٥١ - باب الرجاء

On the authority of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever testifies that there is no god but Allah alone, having no partner, and that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger, and that ʿĪsā is the servant of Allah and His Messenger and His word which He cast to Maryam and a spirit from Him, and that Paradise is true and the Fire is true—Allah will admit him into Paradise, whatever his deeds may have been." Agreed upon. And in a narration of Muslim: "Whoever testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah, Allah forbids the Fire to him."

And on the authority of Abū Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: Whoever comes with a good deed shall have ten like it or more, and whoever comes with a bad deed, the recompense of a bad deed is one like it, or I forgive. Whoever draws near to Me by a handspan, I draw near to him by a cubit; whoever draws near to Me by a cubit, I draw near to him by a fathom; whoever comes to Me walking, I come to him at a trot; and whoever meets Me with nearly the fill of the earth in sins, not associating anything with Me, I shall meet him with the like of it in forgiveness." Narrated by Muslim. The meaning of the hadith: "Whoever draws near" to Me by obeying Me, "I draw near" to him with My mercy, and if he increases, I increase; "so if he comes to Me walking" and hastens in obeying Me, "I come to him at a trot"—that is, I pour mercy upon him and outstrip him with it, and do not make him need much walking to reach the goal. "And qurāb al-arḍ (the earth's fill)"—with a ḍammah on the qāf, and it is also said with a kasrah, though the ḍammah is more correct and better known; its meaning is what comes close to filling it. And Allah knows best.

And on the authority of Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: A bedouin came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, what are the two things that necessitate [Paradise and the Fire]?" He said: "Whoever dies not associating anything with Allah enters Paradise, and whoever dies associating something with Him enters the Fire." Narrated by Muslim.

And on the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), with Muʿādh riding behind him on the mount, said: "O Muʿādh." He said: "At your service, O Messenger of Allah, and at your pleasure." He said: "O Muʿādh." He said: "At your service, O Messenger of Allah, and at your pleasure." He said: "O Muʿādh." He said: "At your service, O Messenger of Allah, and at your pleasure"—three times. He said: "There is no servant who testifies that there is no god but Allah, and that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger, truthfully from his heart, but that Allah forbids the Fire to him." He said: "O Messenger of Allah, shall I not inform the people of it, that they may rejoice?" He said: "Then they will rely upon it." And Muʿādh related it at the time of his death, fearing sin. Agreed upon. His words "fearing sin" mean out of fear of the sin of concealing this knowledge.

And on the authority of Abū Hurayrah—or Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with them both)—the narrator was uncertain, but uncertainty about the identity of the Companion does no harm, since they are all of established integrity—who said: When the expedition of Tabūk took place, the people were struck by famine, so they said: "O Messenger of Allah, would that you permit us to slaughter our water-carrying camels, that we may eat and grease ourselves [with the fat]?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do so." Then ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) came and said: "O Messenger of Allah, if you do that, the riding-beasts will become few; rather, call them for the remainder of their provisions, then supplicate Allah for them over it for blessing—perhaps Allah will place blessing in that." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes." So he called for a leather mat and spread it out, then called for the remainder of their provisions. A man would come bringing a handful of maize, another bringing a handful of dates, and another bringing a piece of bread, until a small amount gathered upon the mat. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated for blessing, then said: "Take into your vessels." So they took into their vessels until they left no vessel in the camp without filling it, and they ate until they were satisfied, and a surplus remained. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I testify that there is no god but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah—no servant meets Allah with these two, free of doubt, then is barred from Paradise." Narrated by Muslim.

And on the authority of ʿItbān ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him)—and he was among those who witnessed [the Battle of] Badr—who said: I used to lead my people, the Banū Sālim, in prayer. A valley lay between me and them, which, when the rains came, made crossing it to their mosque difficult for me. So I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to him: "I have lost my eyesight, and the valley between me and my people flows when the rains come, making crossing it difficult for me; I would love for you to come and pray in my house at a spot that I may take as a place of prayer." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I shall do so." So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came in the morning, after the day had grown hot, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked permission, and I gave him permission. He did not sit until he said: "Where would you like me to pray in your house?" So I pointed out to him the place where I wished him to pray. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood, said the takbīr, and we lined up behind him; he prayed two rakʿahs, then gave the salām, and we gave the salām when he gave the salām. I detained him over a khazīrah being prepared for him. The people of the house heard that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was in my house, so men gathered until the men in the house were many. One man said: "What has Mālik done? I do not see him." Another man said: "That one is a hypocrite who does not love Allah and His Messenger." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not say that. Do you not see that he said: There is no god but Allah, seeking thereby the Face of Allah the Exalted?" He said: "Allah and His Messenger know best; as for us, by Allah, we see his affection and his talk only toward the hypocrites." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed Allah has forbidden the Fire to whoever says: There is no god but Allah, seeking thereby the Face of Allah." Agreed upon. "ʿItbān": with a kasrah on the unpointed ʿayn, a sukūn on the two-dotted-above tāʾ, followed by a single-dotted bāʾ. "al-Khazīrah": with the pointed khāʾ and the zāy: it is flour cooked with fat. And his words "men gathered (thāba)": with the three-dotted thāʾ: that is, they came and assembled.

