Miscellaneous by Al-Albani-138

The Shaykh : We are now in the section on encouraging weeping out of fear of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). He says regarding the fourth hadith: From Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and said: It is a good, strange hadith.
This hadith clearly indicates the virtue of a person weeping, not out of sadness, pity, or greed for wealth or the loss of something dear to him, but rather because his weeping is out of fear of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is because such fear indicates the strength of the faith of its owner. Otherwise, many people do not know weeping except in front of people; this is the weeping of the hypocrites who feign and force themselves to weep. They are not among those to whom this hadith applies . "An eye that wept out of fear of Allah" is like the previous hadith in the earlier lesson, which contained and mentioned among them one who has no one with him, or even one who weeps due to the suggestion of Satan, while he does not realize or feel it, so that it is said, "So-and-so is one of those who weep out of fear of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)." This illusion or suggestion from Satan to a person to weep is absolutely inconceivable when the weeper is alone and has no one with him. Therefore, among the seven whom Allah will shade under His shade on the Day when there is no shade except His, was a man who remembered Allah in seclusion and his eyes overflowed.
This weeping comes from the believer who fears Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Otherwise, weeping is inconceivable except in a rare case where this weeping is joy. However, for the one who remembers Allah in seclusion, the general rule is that his weeping is out of fear of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), out of his fear of the punishment of his Lord. If we note this virtue of the one who weeps out of fear of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in seclusion, we remember that it is not part of Islam at all what is reported about Rabi'ah al-'Adawiyyah that she would converse with her Lord and say in her conversation with Him (Mighty and Majestic) "I do not worship You hoping for Your Paradise, nor fearing Your Fire, but I worship You because You are worthy of worship". This is poetic, imaginary speech; its appearance is mercy, but its reality is torment! This is because the sincere believer, the stronger his faith—which includes his knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)—the more he increases in fear of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) on one hand, and the more he increases in hope and desire for what is with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) of abiding bliss on the other hand. A person in whom we imagine this strong faith cannot possibly say, "I do not worship You hoping for Your Paradise, nor fearing Your punishment," because this means that the speaker has not known his Lord. Faith necessitates knowledge, but knowledge does not necessitate faith. Every believer is knowledgeable, and this is a point you must be aware of so that you are not influenced by many philosophical opinions you may read in books or hear quoted from them. Every believer is knowledgeable of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), but the reverse is not the case; not every knowledgeable person is a believer. Therefore, one of the common errors is when they want to praise a righteous, pious man who believes in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) with true faith, they describe him as "the one who knows Allah" (al-'arif bi-Allah). Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) described the disbelievers in many places with knowledge, but they do not have faith. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said regarding the People of the Book and their knowledge of the truth of our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): He said about them He did not say about them that they believe in him, because knowledge is one thing and faith is another. Every believer must have known what he believed in, but not everyone who knows something believes in it. These are the Jews and the Christians; they knew the Prophet (peace be upon him) and that he is the one about whom their books gave glad tidings, and yet they lied about him, did not believe in him, and did not have faith in him. Likewise This knowledge is the eye of knowledge, but it was not accompanied by faith, so it did not benefit them. If the believer knows his Lord as the Forgiving, the Merciful, and the Severe in punishment, and this knowledge is a firm knowledge in which its owner has firm faith, this person cannot worship Allah without hoping for what is with Him of bliss and without fearing what is with Him of Hellfire. If an ordinary person lived under the rule of a human king, and this king was a tyrant who oppressed people, he must fear him and be afraid of him, because he sees constantly that he takes revenge on people without right. So, knowing this reality, he takes his precautions and fears him. Conversely, if there were a noble, generous king who bestows his gifts on people without calculation and without questioning, a person cannot live under the banner of this king and not desire what is with him for free. This is the nature of man. So what can be said regarding the Lord of the worlds, the King of kings, in whose hand are the hearts of all kings (Blessed and Exalted is He)? If we know Him as the Forgiving, the Merciful, and the Possessor of immense favor, how can we imagine that we truly believe in Him and yet do not hope for what is with Him (Blessed and Exalted is He) of good, favor, reward, and a Paradise whose width is the heavens and the earth? This is inconceivable except for a person who is either not a believer or heedless. Likewise, if we know Him as the Mighty, the Avenger, and the Tyrant, how can we worship Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and not fear Him and not be afraid of Him? From this, you understand the secret of the fact that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in some authentic hadiths They hope for what is with Allah and fear what is with Allah. How can we imagine a person who fulfills the right of this servitude for which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) praised these chosen, good servants? How can we imagine that one of them says, "I do not worship You hoping for Your Paradise, nor fearing Your punishment"? This is the speech of... or the speech of an ignorant person or one who does not believe in Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The discussion of this is long, but there is a point in the authentic hadiths that explains such a saying of our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) . It came in the authentic hadith in the explanation of , he said Paradise meaning the vision of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in the Hereafter. And it came in other hadiths that the believers in Paradise, when they look at their Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He), forget all the bliss they saw and felt in the Paradise of their Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). At that time, how can we imagine a believer who is knowledgeable of such texts and others, knowing that in Paradise is the vision of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and yet he says, "I do not worship You hoping for Your Paradise," while he knows that there is no way to the vision of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) except in Paradise? For this, and for this, and for much that has not been mentioned, the true believer must fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as came in this hadith . So this weeping is only the effect of this faith that dominates this weeper, and this does not happen except with his knowledge of his Lord (Mighty and Majestic) and his understanding of the attributes by which our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) is described.
