Explanation of the words of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "
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The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the chapter on fear and warning against security from the stratagem of Allah:
He said, as he quoted from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Mishkat al-Masabih 82Muttafaqun 'alayh (Zubair `Aliza'i).
His statement (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) told us, and he is the truthful and the veracious”: This means truthful in what he says, and veracious in what is revealed to him of revelation, in what is communicated to him of revelation. So he is truthful, not reporting except the truth, and veracious, not being informed except of the truth. May the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him.
And he only introduced this preamble because he will report about a hidden, unseen matter in three darknesses:Sahih al-Bukhari 3208: When a man has intercourse with his wife and deposits the fluid in her womb, it remains for forty days as a drop of fluid, as it is, water, but it changes little by little, tending toward redness, until forty days are completed for it.
So when forty days are completed for it, it has attained full redness and become a clot of blood. Then it passes through another forty days as a clot, meaning a piece of blood, but it is solidified. However, it thickens and grows heavier little by little, until eighty days are completed for it.
So when eighty days are completed for it, it becomes a lump of flesh, a piece of meat. Regarding this lump, Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Hajj 22:5]. It remains for forty days, being created from eighty-one days to one hundred and twenty days. The creation does not become clearly apparent except when ninety days are completed for it, in most cases.
So when forty days have passed for it as a lump of flesh, Allah sends to it an angel, the angel in charge of wombs, because Allah the Mighty and Majestic said:[Al-Muddaththir 74:31]. The angels are soldiers for Allah the Exalted, each one in charge of something: the one in charge of wombs, the one in charge of souls who takes them, the one in charge of deeds who writes them, and the one in charge of bodies who preserves them. These are great duties for the angels, which Allah the Exalted commanded them with.
The angel of the wombs comes to every womb and breathes the soul into it by the permission of Allah the Exalted. This soul is a matter that no one knows except the Lord of the Worlds. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Isra 17:85]. He breathes it into the body, a piece of flesh in the womb, a piece of flesh that is water, with no movement, no sensation, and nothing else. When this soul is breathed in, it enters this body, moving in it as a coal moves in charcoal, by the permission of Allah, or as water moves in dry soil. It spreads through this body until it enters the whole body, becoming a human being. He moves, and the mother feels his movement after one hundred and twenty days. At that time, he becomes a human being. Before that, he is nothing. If the fetus falls before the completion of one hundred and twenty days, it has no ruling regarding praying over it. It is taken and buried in any hole in the ground, and no prayer is performed over it, and nothing else is done.
When one hundred and twenty days are completed, meaning four months, at that time he becomes a human being. If he falls after that, he is washed, shrouded, and prayed over. If he is the size of a hand, he is prayed over and buried in the graves of Muslims if he is a Muslim.
And if he is from the children of the Christians, meaning his mother and father are Christian, all of them Christian, he is not buried in the graves of Muslims. He is taken out and buried without washing or shrouding, because even though he is a child, the Messenger was asked about the children of the polytheists, and he said:.
The important point is that when four months are completed, he is washed, shrouded, prayed over, and buried in the graves of Muslims, and he is given a name. He is given a name because he will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection, and the 'aqiqah sacrifice is performed for him, most likely, so that it may intercede for his parents on the Day of Resurrection.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 7454:
The writing of provision: This means whether it is little or much? When will it come to him? Will it be diminished or not? The important thing is that it is written completely.
His term is also written: On which day? In which place? At which hour? At which moment? Far or near? It is written completely, by which of the causes of his death?
His deeds are written: Good, bad, beneficial, limited to the person himself? The important thing is that all his deeds are written.
And his end is written: And what do you know of the end? Wretched or happy?[Hud 11:106-108].
All of this is written. And where is it written? Reports have come that it is written on his forehead, on his brow. All of this is written.
So if someone asks: How does the forehead accommodate the writing of all these things?
We say: Do not ask about the matters of the unseen. Who are you to ask about the matters of the unseen? Say: I believe in Allah and I have believed in Allah and His Messenger. Do not ask: How?
And what has occurred in our time bears witness to something like this. A computer the size of a hand, by which a person writes thousands of words, and it is the work of humans. So what about the work of Allah the Exalted?
And the important thing is that the matters about which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informs you, and you do not perceive them with your senses, it is obligatory for you to believe and submit. Because if you did not believe or submit except to what you perceive with your senses, you would not be a believer. You would not be a believer in the unseen. The one who believes in the unseen is everything that comes from Allah and His Messenger. He says: I believe in Allah and His Messenger and I have believed.
He said:Sahih Muslim 2643a: But be glad, O brothers. This hadith is qualified: Sahih Muslim 112b. As for the one who does the deeds of the people of Paradise with his heart and sincerity, Allah the Exalted does not let him down. Allah is more generous than the servant. If you do the deeds of the people of Paradise with sincerity—may Allah make me and you among them—then Allah does not let you down. But this is in what appears to people.
And the evidence for this qualification is what is established in Sahih al-Bukhari:: I seek refuge in Allah. Is this brave man who fights the enemy from the people of the Fire? That was great for the Muslims, it was heavy for them, and they feared. How does this become one of the people of the Fire?
So a man said: By Allah, I will stick to him. I will walk with him and see what the end of this man is? So he walked with him. During the battle, an arrow hit him. This brave man was hit by an arrow, so he panicked. He took his sword and drew it, placed it on his chest, and leaned on it until it came out of his back. I seek refuge in Allah. He killed himself out of panic. So the man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said:—such and such happened to him—
So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 4207—Praise be to Allah for this qualification—Sahih Muslim 112b: They think he is righteous, but there is corruption in his heart, and he is from the people of the Fire.
He said in the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud:Sahih Muslim 2643a: This is the opposite of the first.
Did we find a witness in reality for the first one? Yes, the story of this man.
And this one also has a witness in reality. He does the deeds of the people of the Fire until there is nothing between him and it but a cubit, when the decree overtakes him, and he does the deeds of the people of Paradise and enters it.
This occurred in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): A man called al-Usayram from Banu 'Abd al-Ashhal, a disbeliever, a rejecter of the divine call, against the Muslims. So when it was the Battle of Uhud, and the people went out from the city to fight, Allah put Islam in his heart, so he embraced Islam and went out to strive in the cause of Allah. He went out to strive in the cause of Allah.
When what happened to the Muslims happened, and those who were killed were killed, the people went to look at the dead, at their slain, and they found al-Usayrim. His people said to him: What brought you here? We had known you to be opposed to this call. What brought you? Did you become biased toward your people, meaning tribalism, or was it a desire for Islam? He said: No, it was a desire for Islam. Convey my greetings to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and inform him that I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Then he died. They informed the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) of this, and I think he said:Sahih al-Bukhari 6607. So this man spent his entire life in disbelief, opposing Islam and the Muslims, and his end was this end. He did the deeds of the people of the Fire until there was only an arm's length between him and it, but the record overtook him, so he did the deeds of the people of Paradise, and he became one of the people of Paradise.
The author cited this hadith so that we may fear, that we may fear and hope. We should fear for ourselves from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). For this reason, a person should always ask Allah for steadfastness: O Allah, keep me steadfast with the steadfast word. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say:. This is the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Also, we take from this hadith that we should not despair. We should not despair of a person we find in disbelief or in open sinfulness. Perhaps Allah will guide him in the last moment, and he will die upon Islam. We ask Allah to keep us steadfast with the steadfast word in this worldly life and in the Hereafter, and you as well, and to cause us to die upon faith by His grace and generosity.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the chapter on fear and warning against security from the stratagem of Allah:
He said, as he quoted from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The constituents of one of you are collected for forty days in his mother’s womb in the form of a drop, then they become a piece of congealed blood for a similar period, then they become a lump of flesh for a similar period. Then God sends to him an angel with four words who records his deeds, the period of his life, his provision, and whether he will be miserable or blessed: thereafter He breathes the spirit into him. By Him other than whom there is no god, one of you will do the deeds of those who go to paradise so that there will be only a cubit between him and it, then what is decreed will overcome him so that he will do the deeds of those who go to hell and will enter it; and one of you will do the deeds of those who go to hell so that there will be only a cubit between him and it, then what is decreed will overcome him so that he will do the deeds of those who go to paradise and will enter it.
