Explanation of the Hadith of the Man Who Killed a Hundred Souls

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The Shaykh : Then comes another hadith from the authentic hadiths to practically confirm the effect of a corrupt society on the individual. That is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith narrated byThe Shaykh : in their two Sahihs, from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

There was a person before you who had killed ninety-nine persons and then made an inquiry about the learned persons of the world (who could show him the way to salvation). He was directed to a monk.

كان فيمن قبلكم رجلٌ قتل تسعة وتسعين نفسًا ، فأراد أن يتوب : فسأل عن أعلم أهل الأرض ، فُدل على راهب

Sahih Muslim 2766a

Meaning: to an ignorant ascetic. So he went to him and presented his case, the summary of which was: that he had killed ninety-nine souls without right, and that he wanted to repent to Allah. Does he have any repentance?

So the matter was made great for him, and he said: You killed so-and-so many souls and you want to repent?! There is no repentance for you

فعظم عليه الأمر وقال : قتلت كذا وكذا نفسًا وأنت تريد أن تتوب ؟! لا توبة لك

, so he killed him and completed with him the number of a hundred. But the man appears to have been sincere in his repentance and in his asking about scholars in whom he believed they would guide him to the path by which he could achieve true repentance. So finally, while he was asking about the most knowledgeable person on earth, he was directed to a scholar

So he came to him and said to him: Indeed I have killed a hundred souls without right, so do I have any repentance? He said: And who prevents you from repentance? But you are in a land of evil

فأتاه وقال له : إني قتلت مائة نفس بغير حقٍ فهل لي من توبة ؟ قال : ومن يحول بينك وبين التوبة ، ولكنك بأرض سوءٍ

And here is the point: But you are in a land of evil, so leave it for such-and-such a village whose people are righteous. So the man set out from the village whose people were corrupt to the village to which he was directed. This confirms that he was sincere in his asking about who would guide him to the way of repentance. So he set out walking.
The Shaykh : The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

So death came to him while he was on the road, so the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment disputed over him, each claiming that it was his right to take his soul, and the matter is clear and does not need explanation, so Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent to them an angel to judge between them, and he said: Measure the distance between him and each of the two villages, and to whichever he was closer, assign him to its people. So he was closer to the village whose people were righteous by the amount of a handbreadth

فجاءه الموت وهو في الطريق ، فتنازعته ملائكة الرحمة وملائكة العذاب ، كلٌ يدعي أنه من حقه أن يقبض روحه ، والأمر واضح ما يحتاج إلى شرح ، فأرسل الله - عزَّ وجلّ - إليهم ملكًا يحكم بينهم ، فقال : قيسوا ما بينه وبين كل من القريتين فإلى أيهما كان أقرب فألحقوه بأهلها ، فكان أقرب إلى القرية الصالح أهلها بمقدار شبر

, it is the human inclination during his walking; because a person does not walk like this, rather he walks like this, so he was closer to the righteous village by this amount,

So the angels of mercy took charge of him

فتولته ملائكة الرحمة

.
The Shaykh : So the righteous environment and the corrupt environment, just as it affects from the material, physical, medical aspect, it also affects from the spiritual, moral aspect completely. And the material doctors are graduates and they care very, very much in warning people not to settle in a plague-stricken land, but they do not pay attention to the moral plague, and rather this is from the function of the prophets and messengers who came to reform hearts. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) came with such hadiths to let the Muslims know that they should not mix with the polytheists and not live with them, because "nature is contagious," whether they intended it or not.

Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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