It remains to give a brief explanation of the second phrase, which is his saying (peace be upon him): We must remember that this phrase consists of a noun and its modifier. When it is used in the Noble Qur'an and in authentic hadiths, it must be interpreted as jihad in the cause of Allah, meaning fighting in the cause of Allah. I say this for several reasons, one of which is that this phrase sometimes carries a broader meaning than that. "In the cause of Allah" sometimes refers to more than fighting in the cause of Allah against disbelievers. It can refer to a person doing any work for Allah the Exalted, whatever that work may be, even if it is traveling on the earth and journeying to earn his livelihood and the livelihood of his family and children through lawful means. This is also sometimes called "in the cause of Allah" in the Shari'ah. "In the cause of Allah" However, there must be a context, such as the hadith narrated by al-Tabarani and others, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting one day with his Companions around him when a young man passed by them. He was a strong, vigorous young man, and the Companions were pleased with him when they saw him, so they wished that this [strength] were in the cause of Allah. What is the meaning of their saying "in the cause of Allah"? The primary meaning is jihad in the cause of Allah. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: In this phrase, it was made clear to us that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) intended the general meaning of "in the cause of Allah" here. But because this context existed—the Prophet's response to the Companions, "if this were in the cause of Allah"—it became clear to us that he meant that this exertion in seeking provision for his parents, his children, and himself is also in the cause of Allah. Thus, on this occasion, "in the cause of Allah" means in the pleasure of Allah, so it has a broader meaning than what is usually found in such a text and others. Among such examples is the saying of the Companions, "If this were in the cause of Allah." So when we encounter or come across such a phrase, what is the meaning we should derive from it? Is it the broader meaning or the specific meaning? The specific meaning of "in the cause of Allah" is in jihad, meaning in fighting the disbelievers in the cause of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. In fact, my aim behind this explanation is to draw attention to the interpretation of a hadith, or better, to the interpretation of an innovator, meaning one who introduces religious innovation, in interpreting the verse regarding the expenditures of zakah, to the end of the verse, and at the end of it, "and in the cause of Allah." So how do we interpret this phrase and how do we understand this category, "in the cause of Allah"? You know the rule: when used in its general sense, it means jihad in the cause of Allah the Exalted, and it is not permissible to generalize it except with a context, such as the story of that strong, vigorous young man, and so on.
Here, there is absolutely no indication; rather, the indication is in the verse itself. Indeed, there are indications within the verse itself that confirm that the phrase of Allah the Exalted, "in the cause of Allah" here, refers to the standard meaning, namely jihad in the cause of Allah. Why? Because Allah Mighty and Majestic introduced these expenditures with His saying: , which is a tool of restriction, as if He is saying that the expenditures of zakah are restricted to these eight categories. Then He listed them one after another. If we were to interpret the verse with the general meaning, we would nullify this restriction, and there would be no benefit in counting one, three, four, eight, because "the cause of Allah" would fall under this meaning if the intended meaning were the general one, encompassing the seven categories, seventy, seven hundred, or whatever you wish, meaning that all paths of good would enter into "the cause of Allah." In that case, we would have nullified the indication of the Qur'an and the eloquence of the Qur'an. The alms are only for the poor. When some of the contemporary scholars today, by a matter we know, interpreted this text with the broader and more inclusive meaning, whether they were aware of this prohibition we mentioned or not, they did so to present Islam in a manner that is pleasing to... the disbelievers. These Europeans, by whom many Muslim writers were deceived, became obsessed with studying their civilization and were influenced by the civilization of many of these Muslim writers, considering the Muslims to be truly backward. The disbelievers call us reactionaries, and with a softer expression, they call us backward. In what are the Muslims backward? In what benefits them in their religion, this is without a doubt. And when we criticize these people for calling Muslims backward and lagging, we do not mean that Muslims should remain like this. Rather, we mean that the greatest danger that has befallen Muslims today is not this civilizational and European civil backwardness, but rather the lagging behind in acting upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This lagging or this true backwardness in acting upon the Shari'ah in light of the Book and the Sunnah is what opens the door for some Muslim writers to focus on the words and opinions of the Europeans regarding their Islamic religion. What those Europeans find pleasing, these writers find pleasing. So when they do not find an explicit text in what they desire... the disbelievers tried to interpret a text that is not explicit in what they want, to show the Europeans: "Look at our religion. This verse is closely related to what they call social security and achieving social justice." They say: "Islam has prescribed a specific, obligatory share, and whoever does not fulfill it commits a sin, to spend his wealth in all paths of good." For example, the school, which Islam undoubtedly preserves, but not at the expense of these eight expenditures. They included building schools, and a fortiori, building mosques. They even included in this verse paving roads and building bridges, and similar public