Explanation of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): “... O My servants, you will not reach the point of harming Me and thereby harming Me, nor will you reach the point of benefiting Me and thereby benefiting Me. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you...

The Shaykh : This is the remainder of the hadith without commentary, starting from the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in this sacred hadith , meaning that all the servants are unable to reach the point of harming Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, and consequently they do not harm Allah in any way. Likewise, if all the servants wanted to convey their benefit to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, they would not be able to benefit Him with anything, because Allah is the source of all good and evil. How can the servants, upon whom Allah decrees what He wills of good or evil, be able to harm Allah with anything or benefit Him with anything? Far be it from Him, and Glorified and Exalted is He from that. For He is the Subduer over His servants . This phrase confirms that if all humans gathered to benefit Allah with something and increase His dominion, they would have no way to do so. If they all gathered, from the first of them to the last, from their humans and their jinn, and if they were all on the same level of righteousness and piety, and they all worshipped Allah, Mighty and Majestic, that would not increase the dominion of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in anything, because Allah is the One who is free of need from all the worlds. On the contrary, if the humans and jinn, from the first of them to the last, were upon the most wicked heart of one man among you, that would not decrease His dominion, Blessed and Exalted is He, in anything, because He is also the One who is free of need from all the worlds . In one level place, they gathered in it from the first of them to the last of you , meaning every one of these humans whose number only Allah can count, every one of them turned to Allah with a request, so Allah gave every one of them who asked what he asked for .
The needle is the sewing needle.
... the needle in the water, in the vast sea, then he takes out this needle. What is the proportion of the drop, the small particle that stuck to this needle, compared to the water of the surrounding sea? Nothing. In reality, the intention here is not to prove that if Allah, Mighty and Majestic, gave every one of His creations, from the first to the last, what he asked for, that it would decrease His dominion. That is not the intention. Rather, the matter is an approximation: when the needle is lowered into the water and then taken out, what sticks to it is something that is negligible in comparison to the sea. But the entire sea, in comparison to what is with Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is what? Nothing. Therefore, this is a material, approximate analogy that if Allah, Mighty and Majestic, gave all of creation what they asked for, it would not decrease His dominion in anything, absolutely, ever. And that is because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is Able to do all things. The continuous, extending source: however much people take from it, it does not decrease, because it is ongoing...
, What is the intended purpose of this passage, of this hadith? There are two purposes,
one relates to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, and to one of His attributes, and the other relates to His servants.
As for the first matter... the intention is to affirm the vastness of what is with Allah, Mighty and Majestic, of good and of abundant grace. And the other thing that relates to the servants is that if they know that what is with Allah of good, and what He provides to His servants to fulfill their requests, is such that it encourages them to hope in their Lord and leads them to ask Him for anything that falls within the power of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and is not usually impossible.
So when a person knows this vastness of the power and grace of Allah, he hopes in what is with Him and asks his Lord more for anything he needs, whether it is from the matters of this world or the matters of the Hereafter. For example, it came in the authentic hadith , or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, , . So do not say, “O Allah, forgive me if You will, O Allah, provide for me if You will” , meaning He bestows His grace, Blessed and Exalted is He, as He is the Generous.
Therefore, it is not permissible, and it is not part of the etiquette of supplication in Islam, to say, “My Lord, forgive me if You will,” without saying “if You will” with certainty, as it came in some narrations of the hadith . Let him be determined, meaning let him be decisive in the matter and not make it conditional on the will of Allah, because when you say “if You will,” it is as if Allah is there under compulsion and refrains from fulfilling what the person asked for. We know that there is no one who can turn back His will or His decree. And since you know this truth, and you know that the grace of Allah is not decreased even if all people gathered on one plain and asked Him, and He gave each one of them what he asked for, that would not decrease His dominion in anything. So proceed with your request to Allah, no matter how much it is in comparison to your weakness and your poverty; it is something small and insignificant in comparison to the vastness of the grace of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and the greatness of His generosity.
So this encourages us to turn to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for every need we have of Him, no matter how big it is in our eyes; it is insignificant in comparison to the power and grace of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.