Miscellaneous by Al-Albani-165

The Shaykh : Our hadith tonight begins with the fourth hadith from the chapter on encouraging fear and its virtue. The hadith is authentic, as its tracing indicates. The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Narrated by Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And in a narration, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It was narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim, and it was narrated by Malik and al-Nasa'i in a similar form.
This hadith is among the rare ones. It contains rare events that occurred in the time before the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). In that time, there were rare and wondrous things, either of which no longer occur after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) for a wisdom intended by Allah, or some of them may occur, but their news does not reach us, because we have no one there to investigate these reports except the Creator of their owners and those with connections to them. Then He inspires them to our infallible Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he conveys them to his community as a warning and a reminder. For that reason, al-Bukhari and Muslim included in their authentic collections the hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The point of relevance is the middle section of this hadith, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And among the best things one of us relates today about the Prophet of Israel is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) related to us, for which the chains of narration are authentic from him (peace and blessings be upon him)... So this hadith, as you heard, contains a wonder from those wonders. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) says: In the other narration: In this first narration, he continued in his extravagance with himself, meaning his wronging of it, until death approached him. That is, he was not among those who spend a portion of their lives in extravagance, in open sinfulness, and then, before their death, they turn to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and repent to Him. This man was not like that; rather, he continued in his extravagance, in his wronging of himself, and in his disobedience to his Lord, until death approached him. But he was not among those deluded people who do evil deeds and then hope for the forgiveness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Unfortunately, many Muslims today rely on the forgiveness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and do not engage in the righteous deeds by which they would deserve the forgiveness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This man was acknowledging his shortcoming and his sin against himself. And yet, it appears from this wondrous story that his faith was still alive in his heart, and there was still in him something by which he deserved to receive the forgiveness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), even though he took a path that perhaps no one before him or after him had taken. That is, he left this unjust will, where he said (peace and blessings be upon him): And he was not satisfied with that, but said: "Grind me," imagining that the burning might not consume all of his bones, so that something of these bones would remain standing. To confirm what he imagined as a means of escape from the punishment of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), he said to them: "Grind me," meaning, considering what had happened, that he was a sound human being who died, so he ordered them to burn him with fire, then he confirmed that to them by having him ground, and then taking the result of that burning and grinding, which is that he would become dust. He said: And in another narration, there is clarification, as you heard, and it will also come that he ordered that half of the ash be scattered in the wind and half in the sea. This is also an exaggeration in his misguided belief that he would be lost from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). He said: Why did he leave this strange, unjust will? He swore and clarified, saying: That is, from among those who are extravagant with themselves. And here a type of obedience from the children to their fathers appears, an extreme obedience. But it appears that they did not have, either in their law, that such a will is an unjust will that is not permissible to be left, and if one leaves such an unjust will as this, it is not permissible for the one bequeathed to execute it, because it is contrary to the law of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So the execution of this will by these sons carries one of two aspects: the first is that perhaps it was not in their law that this is not permissible, and the second is that if it was in their law, these people were not aware of it, and therefore they hastened to execute their father's will. He said (peace and blessings be upon him) in the completion of the hadith: After the particles of this man, who was burned by fire and scattered in the wind and in the sea, had dispersed, He said to both the sea and the earth: "Gather the particles of so-and-so," and He said to it: "Be so-and-so," and he was a sound human being. So He (Blessed and Exalted is He) addressed this man after restoring him to what he was: Or he said: And in a narration, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The address shifted to absence. In this hadith, there is a wonderful and very great example, as an explanation of some texts from the Book and the Sunnah, such as His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): And such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in Sahih al-Bukhari: If such a person were asked, any scholar in the world, a true scholar, about a person who left such a will and it was executed on him, would he be a Muslim or a disbeliever? The answer must be that he is a disbeliever, and the evidence is clear and manifest. That is because this man, in this will, reminds us of that one whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned in the Qur'an, referring to him by His saying: to the end of the verse. So this man, as if he does not believe, as if he is of that type who said: "Who will give life to bones when they are crumbled?" Yet we find that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forgave this man. If a scholar is asked about such a person who leaves such a will, he has no choice but to rule that he is a disbeliever, a disbelief that will keep its owner in the Fire forever, from which he will not emerge. And since that is the case, how can we accept this hadith, when its apparent meaning contradicts what is known from the religion by necessity? Because this known matter is textually stated in the Noble Qur'an when the Lord of the Worlds said: This verse is explicit in its indication, or in the expression of the scholars of principles, it is definitive in its establishment and definitive in its indication. And its indication is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) can forgive any sin, no matter how great, except shirk (associating partners with Allah) (Blessed and Exalted is He), for Allah does not forgive it: