Explanation of the author's statement: And Muslim, from Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him): that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Indeed, Allah gathered the earth for me

The Shaykh : He said: " And Muslim, and Muslim from Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him): that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Allah drew the ends of the world near one another for my sake. And I have seen its eastern and western ends.

إن الله زوى لي الأرض فرأيت مشارقها ومغاربها

Sahih Muslim 2889a

". .
What does "gathered" (zawa) mean? It means collected and brought together. He collected the earth for him and brought it together, so I saw its easts and wests. Did I see it with my eyes or with my knowledge? Is it a vision of knowledge or a vision of the eye? It is a vision of the eye. I saw the easts and wests of the earth, and that is not difficult for Allah, for Allah the Exalted is capable of everything, to gather the earth and collect it so that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sees what the dominion of his Ummah will reach from it. Is the meaning here of "gathering" that the earth was gathered and collected, or that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had his sight strengthened so that he saw the distant? Which is closer to the apparent meaning of the text? The closer is the first: that the earth is what underwent the change, and it is not the sight of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Some scholars said that the meaning is the sight of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that Allah gave him strength so that he saw the easts and wests of the earth. But the first is the apparent meaning of the text. And when we want to bring this matter closer, we find that the image of the earth now, the image of the earth is collected, the collected image, a person sees what? The easts and wests of the earth. And Allah is capable of everything; Allah gathers the earth until it becomes small, so that he perceives its easts and wests.
So if someone says: This, in reality, if taken as a literal reality, does not correspond to reality, because if the earth were restricted so that it could be perceived by the bare sight of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—meaning people are in it, there are seas in it, great seas, and there are vast deserts in it, there are humans in it, and there are non-humans in it, or not? How can it be made small?
We say: In these matters of the unseen, it is not permissible for us to ask what? How. We did not say that Allah gathered it, and He is capable of everything; He gathered it so that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw it. And in the matters of the unseen that we do not perceive, it is not permissible for us to ask how, because the power of Allah, Glory be to Him, is greater, greater than our power, and greater than that we can encompass it. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that Satan runs through the son of Adam like blood. Is it permissible for us to say how does he run like blood? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: How does he run like blood? We say: Allah knows best. These matters cannot be perceived by us; it is obligatory for us to submit purely to them. For this reason, we say: In the chapter of names and attributes, we take the apparent meaning or what is like the apparent meaning in the chapter of rulings, meaning we take only what? The apparent meaning. And this is what the people of the Sunnah and the community agreed upon: that they take the apparent meaning, but they take this apparent meaning free from asking how (takyif) and likening (tamthil), and they do not understand them as likening the attributes of Allah, Glory be to Him, to the attributes of His creation.
Well, he says: "He gathered the earth for me, and I saw its easts and wests," meaning the places of its east and the places of its west. "And my Ummah will reach in dominion what was gathered for me." "My Ummah"—which Ummah? Who is meant by the Ummah here? The answer or the call? The Ummah of the answer, the Ummah of the answer that answered the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), believed in him, and had faith in him. Their dominion will reach what was gathered for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) from it. And this is the reality, for the dominion of this Ummah expanded from the east and from the west to a very great extent, but from the north and the south it was less, much less. The Islamic Ummah reached the east to Sindh and India and beyond that, and from the west it reached beyond the ocean. Yes, and this fulfills the vision of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
He said: I was given the two treasures: Who did Allah give them to? Who did He give them to? Allah.
And his saying: They are gold and silver, the treasures of Caesar and Kisra. So the gold is with Caesar and the silver is with Kisra, and each of them has gold and silver with him, but the predominant part of Caesar's treasures is gold, and the predominant part of Kisra's treasures is silver. And his saying: Was he given them (peace and blessings be upon him) in his lifetime or after his death? After his death. After his death, his Ummah was given that, but what was not given to his Ummah is as if it was given to him, because the extension of the Ummah's dominion is not because it is an Arab Ummah as these ignorant people say, but because it is an Islamic Ummah that took what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon.
Just as it came in the previous nations that there are those who worship idols, so in this Ummah there are those who worship idols.
And it has come before us that there is no bad deed done by the previous nations except that there is something of it in this Ummah. Is that not so? Yes, for this hadith. So if it is asked: What is the wisdom in this Ummah being tested in this matter, and that there is in it of all the vices of those who came before it? We said: The wisdom is that by this, the perfection of the religion becomes clear, for the religion opposes all these morals, all these morals. So if it opposes them, this indicates that every deficiency in the previous nations, this Shari'ah came to complete it. How is that? Because things do not become clear except by their opposites, as it was said: " And by their opposites things become clear " This point must, must be preserved by the person, and its answer is what we mentioned, its answer is what we mentioned.
The question now: What is the wisdom in this Ummah being tested by the vices of those before it? So that there is in it, in the entire Ummah, in the aggregate of the Ummah, those who do these vices?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : And that it fights all the blameworthy morals and bad deeds of all the nations. Yes, because by their opposites things become clear, and the Shari'ah came in opposition to that with completeness and perfection. And it has come before us that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a question that surprised the nations? So he said: When they asked him, are they the Jews and Christians? He said: Who then?
And it has come before us in the hadith of Thawban that Allah, Glory and Exaltation be to Him, gathered the earth for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he saw its easts and wests. And we said that in this gathering, or in this folding, we say folding or gathering?
The student: Gathering.

The Shaykh : Well, what do you say about "folding" (tawwa)?
The student: Folding.

The Shaykh : In "gathered" (zawa)?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Like this measure, the measure is to say "zi" and "shawa" "shia" or "shuya"? "Shuya" is the language of the common people, it is said "shia," yes. Well, so we say in this folding is a sign from the signs of Allah and a sign from the signs of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes, and it has come before: Is this folding real, meaning that the earth was collected, or is this by way of imagery, or that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was increased in his sight and vision so that he saw all the easts and wests of the earth? So we said: The closer is that the folding is for the earth, and it does not mean that the sight of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) extended. And we say this and we do not say how and how, and we say this is from the matters of the unseen.
And his saying, it has also come before that this Ummah will reach in dominion what was gathered for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and the meaning is that it will dominate what was gathered for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
And it has come before that he was given the two treasures: the red and the white. The red is the treasure of whom?
The student: Caesar.

The Shaykh : And the white
The student: Kisra.

The Shaykh : Yes.
He said: - This is a new section - This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked his Lord, that He not destroy the Ummah by a general calamity. So it is in the original text. And in a narration - in some copies - : And "sunnah" means drought and famine. Drought and famine destroy and ruin. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And He, the Exalted, said: And his saying: Meaning by drought and famine Meaning generally, that this calamity encompasses them.

And the enemy is the opposite of the ally, and he is the hostile, hating, envious one. And the enemy of the Muslims are the disbelievers. For this reason he said: Yes And what does "violate" (istabih) mean? It means to consider permissible. And "al-baydah" is what is placed on the head as protection from arrows, and the meaning is that they appear over them and dominate them. They appear over them and dominate them.