يُجمع خلق أحدكم في بطن أمه أربعين يوماً نطفة، ثم يكون علقة مثل ذلك، ثم يكون مضغة مثل ذلك، ثم يُرسل إليه الملك، فينفخ فيه الروح، ويُؤمر بأربع كلمات: بكتب رزقه، وأجله، وعمله، وشقي أم سعيد، فوالذي لا إله غيره : إن أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل الجنة حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع، فيسبق عليه الكتاب، فيعمل بعمل أهل النار فيدخلُها، وإن أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل النار، حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع ، فيسبق عليه الكتاب، فيعمل بعمل أهل الجنة فيدخلُهاHis statement (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) told us, and he is the truthful and the veracious”: This means truthful in what he says, and veracious in what is revealed to him of revelation, in what is communicated to him of revelation. So he is truthful, not reporting except the truth, and veracious, not being informed except of the truth. May the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him.
And he only introduced this preamble because he will report about a hidden, unseen matter in three darknesses:
a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days
إن أحدكم يجمع خلقه في بطن أمه أربعين يوماً نطفةSo when forty days are completed for it, it has attained full redness and become a clot of blood. Then it passes through another forty days as a clot, meaning a piece of blood, but it is solidified. However, it thickens and grows heavier little by little, until eighty days are completed for it.
So when eighty days are completed for it, it becomes a lump of flesh, a piece of meat. Regarding this lump, Allah the Exalted said:
formed and unformed
مُخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍSo when forty days have passed for it as a lump of flesh, Allah sends to it an angel, the angel in charge of wombs, because Allah the Mighty and Majestic said:
And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him
وَمَا يَعْلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ إِلَّا هُوَThe angel of the wombs comes to every womb and breathes the soul into it by the permission of Allah the Exalted. This soul is a matter that no one knows except the Lord of the Worlds. Allah the Exalted said:
And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind have not been given of knowledge except a little."
وَيَسْأَلونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلاًWhen one hundred and twenty days are completed, meaning four months, at that time he becomes a human being. If he falls after that, he is washed, shrouded, and prayed over. If he is the size of a hand, he is prayed over and buried in the graves of Muslims if he is a Muslim.
And if he is from the children of the Christians, meaning his mother and father are Christian, all of them Christian, he is not buried in the graves of Muslims. He is taken out and buried without washing or shrouding, because even though he is a child, the Messenger was asked about the children of the polytheists, and he said:
They are of them
هم منهمThe important point is that when four months are completed, he is washed, shrouded, prayed over, and buried in the graves of Muslims, and he is given a name. He is given a name because he will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection, and the 'aqiqah sacrifice is performed for him, most likely, so that it may intercede for his parents on the Day of Resurrection.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
the angel is allowed (ordered) to write four things; his livelihood, his (date of) death, his deeds, and whether he will be a wretched one or a blessed one
ويؤمر الملك بأربع كلمات: يكتب رزقه، وأجله، وعمله، وشقي أم سعيدThe writing of provision: This means whether it is little or much? When will it come to him? Will it be diminished or not? The important thing is that it is written completely.
His term is also written: On which day? In which place? At which hour? At which moment? Far or near? It is written completely, by which of the causes of his death?
His deeds are written: Good, bad, beneficial, limited to the person himself? The important thing is that all his deeds are written.
And his end is written: And what do you know of the end? Wretched or happy?
(106) As for those who were [destined to be] wretched, they will be in the Fire. For them therein is [violent] exhaling and inhaling. (107) [They will be] abiding therein as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except what your Lord should will. Indeed, your Lord is an effecter of what He intends. (108) And as for those who were [destined to be] prosperous, they will be in Paradise, abiding therein as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except what your Lord should will - a bestowal uninterrupted.
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ شَقُوا فَفِي النَّارِ لَهُمْ فِيهَا زَفِيرٌ وَشَهِيقٌ * خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا مَا دَامَتِ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضُ إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ رَبُّكَ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ فَعَّالٌ لِمَا يُرِيدُ * وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ سُعِدُوا فَفِي الْجَنَّةِ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا مَا دَامَتِ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضُ إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ رَبُّكَ عَطَاءً غَيْرَ مَجْذُوذٍAll of this is written. And where is it written? Reports have come that it is written on his forehead, on his brow. All of this is written.
So if someone asks: How does the forehead accommodate the writing of all these things?
We say: Do not ask about the matters of the unseen. Who are you to ask about the matters of the unseen? Say: I believe in Allah and I have believed in Allah and His Messenger. Do not ask: How?
And what has occurred in our time bears witness to something like this. A computer the size of a hand, by which a person writes thousands of words, and it is the work of humans. So what about the work of Allah the Exalted?
And the important thing is that the matters about which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informs you, and you do not perceive them with your senses, it is obligatory for you to believe and submit. Because if you did not believe or submit except to what you perceive with your senses, you would not be a believer. You would not be a believer in the unseen. The one who believes in the unseen is everything that comes from Allah and His Messenger. He says: I believe in Allah and His Messenger and I have believed.
He said:
By Him, besides Whom there is no god, that one amongst you acts like the people deserving Paradise until between him and Paradise there remains but the distance of a cubit, when suddenly the writing of destiny overcomes him and he begins to act like the denizens of Hell
فوالذي لا إله غيره إن أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل الجنة حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع، فيسبق عليه الكتاب فيعمل بعمل أهل النارa person performs deeds like the deeds of the people of Paradise apparently before people and he would be amongst the dwellers of Hell
بأنه لا يعمل بعمل أهل الجنة فيما يبدو للناس وهو من أهل النارAnd the evidence for this qualification is what is established in Sahih al-Bukhari:
That a man was with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a battle, and he was brave and bold, not leaving for the enemy any small or large matter without dealing with it. The people were amazed at him, at his bravery, at his boldness. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said one day: He is from the people of the Fire.
أن رجلاً كان مع النبي صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم في غزوة، وكان شجاعاً مقداماً، لا يترك للعدو شاذة ولا فاذة إلا قضى عليها، فتعجب الناس منه، من شجاعته، من إقدامه، فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم ذات يوم قال: إنه من أهل النارSo a man said: By Allah, I will stick to him. I will walk with him and see what the end of this man is? So he walked with him. During the battle, an arrow hit him. This brave man was hit by an arrow, so he panicked. He took his sword and drew it, placed it on his chest, and leaned on it until it came out of his back. I seek refuge in Allah. He killed himself out of panic. So the man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said:
O Messenger of Allah, I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah. He said: With what? He said: The man you said was from the people of the Fire.
يا رسول الله أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأنك رسول الله، قال: وبم؟ قال: الرجل الذي قلت إنه من أهل النارSo the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
A man may do what may seem to the people as the deeds of the dwellers of Paradise
إن الرجل ليعمل بعمل أهل الجنة فيما يبدو للناسapparently before people and he would be amongst the dwellers of Hell
فيما يبدو للناس وهو من أهل النارHe said in the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud:
and another one acts in the way of the denizens of Hell, until there remains between him and Hell a distance of a cubit that the writing of destiny overcomes him and then he begins to act like the people of Paradise and enters Paradise.
وإن أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل النار حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع، فيسبق عليه الكتاب، فيعمل بعمل أهل الجنة فيدخلهاDid we find a witness in reality for the first one? Yes, the story of this man.
And this one also has a witness in reality. He does the deeds of the people of the Fire until there is nothing between him and it but a cubit, when the decree overtakes him, and he does the deeds of the people of Paradise and enters it.
This occurred in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): A man called al-Usayram from Banu 'Abd al-Ashhal, a disbeliever, a rejecter of the divine call, against the Muslims. So when it was the Battle of Uhud, and the people went out from the city to fight, Allah put Islam in his heart, so he embraced Islam and went out to strive in the cause of Allah. He went out to strive in the cause of Allah.
When what happened to the Muslims happened, and those who were killed were killed, the people went to look at the dead, at their slain, and they found al-Usayrim. His people said to him: What brought you here? We had known you to be opposed to this call. What brought you? Did you become biased toward your people, meaning tribalism, or was it a desire for Islam? He said: No, it was a desire for Islam. Convey my greetings to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and inform him that I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Then he died. They informed the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) of this, and I think he said:
he is one of the people of Paradise
إنه من أهل الجنةThe author cited this hadith so that we may fear, that we may fear and hope. We should fear for ourselves from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). For this reason, a person should always ask Allah for steadfastness: O Allah, keep me steadfast with the steadfast word. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say:
O Allah, Turner of hearts, keep my heart firm upon Your religion. O Allah, Turner of hearts, turn my heart toward Your obedience.
اللهم مقلب القلوب، ثبت قلبي على دينك، اللهم مصرف القلوب، صرف قلبي إلى طاعتكAlso, we take from this hadith that we should not despair. We should not despair of a person we find in disbelief or in open sinfulness. Perhaps Allah will guide him in the last moment, and he will die upon Islam. We ask Allah to keep us steadfast with the steadfast word in this worldly life and in the Hereafter, and you as well, and to cause us to die upon faith by His grace and generosity.