And on the authority of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: Some captives were brought to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and there was a woman among the captives hurrying about; when she found a child among the captives, she took it, clutched it to her belly, and nursed it. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do you think this woman would cast her child into the Fire?" We said: "No, by Allah." He said: "Allah is more merciful to His servants than this woman is to her child." Agreed upon.

And on the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When Allah created creation, He wrote in a Book—which is with Him above the Throne: Indeed My mercy prevails over My wrath." And in a narration: "has prevailed over My wrath." And in a narration: "has outstripped My wrath." Agreed upon.

He also reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Allah made mercy in one hundred parts. He kept ninety-nine parts with Himself and sent down one part to the earth; from that single part the creatures show mercy to one another, so that a beast lifts its hoof away from its young for fear of harming it." In another narration: "Allah, the Exalted, has one hundred parts of mercy. He sent down one of them among the jinn, mankind, the cattle, and the crawling creatures; through it they are kind to one another, through it they show mercy to one another, and through it the wild beast is tender towards its young. And Allah, the Exalted, has held back ninety-nine parts of mercy with which He will show mercy to His servants on the Day of Resurrection." Agreed upon. Muslim also reported it through the narration of Salmān al-Fārisī (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Allah, the Exalted, has one hundred parts of mercy. Of them is one part through which the creation shows mutual mercy among themselves, and ninety-nine are reserved for the Day of Resurrection." In another narration: "On the day Allah, the Exalted, created the heavens and the earth, He created one hundred parts of mercy, each part filling what is between the heaven and the earth. From them He placed in the earth one part of mercy; through it the mother is tender towards her child, and the wild beasts and the birds towards one another. So when the Day of Resurrection comes, He will complete it with this mercy."

He also reported, from the Prophet ﷺ, relating from his Lord (Mighty and Majestic), that He said: "A servant committed a sin and said: O Allah, forgive me my sin. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: My servant has committed a sin, and he has come to know that he has a Lord who forgives sin and takes [the sinner] to account for sin. Then he returned and sinned again, and said: O my Lord, forgive me my sin. So He (Mighty and Majestic) said: My servant has committed a sin, and he has come to know that he has a Lord who forgives sin and takes [the sinner] to account for sin. I have indeed forgiven My servant, so let him do as he wishes." Agreed upon. And His saying, the Exalted, "so let him do as he wishes" means: as long as he acts in this manner — sinning, then repenting — I forgive him, for repentance demolishes what came before it.

He also reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "By Him in whose Hand is my soul, were you not to sin, Allah would take you away and bring a people who would sin and then seek the forgiveness of Allah, the Exalted, and He would forgive them." Reported by Muslim.

Abū Ayyūb Khālid ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Were it not that you sin, Allah would create a people who would sin, then seek forgiveness, and He would forgive them." Reported by Muslim.

Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — with us were Abū Bakr and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) — in a group, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ rose from among us. He was slow in returning to us, and we feared that he might be waylaid in our absence, so we became alarmed and rose up. I was the first to be alarmed, so I went out seeking the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, until I came to a walled garden belonging to the Anṣār ... and he related the hadith in its full length, up to his words: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Go, and whomever you meet behind this wall testifying that there is no god but Allah, certain of it in his heart, give him the glad tidings of Paradise." Reported by Muslim.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Prophet ﷺ recited the words of Allah (Mighty and Sublime) concerning Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him): ﴿My Lord, they have led many of mankind astray; so whoever follows me, he is of me﴾ [Ibrāhīm: 36] — the verse — and the words of ʿĪsā (peace be upon him): ﴿If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You indeed are the Almighty, the All-Wise﴾ [al-Māʾidah: 118]. Then he raised his hands and said: "O Allah, my ummah, my ummah," and he wept. So Allah (Mighty and Sublime) said: "O Jibrīl, go to Muhammad — and your Lord knows best — and ask him what makes him weep." So Jibrīl came to him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told him what he had said — though He knows best — so Allah, the Exalted, said: "O Jibrīl, go to Muhammad and say: We shall surely please you concerning your ummah, and We shall not grieve you." Reported by Muslim.

Muʿādh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I was riding behind the Prophet ﷺ on a donkey when he said: "O Muʿādh, do you know what is Allah's right over His servants, and what is the servants' right over Allah?" I said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: "Allah's right over the servants is that they worship Him and associate nothing with Him; and the servants' right over Allah is that He not punish anyone who associates nothing with Him." I said: O Messenger of Allah, shall I not give the people the glad tidings? He said: "Do not give them the glad tidings, lest they rely upon it [and neglect their works]." Agreed upon.

Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: "When the Muslim is questioned in the grave, he testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. That is His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Allah keeps firm those who believe with the firm word in the life of this world and in the Hereafter﴾ [Ibrāhīm: 27]." Agreed upon.

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: "When the disbeliever does a good deed, he is fed for it some provision in this world. As for the believer, Allah, the Exalted, stores up his good deeds for him in the Hereafter, and grants him provision in this world for his obedience." In another narration: "Allah does not wrong a believer of any good deed: he is given for it in this world and rewarded for it in the Hereafter. As for the disbeliever, he is fed in this world for the good deeds he did for the sake of Allah, the Exalted, so that when he reaches the Hereafter, he has no good deed left for which he might be rewarded." Reported by Muslim.

Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The likeness of the five prayers is that of an abundant river flowing at the door of one of you, in which he bathes five times a day." Reported by Muslim. "Al-ghamr" means: the abundant [water].

Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "There is no Muslim man who dies and forty men who associate nothing with Allah stand [in prayer] over his bier, but that Allah accepts their intercession for him." Reported by Muslim.

Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in a tent, about forty [of us], when he said: "Would you be pleased to be a quarter of the people of Paradise?" We said: Yes. He said: "Would you be pleased to be a third of the people of Paradise?" We said: Yes. He said: "By Him in whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, I truly hope that you will be half of the people of Paradise; and that is because none enters Paradise but a Muslim soul. Among the people of polytheism you are but as a white hair on the hide of a black bull, or as a black hair on the hide of a red bull." Agreed upon.

On the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When the Day of Resurrection comes, Allah will hand over to every Muslim a Jew or a Christian and say: This is your ransom from the Fire." And in another narration from him, from the Prophet ﷺ, he said: "On the Day of Resurrection some people of the Muslims will come with sins like mountains, which Allah will forgive them." Narrated by Muslim. [al-Nawawī's commentary] His saying, "He will hand over to every Muslim a Jew or a Christian and say: This is your ransom from the Fire" — its meaning is what came in the hadith of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): "Every person has a place in Paradise and a place in the Fire; so the believer, when he enters Paradise, the disbeliever takes his place in the Fire, because he deserves that by his disbelief." And the meaning of "your ransom" is that you were exposed to entering the Fire, and this is your ransom; because Allah Most High has decreed a number for the Fire that will fill it, so when the disbelievers enter it through their sins and their disbelief, they become, in effect, the ransom for the Muslims. And Allah knows best.

On the authority of Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying: "The believer will be brought near to his Lord on the Day of Resurrection until He places His screen over him; then He makes him acknowledge his sins, saying: Do you recognise such-and-such a sin? Do you recognise such-and-such a sin? He says: My Lord, I recognise. He says: Indeed I concealed them for you in the world, and I forgive them for you today. Then he is given the record of his good deeds." Agreed upon (by al-Bukhārī and Muslim). [al-Nawawī's commentary] "His screen (kanafahu)": His covering and His mercy.

On the authority of Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him): that a man obtained a kiss from a woman, then came to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him of it. So Allah Most High revealed: {And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in the early hours of the night. Indeed, good deeds drive away bad deeds} [Hūd: 114]. The man said: Is this for me, O Messenger of Allah? He said: "For all of my nation, all of them." Agreed upon (by al-Bukhārī and Muslim).

On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: O Messenger of Allah, I have incurred a punishable offence, so carry out the punishment upon me. The time for prayer came, and he prayed with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When he had completed the prayer, he said: O Messenger of Allah, I have incurred a punishable offence, so carry out upon me the Book of Allah. He said: "Did you attend the prayer with us?" He said: Yes. He said: "You have been forgiven." Agreed upon (by al-Bukhārī and Muslim). [al-Nawawī's commentary] His saying "I have incurred a ḥadd" means: a sin that requires a discretionary punishment (taʿzīr); the actual prescribed legal ḥadd is not intended — such as the prescribed penalty for fornication, intoxicants, and the like — for these prescribed penalties are not waived by prayer, nor is it permissible for the imam to forgo them.

And on his authority (Anas), who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Indeed Allah is well pleased with the servant who eats a meal and praises Him for it, or drinks a draught and praises Him for it." Narrated by Muslim. [al-Nawawī's commentary] "al-Aklah (the meal)": with a fatḥah on the hamzah, it denotes a single instance of eating, like a morning meal (ghadwah) and an evening meal (ʿashwah). And Allah knows best.

On the authority of Abū Mūsā (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "Indeed Allah Most High stretches out His hand by night so that the wrongdoer of the day may repent, and stretches out His hand by day so that the wrongdoer of the night may repent, until the sun rises from its place of setting in the west." Narrated by Muslim.

