) and he seeks My reward, except Paradise.’” The term “loved one” here refers to whomever Allah had specially chosen for him—whether a child, a spouse, or anyone else.
As for the final ḥadīth, it concerns one of the Prophet’s ﷺ daughters. She had a young son who was at the point of death and sent for the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said to the envoy she dispatched: “Tell her: ‘To Allah belongs what He takes and to Him belongs what He gives, and everything with Him is set to a fixed term. Advise her, therefore, to be patient and to seek her reward.’”