The Believer and His Lord

Ahadith from a chapter called Kitabl al-Iman of a forthcoming book –Miftah al-Ma`ani – by Syed Iqbal Zaheer

1. Nu`man b. Bashir narrated the Prophet, “The example of the believers in their kindness towards each other, and good treatment of one another is like a single body: If a part of the body is sickly, the rest of the body feels the pain.” (Ibn Hibban – Sahih)

2. On the authority of Abu Hurayrah some people asked the Prophet, saying, “Messenger of Allah, shall we be seeing our Lord on the Judgment-day?” He answered, “Do you doubt the full moon’s vision clear of clouds?” They answered, “No, Messenger of Allah.” He asked, “Do you doubt mid day’s vision of the Sun’s clear of clouds?” They answered, “No, Messenger of Allah.” He said, “By Him in whose hands is my life, you will not doubt seeing your Lord, as you do not doubt seeing the two. He will say, “O so and so, did I not honor you, did I not make you a chieftain, did I not wed you, did I not humble horses and camels for you, allowed you to assume leadership, and collect one-fourth of the booty?” He will reply, “Sure You did my Lord.” He will ask, “Did you ever imagine that you will encounter Me?” He will answer, “No my Lord.” He will say, “Today I shall forget you as you forgot Me.”

He said, “Then He will meet a second one and say, “Did I not honor you, did I not make you a chieftain, did I not wed you, did I not humble horses and camels for you, allowed you to assume leadership, and collect one-fourth of the booty?” He will reply, “Sure You did my Lord.” He will ask, “Did you ever imagine that you will encounter Me?” He will answer, “No my Lord.” He will say, “Today I shall forget you as you forgot Me.”

He said, Then He will meet the third one and say, “What are you?” He will answer, “I am Your slave. I believed in You and in Your Prophet, Your Book. I fasted, prayed, spent in charity, and go on attributes to himself, to the extent possible.” He said, “It will be said, ‘Should We post against you Our witness?” He will begin to wonder, who could bear witness against him? Then his mouth will be sealed and it will be said to his thigh, “Speak out.” His thighs, flesh, and bones will speak out counting what he used to do. That then would be a hypocrite. That will be done to clear him of his excuse. He is the one with whom Allah will be angry.

Then he said, “Then a caller will call out: ‘Let every nation follow him whom it used to worship. Friends of the Devil will follow the Devil. Jews and Christians will follow their Friend – all of them to Hellfire; there left will be the true Believers. He repeated, there left will be the true Believers. Then will appear our Lord, and He indeed is our Lord. He will say, ‘What is it that these are waiting for?’ They will say, ‘We are Allah’s salves. We used to worship Him. He will come and will grant us firmness and this is our station (where we shall remain placed). He will say, “I am your Lord, so move on.” Then the Bridge will be placed. Upon it will be tongs of Fire that will be snatching people. It is then that intercession will be allowed. ‘O Allah, save us, save us.’ When the Bridge is crossed, then everyone who spent some kind of wealth that he owned, in the way of Allah, when every guards of Paradise will invite saying, ‘O Allah’s slave, O Muslim, this is better.’ It will be said, ‘O Allah’s slave, O Muslim, this is better.’ Abu Bakr asked, “Messenger of Allah, that will be for a man who will not face any destruction, he might ignore one door and enter another.” The Prophet patted him on his shoulders and say, “By whom in whose hands is my life, I hope that you will be one of them.” (Sahih of Ibn Hibban)

3. Abu Sa`eed al-Khudri reports the Prophet as having said, “After the believers have escaped the Fire, they will be held at a bridge between Paradise and Hellfire. They will settle scores with each other over the wrongs that were between them in the world, until when they have been cleansed and purged they will be allowed entry into Paradise; and by Him in whose hands is Muhammad’s life, every one of them will identify his home in Paradise better than he could identify his home in this world.” (Bukhari)

4. On the authority of Anas, the Prophet (saws) said, “The believers will gather together on the Day of Judgment and say, let us seek an intercessor who could speak to our Lord. So they will go to Adam (asws) and say, ‘You are mankind’s progenitor. Allah created you with His Hand, made the angels prostrate themselves to you, and taught you the names of everything, so, intercede on our behalf to release us from (the torture) of this place.” He will reply, “Not me.” He will recall his sin and feel shy of it. He will say, “Go to Nuh. He was the first Messenger raised for the peoples of the worlds.” They will go to him. He will say, “Not me.” He will recall his questioning His Lord about what he had no knowledge of.” He will feel shy on that account, and say, “Go to Khaleel al-Rahman.” They will go to him. He will say, “Not me. Go to Musa. Allah spoke to him and gave him the Torah.” He will say, “Not me.” He will recall his killing of a soul without right. He will feel shy of his Lord and say, “Go to `Isa a slave of Allah, His Messenger, Allah’s Word and a Spirit from Him. He will so, “Not me. Go to Muhammad, on whom be peace – a slave whose earlier and later sins were forgiven.” So they will come to me. I will then start off in order to seek My Lord’s leave to be allowed (to intercede).

As I see my Lord, I will fall into prostration. He will let me there as long as He wills and then say, “Raise your head, ask you will be given, say and you will be heard, and intercede you will be granted.” I shall raise my head and praise Him in words of praise He would have taught me. Then I shall start to intercede. He will set a limit for me and admit them into Paradise. Then I shall return to Him and lo! I will see my Lord as before. I shall seek to intercede. He will set a limit to me. I shall admit them into Paradise. Then I will return to Him the fourth time and say, “None is left in the Fire, but whom the Qur’an has prevented and he unto whom eternal stay has been declared.”

(To be continued)