Allah the Exalted said: “And there is nothing but glorifies His praise.”

The Shaykh : Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: “There is nothing” . The verse is: . And the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said that the palm branch seeks forgiveness for him , when he placed the palm branch on the two graves. How do we reconcile His saying (the Exalted) with the hadith?

The questioner : He made two mistakes. The first was when he did not quote the wording of the verse correctly, and the second was when he inserted into the hadith what is not in it. The questioner mentioned the phrase “seeks forgiveness” or “seek forgiveness,” whereas in the hadith it is “seek forgiveness,” meaning the palm branches. Consequently, the hadith became confusing for the questioner in relation to the verse. However, it is not in the hadith at all that it seeks forgiveness or glorifies, such that we would assume a contradiction between the verse and the hadith. But it appears to me that the questioner’s mind was occupied with the meaning prevalent in the minds of the general people from the authentic story narrated in al-Bukhari and Muslim, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by two graves and said: . Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered a palm branch to be split into two and each piece placed on a grave. They asked: Why, O Messenger of Allah? He said—and this is the text of the hadith: .
There is no glorification or its absence in the hadith to contradict the hadith, but the people—excuse me—to contradict the verse. The people assumed in their minds that the reason for lightening the punishment on the two graves is the glorification of the two branches as long as they are wet. This meaning, which is prevalent in people’s minds but is not correct, became confusing for the questioner because the hadith conditioned the lightening on the branches remaining wet. Its implication is that if they dry out, they no longer glorify Allah. And Allah says: . This is where the questioner’s confusion arose. But the truth is that the hadith does not mean at all that the branch glorifies. There is no mention of glorification in the hadith, neither explicitly nor by implication. Rather, some people assumed that the reason for lightening the punishment on the buried ones is the moisture present in the two branches, and if that moisture goes, the lightening of the punishment goes with it. So there is no problem. The verse is in its generality: , whether it is a stone or a tree, and whether this tree is wet or dry, the verse is in its generality.
Where does the question arise? What is the secret in lightening the punishment of the two buried men? And what is the secret in his saying (peace be upon him): ?
The answer is in another hadith. This hadith we quoted earlier is from the hadith of Ibn Abbas in al-Bukhari and Muslim. The hadith came in “Sahih Muslim” alone from the narration of Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in this incident or something similar to it, when he ordered the branch to be placed and was asked about the reason. He said: . So the reason for lightening the punishment is the intercession of the Messenger and his supplication for the buried one. The moisture is not a reason for lightening the punishment, but rather a sign for the duration of the lightening of the punishment. This is the meaning of the hadith.
The reason for lightening the punishment is the intercession of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his supplication for the buried one. The moisture present in the branch is a sign as long as it remains for the lightening of the punishment. If this dampness and moisture go and the branch becomes dry, the punishment returns to the buried one. This is the secret and the reason for lightening the punishment of the deceased in this hadith. The secret is not that the branch glorifies Allah as long as it is wet and does not glorify Allah as long as it is dry. In that case, this would contradict the verse. There is nothing of that in the hadith at all. So the verse is in its generality and its absoluteness, as He (the Exalted) said: .