On the authority of Abū Najīḥ ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah — with a fatḥah on the ʿayn and the bāʾ — al-Sulamī (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: In the age of pre-Islamic ignorance (Jāhiliyyah) I used to think that the people were upon misguidance and that they were upon nothing, while they were worshipping idols. Then I heard of a man in Mecca who was relating reports, so I sat upon my mount and came to him. There was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in hiding, his people bold against him. So I went gently until I entered upon him in Mecca, and I said to him: What are you? He said: "I am a prophet." I said: And what is a prophet? He said: "Allah has sent me." I said: And with what has He sent you? He said: "He has sent me with maintaining the ties of kinship, breaking the idols, and that Allah be declared One, nothing being associated with Him." I said: Who is with you upon this? He said: "A free man and a slave" — and with him at that time were Abū Bakr and Bilāl (may Allah be pleased with them). I said: I am your follower. He said: "Indeed you will not be able to do that on this day of yours. Do you not see my state and the state of the people? But return to your family, and when you hear that I have prevailed, then come to me." He said: So I went to my family. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to Medina, until a group of my family came to Medina. I said: What has that man done who came to Medina? They said: The people are hastening to him; his people wanted to kill him but were not able to. So I came to Medina and entered upon him, and I said: O Messenger of Allah, do you recognise me? He said: "Yes, you are the one who met me in Mecca." He said: So I said: O Messenger of Allah, inform me of what Allah has taught you and which I do not know; inform me about the prayer. He said: "Pray the dawn prayer, then refrain from prayer until the sun rises the height of a spear, for it rises between the two horns of a devil, and at that time the disbelievers prostrate to it. Then pray, for the prayer is witnessed and attended, until the shadow becomes equal to the spear (at midday). Then refrain from prayer, for at that time Hell is stoked. Then when the afternoon shade comes forward, pray, for the prayer is witnessed and attended, until you pray the ʿAṣr. Then refrain from prayer until the sun sets, for it sets between the two horns of a devil, and at that time the disbelievers prostrate to it." He said: So I said: O Prophet of Allah, tell me about the ablution. He said: "There is no man among you who brings near his ablution water, then rinses his mouth and sniffs water and blows it out, except that the sins of his face fall away from the edges of his beard with the water. Then he washes his hands up to the elbows, except that the sins of his hands fall away from his fingertips with the water. Then he wipes his head, except that the sins of his head fall away from the ends of his hair with the water. Then he washes his feet up to the ankles, except that the sins of his feet fall away from his toes with the water. Then if he stands and prays, praising Allah Most High, extolling Him and glorifying Him with that of which He is worthy, and empties his heart for Allah Most High, he departs from his sin as on the day his mother bore him." Then ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah related this hadith to Abū Umāmah, the companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and Abū Umāmah said to him: O ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah, consider what you say! Is this man given all this in a single standing? ʿAmr said: O Abū Umāmah, my age has grown old, my bones have weakened, and my term has drawn near, and I have no need to lie about Allah Most High nor about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Had I not heard it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ except once, or twice, or three times — until he counted seven times — I would never have related it. But I heard it more than that. Narrated by Muslim. [al-Nawawī's commentary] His saying "his people bold against him (jurāʾun)": it is with a ḍammah on the jīm and with a long vowel, on the pattern of ʿulamāʾ, meaning: audacious, overbearing, unafraid. This is the well-known narration. al-Ḥumaydī and others narrated it as "ḥirāʾun" with a kasrah on the unpointed ḥāʾ, and he said its meaning is: angry, possessed of grief and worry, their patience having been worn out by him until it left a mark on their bodies; from their saying "ḥarā jismuhu yaḥrā" when it wastes away from pain or grief or the like. The correct reading is that it is with the jīm. His ﷺ saying "between the two horns of a devil" means the two sides of its (the sun's) head, and what is intended is a figurative likeness; its meaning is that at that time Satan and his followers stir and gain ascendancy. His saying "he brings near his ablution water" means he brings the water with which he performs ablution. His saying "except that the sins fall away (kharrat)" is with the pointed khāʾ, meaning they dropped; some narrated it as "jarat" with the jīm, but the correct reading is with the khāʾ, and it is the narration of the majority. His saying "fa-yantathiru" means he extracts what is in his nose of impurity; and al-nathrah is the tip of the nose.

On the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "When Allah Most High intends mercy for a nation, He takes its prophet (in death) before it, making him for it a forerunner and a predecessor going ahead of it. And when He intends the destruction of a nation, He punishes it while its prophet is alive, destroying it while he is alive and watching, thus comforting his eye by its destruction, since they belied him and disobeyed his command." Narrated by Muslim.