Explanation of Riyad al-Salihin-56b

The reciter: “Narrated by Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father), who said: ‘Barely did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) rise from a gathering without supplicating with these supplications

Allahumma-qsim lana min khashyatika ma tahulu bihi bainana wa baina ma'sika, wa min ta'atika ma tuballighuna bihi jannataka, wa minal-yaqini ma tuhawwinu 'alaina masa-'ibad-dunya. Allahumma matti'na biasma'ina, wa absarina, wa quwwatina ma ahyaitana, waj'alhul-waritha minna, waj'al tharana 'ala man zalamana, wansurna 'ala man 'adana, wa la taj'al musibatana fi dinina, wa la taj'alid-dunya akbara hammina, wa la mablagha 'ilmina, wa la tusallit 'alaina man-la yarhamuna, (O Allah, apportion to us such fear as should serve as a barrier between us and acts of disobedience; and such obedience as will take us to Your Jannah; and such as will make easy for us to bear in the calamities of this world. O Allah! let us enjoy our hearing, our sight and our power as long as You keep us alive and make our heirs from our own offspring, and make our revenge restricted to those who oppress us, and support us against those who are hostile to us let no misfortune afflict our Deen; let not worldly affairs be our principal concern, or the ultimate limit of our knowledge, and let not those rule over us who do not show mercy to us).

اللهم اقسم لنا من خشيتك ما تحول به بيننا وبين معصيتك، ومن طاعتك ما تبلغنا به جنتك، ومن اليقين ما تهون به علينا مصائب الدنيا، اللهم متعنا بأسماعنا وأبصارنا وقوتنا ما أحييتنا واجعله الوارث منا، واجعل ثأرنا على من ظلمنا، وانصرنا على من عادانا، ولا تجعل مصيبتنا في ديننا، ولا تجعل الدنيا أكبر همنا، ولا مبلغ علمنا، ولا تسلط علينا من لا يرحمنا

Riyad as-Salihin 833

Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and said: It is a good hadith’”.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book Riyad al-Salihin, in the chapter on the etiquettes of gatherings and companions, that he transmitted what he transmitted from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) rarely sat in a gathering without saying: “Apportion” means: “Determine.” And “fear” is the fear accompanied by knowledge, due to the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): And His saying: Because whenever a person fears Allah (Mighty and Majestic), his fear of Allah prevents him from violating the prohibitions of Allah. For this reason, he said: Meaning: And apportion for us from Your obedience that which brings us to Your Paradise. Indeed, the path to Paradise is the obedience of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So if a servant is guided to fear Allah, avoid His prohibitions, and perform His obedience, he is saved from the Fire by his fear and enters Paradise by his obedience. “From certainty”: Certainty is the highest degree of faith, because it is a faith with no doubt or hesitation. You are certain of what is absent from you as you see what is present before you. So if a person has complete certainty in what Allah (the Exalted) informed him of regarding the unseen matters, whether concerning Allah (Mighty and Majestic), or His names, or His attributes, or the Last Day, or otherwise, and what Allah informed of regarding the unseen becomes for him like what is seen, then this is the perfection of certainty. And His saying: Because this world has many calamities, but these calamities, if a person has certainty that they expiate his sins and raise his ranks if he is patient and seeks reward from Allah, the calamities become light for him and easy for him, no matter how great the calamities are, whether in his body, his family, or his wealth. As long as he has complete certainty, the calamities become light for him. You ask Allah (the Exalted) to let you enjoy these senses—hearing, sight, and strength—as long as you are alive, because if a person enjoys these senses, he attains much good, and if he lacks these senses, much good is lost to him, but he is not blamed for it if he is unable to do anything about it. “And make the inheritance from us” means: Make the enjoyment of these things—hearing, sight, and strength—the inheritance from us, meaning make it extend to the end of our lives so that it remains after us and is like an inheritance for us. This is an allusion to the continuation of these faculties until death. There is no blame on a person to supplicate against his wrongdoer to the extent of his wrongdoing, and if he supplicates against his wrongdoer to the extent of his wrongdoing, this is justice, and Allah (Exalted and Majestic) responds to the supplication of the wronged. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said to Mu'adh when he sent him to Yemen and explained to him what he should call them to: Meaning: For charity from their wealth. Because Allah (the Exalted) is a just Judge who takes revenge from the wrongdoer when the wronged person brings the complaint to Him. So if the wronged person brings the complaint to Allah, Allah takes revenge from the wrongdoer. But one should not exceed in his supplication and supplicate for more than his injustice, because if he supplicates for more than his injustice, he becomes the wrongdoer. And the greatest enemy for us is the one who opposed us in the religion of Allah, from the Jews, the Christians, the polytheists, the Buddhists, and others, and the atheists and the hypocrites. These are our enemies. Allah (the Exalted) said: And He said regarding the hypocrites: So you ask Allah (the Exalted) to give you victory over those who opposed you, to give you victory over the Jews, the Christians, the polytheists, the Buddhists, and all categories of disbelievers. And Allah (Exalted and Majestic) is the One who gives victory. “Do not make our calamity in our religion.” Calamities, in reality, occur in a person's wealth: his wealth burns, is stolen, or is destroyed; this is a calamity. They also occur in a person's family: his family falls ill or dies. They occur in the mind: he or his family is afflicted with insanity, may Allah grant us safety. They occur in everything that a person is liable to be afflicted with. But the greatest calamity is the calamity of religion. The calamity of religion—may Allah keep us and you firm upon His religion, the religion of truth. If one is afflicted in his religion, may Allah protect us, this is the greatest calamity. The calamities in religion are like the calamities in the body: there are light calamities in the body, such as a cold or a slight headache and the like, and there are light calamities in religion, such as some sins. And there are deadly calamities in religion, such as disbelief, shirk (associating partners with Allah), doubt, and the like. These are deadly, like death for the body. So you ask Allah not to make your calamity in your religion. As for the calamities other than religion, they are easy. The one who is deprived of the reward—may Allah grant us safety. “Do not make this world the greatest of our concerns.” Rather, make the Hereafter the greatest of our concerns, and let us not forget our share of this world. A person must have this world, but let this world not be the greatest of his concerns or the limit of his knowledge. Rather, he asks Allah to make the limit of his knowledge the knowledge of the Hereafter. As for the knowledge of this world and what is related to it, no matter what it is, it will disappear. Meaning, if a person is a scholar in medicine, a scholar in astronomy, a scholar in geography, a scholar in any of the sciences of this world, these are sciences that disappear. The talk is about the knowledge of the Shari'ah, the knowledge of the Hereafter; this is what is important. But the one who has mercy on you, no harm comes to you from him. But the one from whom harm comes to you is that one who does not have mercy on you is allowed to have power over you. May Allah not allow one who does not have mercy on us to have power over us. So the Messenger (may the prayer and peace be upon him), when he sat in a gathering, would say this dhikr (remembrance of Allah), but it is not constant, as we mentioned in yesterday's lesson; rather, he would say it frequently. And Allah knows best.

The questioner : The Shaykh ...

The Shaykh : No, this was not narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).