The Difference Between the General and Specific Nearness to Allah and the Angels
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. Some scholars indicate that nearness has a general state and a specific state. They point to the general nearness in verses from the Noble Qur'an, such as His saying, the Exalted:[Qaf 50:16] This includes the believer and the disbeliever. And He said, "And We are closer to him than you."
Answer:
Yes, but the verse uses the plural pronoun, and we are the closest. The Shaykh al-Islam has a statement on this, from which it is understood that the intended meaning is the nearness of the angels to the dying person,[Al-Waqi'ah 56:85] so we, with the angels entrusted with taking his soul, are closer to him than you are.
But His saying, "And when My servants ask you about Me, indeed I am near," this refers only to Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. "I respond to the call of the caller when he calls upon Me." And in the hadith:Sunan Abi Dawud 875Sahih (Al-Albani) Allah. As for "We are closer to him," this is possible to be interpreted as referring to the angels whom Allah sent to the servant to take his soul or to record his deeds, [Qaf 50:16] the recording angels.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. Some scholars indicate that nearness has a general state and a specific state. They point to the general nearness in verses from the Noble Qur'an, such as His saying, the Exalted:
and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein
وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِAnswer:
Yes, but the verse uses the plural pronoun, and we are the closest. The Shaykh al-Islam has a statement on this, from which it is understood that the intended meaning is the nearness of the angels to the dying person,
And Our angels are nearer to him than you, but you do not see -
وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنكُمْ وَلَٰكِن لَّا تُبْصِرُونَBut His saying, "And when My servants ask you about Me, indeed I am near," this refers only to Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. "I respond to the call of the caller when he calls upon Me." And in the hadith:
The nearest a servant come to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself
أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَهُوَ سَاجِدٌ هذا لا ينصرف إلا إلىknow what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him
وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ
Source
القرب العام والقرب الخاص — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.