On the authority of Abu Abbas
Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) who said:
One day I was behind the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) [riding on the same mount] and he said, “O young
man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: Be mindful of Allah and Allah
will protect you. Be mindful of Allah and you will find Him in front of you. If
you ask, then ask Allah [alone]; and if you seek help, then seek help from
Allah [alone]. And know that if the nation were to gather together to benefit
you with anything, they would not benefit you except with what Allah had
already prescribed for you. And if they were to gather together to harm you
with anything, they would not harm you except with what Allah had already
prescribed against you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.”
(It
was related by at-Tirmidhi, who said it was a good and sound hadeeth).
Another narration, other than that of Tirmidhi, reads: Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in
front of you. Recognise and acknowledge Allah in times of ease and prosperity,
and He will remember you in times of adversity. And know that what has passed
you by [and you have failed to attain] was not going to befall you, and what
has befallen you was not going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with
patience, relief with affliction, and hardship with ease).
background
This hadith implies a very important
advice and general ruling in Islam: Allah’s protection. Ibnu Rajab quoted one
scholar as saying: “What a pity for the one who is ignorant of this hadith and
has little understanding of its meaning.”
lessons
The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi
wasallam, starts the hadith by getting the attention of Ibn ‘Abbas by saying “O
young man, I shall teach you some words of advice”. By saying “O young man”,
Ibn ‘Abbas knows that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, is talking
specifically to him. And by following it with “I shall teach you…” Ibn ‘Abbas
knows how important the next words of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam,
are going to be. Hence, these words at the beginning have attracted the
undivided attention of Ibn ‘Abbas.
This teaches us that when we give a
talk or speech, it is important that we start with words that will grab the
attention of the audience. This is to ensure that our words of advice
(contained in our speech) do not fall on ‘deaf ears’.
The phrase “Be mindful of Allah”
means:
To observe or fulfil Allah’s obligations
To adhere to His commandments
To avoid His prohibitions
Some of the things we have to fulfil -
to attain Allah's protection - include:
The daily prayers (salah) – by praying in the best
way we can and by performing it on time.
Maintaining cleanliness and purity.
Observing our oath – we have to be careful if we
swear by Allah that we will do something, because we have to abide to this
commitment we make.
Guarding our senses – we should ensure that what
we see or hear or say pleases Allah. We should fear Allah and not use these
senses in the wrong manner.
Ensuring that we do not consume, via food or
drink, anything that is not halal.
Observing that our dealings and transactions are
halal.
Protecting our hearts from being involved in
maksiah, e.g. zina' (adultery) – the moment a person is weak and does a
maksiah, he should repent because of his fear of Allah.
If we are “mindful of Allah”, i.e. we
observe and fulfil His obligations/commandments, “Allah
will protect us”. There two kinds of protection from Allah:
1-Allah will protect or look after His servants in
this world / in worldly matters. For example, our health and our senses. We
will be enjoying Allah’s mercy and bounty for our sight, hearing and speech all
of our lives – even as we grow old, Allah will still allow us to see and hear
properly, or he will take care of our intellect and mental health.
Another example is Allah will protect
our family and our property, belongings and money. Also, if one is mindful of
Allah during his youth, Allah will protect him during his adult years.
2-Allah will protect His servants’ deen (religion)
and iman (faith). He will protect us from misunderstandings and being misled or
influenced by misconceptions and self-desires. He will help us and give us
guidance so that we are protected from negative influences.
Allah will also protect our deen when
we leave this world. When we leave this world, we will leave with iman for
being a mua'min (believer). We will be protected from shaitan’s influence to
lead us astray right at the very last moment in our life.
We may not be aware of when Allah is
protecting our deen. It may even cause us to be unhappy. There may be a
situation where Allah prevents us from doing something (something which we want
to do) – this is actually a protection from Allah, preventing us from a
disaster or problem or from committing a sin.
If we are mindful of Allah, we will
find Him close to us or beside us or in front of us. Allah is close to His
servants (the mua'minin) by giving them guidance, support, help, protection,
victory, etc.
