Explanation of *Riyad al-Salihin* (Chapter on the Virtue of Ablution)

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) quoted, in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on the virtue of ablution, from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) "

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went to the (Baqi') cemetery and said, "May you be secured from punishment, O dwellers of abode of the believers! We, if Allah wills, will follow you. I wish we see my brothers." The Companions said, "O Messenger of Allah! Are not we your brothers?" He (ﷺ) said, "You are my Companions, but my brothers are those who have not come into the world yet." They said; "O Messenger of Allah! How will you recognize those of your Ummah who are not born yet?" He (ﷺ) said, "Say, if a man has white-footed horses with white foreheads among horses which are pure black, will he not recognize his own horses?" They said; "Certainly, O Messenger of Allah!" He (ﷺ) said, "They (my followers) will come with bright faces and white limbs because of Wudu'; and I will arrive at the Haud (Al-Kauthar) ahead of them." [Muslim] .

أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أتى المقبرة فقال السلام عليكم دار قوم مؤمنين وإنا إن شاء الله بكم لاحقون وددت أنا قد رأينا إخواننا قالوا أولسنا إخوانك يا رسول الله؟ قال أنتم أصحابي وإخواننا الذين لم يأتوا بعد قالوا كيف تعرف من لم يأتوا بعد من أمتك يا رسول الله؟ فقال رأيت لو أن رجلا له خيل غر محجلة بين ظهري خيل دهم بهم ألا يعرف خيله قالوا بلى يا رسول الله قال فإنهم يأتون غراً محجلين من الوضوء وأنا فرطهم على الحوض

Riyad as-Salihin 1029

Narrated by Muslim"

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
This is the hadith that al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) included in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*, in the chapter on the virtue of ablution, from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): or "we are the ones who will follow you." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) initially forbade visiting graves because the people were newly converted from associating partners with Allah, and he feared that their hearts would become attached to the graves and they would be led astray by them, so he forbade visiting them. Then, when faith became firmly established in their hearts, he commanded them to visit them. He said, "I used to forbid you from visiting graves, but now visit them, for they remind you of death." In another narration, it says "they remind you of the Hereafter." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded their visitation and explained the great wisdom behind it: that it reminds one of death. It reminds the person who is on the surface of the earth that today he is on its surface, and tomorrow he will be in its belly, and he does not know when this will happen. A person may wake up on the surface of the earth and go to sleep in its belly, or he may go to sleep on the surface of the earth and wake up in its belly. So visiting graveyards serves as a reminder of death, or a reminder of the Hereafter. When a person passes by a graveyard, if he thinks about it—his father, his brother, his uncle, his wife, or the like—they were with him yesterday, eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves, and now they are detained in their graves by their deeds. He remembers last year at this time, when they were with us, rejoicing in this world and delighted by it, and now they have left it and become detained by their deeds. Whoever does good will meet it, and whoever does evil will meet it. So it is a reminder of the Hereafter and a reminder of death in reality. Go out to the graveyards and look at these people, whom no one can count except Allah (Mighty and Majestic), or who can only be counted with great difficulty. They were with you yesterday, and now they are in the belly of the earth, and you do not know—perhaps you will be their companion in a short time. So it is a reminder of death, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said. For this reason, he himself used to go out to al-Baqi' to visit the people of al-Baqi' and greet them—[a slight pause]—and greet them (peace and blessings be upon him) and make du'a for them. So he greeted them, saying: But they do not respond because they are in their graves. So he greets them and says: which is a known and certain matter. How does he say "if Allah wills"? The correct view is that there is no problem with this, for the meaning of the condition here is that if we follow you, we will follow by the will of Allah, whenever He wills for us to follow you. For the matter is His, and the dominion is His. He (Mighty and Majestic) manages what He wills in whom He wills. Does not Allah say: Even though they will enter it, for Allah affirmed the entry with the oath, the lam, and the emphatic nun. There is no doubt that they will enter it. For this reason, when the truce at Hudaybiyyah was concluded, stating that the Messenger would return and not complete his 'Umrah, 'Umar said to him: "Did you not say this year: " So the point is that the phrase "if Allah wills" here does not mean the kind of condition where a person is in doubt between the occurrence of the thing and its non-occurrence. Rather, the meaning of the condition is that our following you is not by our choice, but by the will of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). "And indeed, if Allah wills, we are the ones who will follow you."
Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He wished to meet his brothers (peace and blessings be upon him). "O Allah, make me and you among them."
The student: Amen.

The Shaykh : He wished to meet his brothers. "Companions" is more specific than "brothers." A companion is a brother plus companionship, and a brother is a brother without companionship. He said: meaning, "So you are more specific than them, and they are the Companions, who are brothers to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions. As for those who came after him from the believers, they are his brothers but not his Companions." "I wish I had met our brothers." They said, "Are we not your brothers, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "You are my Companions, but our brothers are a people who will come after me, who will believe in me and not have seen me." "O Allah, to You is praise. O Allah, keep us firm upon that."
The student: Amen.

The Shaykh : They will believe in the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he is truly the Messenger of Allah, and they will not see him, but they are like those who see him. meaning, "And you did not meet them." He gave the example of a man who has white horses with white markings on their foreheads and white markings on their legs, among black horses. "White" means having whiteness on the head, and "with white markings on the legs" means whiteness on the legs. meaning, "black, with no white markings." meaning, "from the effect of ablution." So in this is evidence of the virtue of ablution, and that this Ummah will come on the Day of Resurrection with white foreheads and white markings on their legs from the effect of ablution. "White" means white faces, and "with white markings on the legs" means white legs and hands. And this whiteness is a whiteness of light and illumination by which people will recognize them on the Day of Resurrection, on that great, witnessed day. The Ummah of this noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) will be recognized by these signs and marks, which no one else has. I ask Allah the Exalted, by His grace and generosity, to gather me and you on this face.
The student: Amen.

The Shaykh : And to make us among his Ummah, outwardly and inwardly. Indeed, He is capable of all things.