Chapter 47
From Riyadh ul Saleheen
From Riyadh ul Saleheen
Allah,
the Exalted, says:
“Say
(O Muhammad (pbuh) to mankind): `If you (really) love Allah then follow me
(i.e., accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah), Allah will
love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most
Merciful.”’ (3:31)
“O you
who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islam), Allah
will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him; humble towards
the believers, stern towards the disbelievers, fighting in the way of Allah,
and never afraid of the blame of the blamers. That is the Grace of Allah which
He bestows on whom He wills. And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures’
needs, All-Knower.” (5:54)
Abu
Hurairah (ra) reported: Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “Allah, the Exalted,
has said:
`I
will declare war against him who treats with hostility a pious worshipper of
Mine. And the most beloved thing with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is
what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me
through performing Nawafil (voluntary prayers or doing extra deeds besides what
is obligatory) until I love him, (so much so that) I become his hearing with
which he hears, and his sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he
strikes, and his leg with which he walks; and if he asks Me something, I will
surely give him, and if he seeks My Protection (refuge), I will surely protect
him”.
[Al-Bukhari]
[Al-Bukhari]
This Hadith tell us the status and distinctive signs of the favoured men of
Allah (’Auliya’ Allah) The Noble Qur’an has defined them as:
“Those
who believed (in the Oneness of Allah) and used to fear Allah much (by
abstaining from evil deeds and sins and by doing righteous deeds)”. (10:63)
According
to this definition, every believer who really fears Allah is a favoured of
Allah. It means that except for Faith and piety, favoured of Allah are neither
people of the special kind nor have they any special distinctive signs, as is
generally thought by some people. In this respect, the ignorance of the general
public is shocking because they regard even such persons as favoured of Allah
who not only neglect the religious obligations and the practice of the Prophet
(pbuh), but also woefully lack cleanliness. Sometimes they call even mad or
half-mad persons as favourites of Allah, whereas a Wali in the true sense is
one who is meticulous about observing the obligations and is fearful of Allah.
This
Hadith brings about the following four points:
Firstly, the love of those whom Allah loves entail the love
of Allah, and hating them entails the hatred of Allah.
Secondly, when a true Muslim acquires nearness and love of
Allah by means of performing religious obligations, supererogatory and
voluntary prayers, Allah then becomes his special helper and protects his limbs
and organs and does not let them work for His disobedience. Then he does not
use any part of his body for things which are disliked by Him. It is wrong to
infer from this Hadith, as men of heretical and polytheistic trend try to do,
that Auliya’ become the eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc. of Allah. That is to say
that Almighty Allah descends in them. Thus, on the basis of this contemptible
reasoning, they conclude that it makes no difference whether one begs from
Allah or Auliya because the two are one being. For such people supplicating “O
Allah! Help us”, “O Prophet of Allah! Help us” and “O Ali!
Help us” etc., are all right. One who says so
has certainly gone astray, rather commits Shirk (polytheism). May Allah save us
from these sins. According to the Hadith, a true pious man likes and adopts
what is liked by Allah, and avoids all such things which are not liked by Him.
Thirdly, the performance of the obligatory acts of
worshipping has the first and foremost importance for attaining the pleasure of
Allah because their fulfillment is liked the most by Allah and also because
they furnish the foundation, on which the edifice of Islam is built. As we
cannot think of a building without foundation, similarly, we cannot think of
voluntary worship without fulfilling the basic obligations. The fact is that
one who neglects them ceases to be a Muslim. This is the reason for the severe
warnings of Allah to those who default on this account. Those who neglect
voluntary prayers have not been given any warning. It is, however, true that
their performance in addition to the obligatory ones increases lustre of
obligations. Nawafil (voluntary acts of worship) help one to attain the exalted
place of being loved by Allah by virtue of which one is endowed with the special
Help of Allah.
Fourthly, Almighty Allah certainly grants the prayers of
those whom He loves. But acceptance of their prayers, however, does not mean
that their results appear at once. Sometime the results of these prayers appear
after a long time. The prayer of virtuous persons is certainly granted but
whether it takes a long or short time depends solely on the Will of Allah.
Abu
Hurairah (ra) reported: The Prophet (pbuh) said, “When Allah loves a slave,
calls out Jibril and says: `I love so-and-so; so love him’. Then Jibril loves
him. After that he (Jibril) announces to the inhabitants of heavens that Allah
loves so-and-so; so love him; and the inhabitants of the heavens (the angels)
also love him and then make people on earth love him”.
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Another
narration of Muslim is: Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “When Allah loves a
slave, He calls Jibril (Gabriel) and says: `I love so-and-so; so love him.’ And
then Jibril loves him. Then he (Jibril) announces in the heavens saying: Allah
loves so-and-so; so love him; then the inhabitants of the heavens (the angels)
also love him; and then people on earth love him. And when Allah hates a slave,
He calls Jibril and says: `I hate so-and-so, so hate him.’ Then Jibril also
hates him. He (Jibril) then announces amongst the inhabitants of heavens:
`Verily, Allah hates so-and-so, so you also hate him.’ Thus they also start to
hate him. Then he becomes the object of hatred on the earth also”.
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Commentary:
This Hadith mentions the reward of love for the sake of Allah. A person who
loves for the sake of Allah is not only loved by Allah but also by the
inhabitants of the earth as well as the heavens. On the other hand, those who
are hated by Allah are also hated by the inhabitants of the earth and the
heavens. It must be borne in mind that they alone remain popular in this world
who are righteous by nature - who strictly maintain the distinction between the
lawful and the unlawful (Ma`ruf and Munkar). But those whose nature is defected
by constant sins, cease to distinguish between right and wrong and lose their
credibility. They generally hate the pious persons for the reason that every
category of people loves and likes people of its own kind.
`Aishah
(ra) reported: Messenger of Allah (pbuh) appointed a man in charge of an
army unit who led them in Salat (prayer); he always concluded his recitation
with Surat Al-Ikhlas: “Say (O Muhammad (pbuh): ‘He is Allah, (the)
One. Allah-us-Samad (Allah - the Self-Sufficient). He begets not, nor was He
begotten. And there is none equal or comparable to Him.”’ (112:1-4) Upon
their return to Al-Madinah, they mentioned this to Messenger of Allah (pbuh)
who said, “Ask him why he does so?” He was asked and he said, “This Surah
contains the Attributes of Allah, the Gracious, and I love to recite it.
Messenger of Allah (pbuh) then told them, “Tell him that Allah loves him”.
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Commentary:
We learn from the Hadith the following:
1. The
Companions always rushed to the Prophet (PBUH) to ask his opinion about
anything they noticed strange to them.
2. The
superiority of Surat Al-Ikhlas as it clarifies points of Tauhid.
3. The
permissibility to recite two Surah during Salat, apart from Surat Al-Fatihah,
in one single Rak`ah.
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