The other narration of this hadith
states that if we become beloved to Allah during times of ease, He will know us
during times of hardship. During our times of ease or prosperity, if we use it
for the pleasure of Allah, He will be with us to look after us in our times of
hardship, weakness, sickness, etc. Even in terms of receiving reward from
Allah. If we are sick and are no longer able to do something which we used to
do during our times of ease, we will be given the reward for that act.
The statement in which the Prophet,
sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, tells ‘Abdullah bin Abbas to “ask of Allah” and to “seek
help from Allah” is the fundamental basics of Tawhid. This is something
we say in every salah (“iyya ka na’budu wa iyya ka
nasta’in”). This shows us the importance of du’a, the importance of
continuously asking Allah for His support and guidance. We need to show our
need for Allah and our total dependency on Him by performing such forms of
ibadah.
Allah subhana wa ta’ala has already
written in Al-Lauhulmahfudz what is going to take place. There are events or
occurrences that happen which we have no control over (e.g. being sick, losing
someone we love, falling into hardship, etc.) and to face these events
correctly we need to practice contentment (redha) which is the highest level of
action required where we are pleased or contented with whatever Allah has
chosen for us, whether it is positive or negative. The second highest level is
tolerance (sabr), where we need to be patient and not panic or say anything
that displeases Allah subhana wa ta’ala.
In the Qur’an there are several verses
which emphasises this same meaning that is mentioned at the end of this hadith:
Surah Yunus (10), ayat 107; Surah Fatir (35), ayat 2;
Surah Al-Hadid (57), ayat 22.
Allah recorded the qadar (fate) of all
creations 50,000 years before He created the heavens and the earth (Sahih
Muslim). In another Sahih Muslim hadith, a man asked the Prophet, sallallahu
‘alayhi wasallam, whether what we do today is something that has already been
recorded or whether it is something that just happens. The Prophet, sallallahu
‘alayhi wasallam, replied that whatever happens is according to what has
already been recorded. The man then asked why he should do anything at all. The
Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, made a command [not just to the man but
to the whole Muslim ummah] to do good deeds – everyone will be guided towards
what he has been created for.
Al-qadar can be broadly
broken down into two categories:
1-There are actions that take place which we do
not have any control over. We have to surrender to the will of Allah and be
patient.
2-There are actions that take place which we had
control over. These events happen as a result of our recklessness, laziness, of
not being alert, etc. Even though the minute these things happen they already
become qadar, those who are responsible for the actions will be held
responsible. Thus, whatever we do, we should do it carefully, completely and to
the best of our abilities. For example, construction workers building a site,
doctors taking care of patients, driving, etc.
Generally speaking, we are responsible
for what we do, whether it is in worldly matters or whether it is in our
ibadah. We should always strive to improve ourselves and to constantly tell
ourselves that we can do better.
Also, we should avoid things that can
be avoided, e.g. avoiding disasters, avoiding trouble, etc. Even in health, we
should avoid consuming things which are unhealthy for our bodies – e.g. food
which can cause heart diseases (i.e. contains high cholesterol), etc. In other
words, we should avoid things that are bad for us, and not just let it happen
and then blame it on qadar.
It doesn’t contradict with qadar if
someone is sick that he seeks treatment. If we are faced with a problem, we
should try our best to solve it or minimise it and not do things which will
worsen the situation.
Many Muslims tend to interpret this
hadith (on qadar) negatively. We should understand qadar in a positive sense.
We should differentiate between things which we don’t have control over and
things which we do. Instead of just accepting things that happen as qadar, we
should see how we can improve the situation and how we can avoid things which
can be avoided. We should accept the fact that we are responsible for whatever
we do and the choices we make.
conclusion
This hadith teaches us how we can live
a peaceful and happy life by being mindful of Allah and by totally trusting and
worshipping Him. By understanding qadar positively, we will not live a
stressful, unhappy life of always worrying about our future or what the
consequences of our actions or decisions will be. We do our best to fulfil
Allah’s obligations and we trust and accept whatever He wills for us.
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