Miscellaneous by Al-Albani-295

The Shaykh : As for the one that follows it, it is a good hadith, and it is his saying: "And from 'Abdullah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), who said: Al-Bukhari and others narrated it."
'Abdullah here is 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. It is generally a rule that if 'Abdullah is mentioned without qualification in later hadith books, the intended person is Ibn Mas'ud among the four famous 'Abdullahs from the Companions. At their head is this 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, then 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, then 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As, and then 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas. The greatest of them in age, status, jurisprudence, and knowledge is 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. For this reason, they agreed that if they mention 'Abdullah without qualification, they mean Ibn Mas'ud. However, this rule should not be strictly followed in hadith books that are the foundations of the Sunnah and that narrate hadiths with their chains back to the Companions. In such cases, the rule is inconsistent and does not hold; rather, there is no fixed system. Instead, 'Abdullah is distinguished from these four by looking at the narrator from one of them. If the narrator, for example, is from 'Abdullah without qualification in the narration, such as 'Uqbah or Yazid ibn al-Aswad or others from the Kufans, then it is 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. And if the narrator, for example, is from 'Abdullah without qualification in another chain or another hadith, such as Nafi' or Salim or others, then it is 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, because Nafi' was his slave and Salim was his son. And if the narrator from 'Abdullah is someone other than these, such as 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah, the Meccan, or others, then it is 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas. And so 'Abdullah is identified in the chains by looking at the narrator from him. As for when the scholars of hadith abbreviate the chains and collect the hadiths in concise books, if they say "from 'Abdullah," they mean Ibn Mas'ud.
This Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated this hadith for us from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), who said: This is an indication that a person is close to Paradise and close to the Fire. He is close to Paradise by his righteous deed and close to the Fire by his evil deed. Some scholars interpreted this closeness by considering that the deed, whether righteous or evil, is a quality that exists in the person's own being. So it is correct that this cause, which is the righteous deed or its opposite, is closer to him than the strap of his sandal. The strap of the sandal is perhaps not hidden from you all; the intended meaning is the thong of the sandal. This is how some commentators interpreted it. But it seems to me that we have no need for such an explanation, because in my opinion, the hadiths interpret one another. There is the authentic hadith in al-Bukhari and others that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: This closeness is what the Messenger (peace be upon him) referred to in this hadith which we are now commenting on. Close to it is a hadith that may benefit many or few of those present, whose usual state is that after they leave or after the imam finishes the obligatory prayer, they leave immediately, rushing out of the mosque, in the manner of many people. They are represented by that Bedouin who came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to ask him what Allah had made obligatory upon him. When he informed him of the five obligatory prayers and fasting in Ramadan, he said, "Is there anything else upon me?" He said: He said, "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I will not add to them or subtract from them." He said: So many people are content with such economy and restriction in worship of Allah the Exalted and Majestic, limiting it to the obligatory acts only, without the recommended practices and without the voluntary recommended acts. We must know that although this is permissible by the Shari'ah, it is the path of those who are content with the least amount of work. Then he should be careful to perform these few, limited obligatory acts in a state of completeness and perfection, such that he has not fallen short in any of them, so that it is not ultimately ruled that he did not perform the obligations that Allah made obligatory upon him if he had fallen short in some of their pillars or conditions.
Therefore, it is from the Sunnah to encourage all people to pay attention to the recommended practices as well, not just the obligatory ones, in the manner of that Bedouin. Because it is not possible to rule that every person, if they make a statement, fulfills it, and if they make a covenant, also fulfills it. They may fall short, so they must have some reserve to fill the gap of what is missing from the obligatory acts. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to this reality that our youth today, in particular, must be aware of and prepare for when he said: And in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: "Does he have any voluntary acts? Then complete for him his obligatory act with them." The obligatory act may be deficient in quantity or quality, so the deficiency is made up on the account of this voluntary act, which is from the precautionary acts of worship. Therefore, it is not good for us to be hasty in leaving or departing after our imam finishes the prayer. Rather, we must come with much or little of the remembrances and regular recitations that have specific virtues mentioned in them. Among them is what I was about to mention to you as an interpretation of some other hadiths of the Book. He (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) said: What is the meaning of the hadith? That is, he will enter Paradise. There is nothing that prevents him from entering Paradise except his remaining alive. When he dies, he will enter Paradise.
This hadith is like an interpretation of our hadith here: and ... regarding the righteous deed, by which a person enters Paradise, and the prohibition of the evil deed, by which its doer enters the Fire, may Allah protect us.