facilities. All this to show people that Islam has commanded these things as a religious, devotional obligation. Islam undoubtedly commands this, but we do not want to mix the door of voluntary acts with the door of obligatory acts, and we do not want to interpret the Qur'an in a way that the righteous Salaf did not interpret it. Here, the phrase "in the cause of Allah" in the verse is like His saying: , and like His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in this hadith: . From here, I draw your attention to the fact that just as it is not good to expand the interpretation of the previous verse and "in the cause of Allah" as we mentioned, it is also not good to expand, as I heard from some young Muslims, the interpretation of "in the cause of Allah" in the hadith. This means that a group of young people, for example, from the scouts, as they have agreed upon today, and I do not see this term because it is foreign, went on a trip and planned to spend, for example, a few nights in the open. From the perspective of training—and there is no harm—in jihad, whose path has unfortunately been closed for all Muslims for known, not unknown reasons, they want to train in such simple preliminaries that precede true jihad in the cause of Allah the Exalted. They set up tents and establish guards. All this is good, and let no one misunderstand my objection to that. But this guard who stands and guards his brothers from the perspective of training does not enter into this hadith. It is good, it is training and preparation, like lifting weights and running, and similar things. All of this is preliminaries to strengthen the hand of the Muslim man so that he is as he should be when jihad in the cause of Allah the Exalted is realized. But this hadith They had captured in their attack on the village a woman whose husband was absent from the village. When he came and was informed of the news that "your wife was killed by the companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)," he followed the tracks of the Muslim army until he caught up with the army in the darkness and evening in a valley, and they descended into it. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him), applying the system of night guarding, said: "Who will guard us tonight?" Two young men from the Ansar stood up, one from the Aws and the other from the Khazraj, and they said, "We, O Messenger of Allah." He said to them: "The path of the mountain." So they set out, and it seems they agreed to guard in shifts, half the night this one and the other half the other. So one of them lay down there, and the other stood up to guard. Then it occurred to him to add to his guarding in the cause of Allah another act of worship, perhaps of the type of . So it was as if he said, "I am guarding; I can combine my guarding, my worship, and my prayer to my Lord." So he stood up straight to pray. And the polytheist, when he was following the track, was waiting for an opportunity that would allow him to take revenge for his wife. And there he saw this noble Companion standing straight, praying. So what did he do but take a spear from its sheath and throw it at him, and he placed it in his leg, as the narrator expresses it, and he is Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari, who says, "He placed it in his leg." This is an exaggeration in the precision of the shooting, as if he placed it there rather than throwing it a throw. So what did this worshipping Companion do but take it and throw it to the ground, as if he were pulling a thorn from his body. He continued to pray. When the polytheist saw that the man was still standing, he knew that he had not hit him in a fatal spot, so he threw the second one and placed it in his leg, and he threw it to the ground. And so three times, from three... in each time he hit him in a place in the leg. Finally, the narrator says, either his sleeping companion woke up, or he prayed two rak'ahs and woke him up... there was no wound on his companion. He said, "What is this?" He said, "I was in a surah I was reciting. By Myself, if it were not that I feared that I would neglect a post that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) placed me in charge of guarding, my soul would have been in it." Meaning, this man stood up to pray, and when he was hit and thrown at three times, he was wishing to continue in his prayer and for the polytheist to continue throwing at him until his destruction would be in this prayer, and he did not care about death for the pleasure of supplication and the sweetness of his du'a' and his standing before Allah Blessed and Exalted is He. He did not care about death, but he remembered that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had appointed him to a function, guarding the sleeping army returning from jihad tired. And therefore, he did not want to neglect the function that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered him to perform in the cause of satisfying what do we call this noble spiritual desire? Even if he would die and the polytheist would continue throwing at him, no. He had to be satisfied with the past portion of the sweetness of supplication to remain alive until he performed the function that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered him to perform. Therefore, he said, "If it were not that I feared that I would neglect a post that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) placed me in charge of guarding, my soul, meaning the destruction of my soul, would have been in this prayer." This is the guarding in the cause of Allah the Exalted, which is the second type of the two types mentioned in the hadith of those whom the Fire will not touch: . And even if it has escaped us to mention the second type of guarding in the cause of Allah in the true meaning that we interpreted just now, let it not escape any of us to attain the first type, which is weeping in seclusion out of fear of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He. We hope that Allah the Exalted will make us among the humble and sincere to the Lord of the worlds. And all praise is due to Allah alone, and prayers upon the one after whom there is no prophet.