The Meaning of the Hadith: “Allah Is More Joyful Over the Repentance of His Servant…”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The first message in this episode is from listener Rajab Jadin from the northern sector of .... Our brother Rajab has a number of questions, one of which is about the hadith in which Allah ﷺ rejoices in the repentance of His servant. The listener mentions some of the meanings of that hadith and asks that you please provide its text, if possible, and explain it. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for what follows: It is established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:, or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said.
This indicates His excellence and His benevolence (Exalted and Majestic is He), and that He, the Exalted, loves for His servants to repent to Him and to be steadfast in His obedience so that they may attain His Paradise and His bliss.
The joy of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is like the rest of the attributes, such as satisfaction, anger, mercy, and love, and so on. All of these are attributes befitting Allah, and it is obligatory to affirm them for Allah in the manner befitting Him ﷺ, and they are not of the same kind as the attributes of creation. The anger of Allah is not like the anger of creation, and His joy is not like their joy, and His satisfaction is not like their satisfaction, and so on with His mercy, His love, His dislike, His hearing, His sight, and so on. All of these are perfect attributes befitting Allah, in which He does not resemble His creation ﷺ; for Allah ﷺ said in His great Book: [Al-Shura: 11], and for His saying, Exalted is He: [An-Nahl: 74], and His saying ﷺ: [Al-Ikhlas 112:1] Allah is the Self-SufficientHe did not beget nor was He begottenAnd there is none comparable to Him [Al-Ikhlas: 1-4].
This is the statement of the people of the Sunnah and the community, all of them, who are the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and those who followed them with excellence. These are the people of the Sunnah, the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and their followers with excellence, who proceeded on their path and their way and held fast to what they were upon in knowledge and practice. They are the people of the Sunnah and the community, among whom and at their head are Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), and Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), and so on with the rest of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all), then the Tabi'un after them, such as Muhammad ibn Sirin, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, Ata ibn Yasar, and Ata ibn Abi Rabah, and others of the imams of the Tabi'un (may Allah have mercy on them), and so on with the followers of the Tabi'un, such as Malik ibn Anas, the well-known imam (may Allah have mercy on him), and Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him), and so on with those after them, such as al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, and Sufyan al-Thawri, and others of the imams of Islam. These, and those after them who proceeded on their path, are the people of the Sunnah and the community.
They all agreed that it is obligatory to pass through the verses of the attributes and their hadiths as they came, and to believe in their meaning, and that their meaning is true and befitting Allah, and that He, Exalted and Glorified is He, does not resemble His creation, neither in His essence nor in His names and attributes, Exalted and Glorified is He. And that is the requirement of His saying ﷺ: [Al-Shura: 11], [Al-Ikhlas: 4], and what has come in their meaning from the verses. And success is from Allah. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
The first message in this episode is from listener Rajab Jadin from the northern sector of .... Our brother Rajab has a number of questions, one of which is about the hadith in which Allah ﷺ rejoices in the repentance of His servant. The listener mentions some of the meanings of that hadith and asks that you please provide its text, if possible, and explain it. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for what follows: It is established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:
Allah is more joyful over the repentance of His servant than one of you is over his mount on which is his food and drink, when he loses it in a barren land. He lies down, having despaired of it. Then, while he is thus, he sees it standing over his head. When he sees it, he takes its bridle and says, out of the intensity of his joy: “O Allah, You are my servant and I am your Lord,” making a mistake out of the intensity of his joy.
لله أشد فرحًا بتوبة عبده من أحدكم براحلته التي عليها طعامه وشرابه فأضلها في أرض فلاة، فاضطجع قد أيس منها، فبينما هو كذلك إذا هو بها قائمة على رأسه فلما رآها أخذ بخطامها وقال من شدة الفرح: اللهم أنت عبدي وأنا ربك أخطأ من شدة الفرحThis indicates His excellence and His benevolence (Exalted and Majestic is He), and that He, the Exalted, loves for His servants to repent to Him and to be steadfast in His obedience so that they may attain His Paradise and His bliss.
The joy of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is like the rest of the attributes, such as satisfaction, anger, mercy, and love, and so on. All of these are attributes befitting Allah, and it is obligatory to affirm them for Allah in the manner befitting Him ﷺ, and they are not of the same kind as the attributes of creation. The anger of Allah is not like the anger of creation, and His joy is not like their joy, and His satisfaction is not like their satisfaction, and so on with His mercy, His love, His dislike, His hearing, His sight, and so on. All of these are perfect attributes befitting Allah, in which He does not resemble His creation ﷺ; for Allah ﷺ said in His great Book:
There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُSo do not assert similarities to Allah. Indeed, Allah knows and you do not know.
فَلا تَضْرِبُوا لِلَّهِ الأَمْثَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لا تَعْلَمُونَSay, "He is Allah, [who is] One,
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ This is the statement of the people of the Sunnah and the community, all of them, who are the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and those who followed them with excellence. These are the people of the Sunnah, the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and their followers with excellence, who proceeded on their path and their way and held fast to what they were upon in knowledge and practice. They are the people of the Sunnah and the community, among whom and at their head are Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), and Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), and so on with the rest of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all), then the Tabi'un after them, such as Muhammad ibn Sirin, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, Ata ibn Yasar, and Ata ibn Abi Rabah, and others of the imams of the Tabi'un (may Allah have mercy on them), and so on with the followers of the Tabi'un, such as Malik ibn Anas, the well-known imam (may Allah have mercy on him), and Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him), and so on with those after them, such as al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, and Sufyan al-Thawri, and others of the imams of Islam. These, and those after them who proceeded on their path, are the people of the Sunnah and the community.
They all agreed that it is obligatory to pass through the verses of the attributes and their hadiths as they came, and to believe in their meaning, and that their meaning is true and befitting Allah, and that He, Exalted and Glorified is He, does not resemble His creation, neither in His essence nor in His names and attributes, Exalted and Glorified is He. And that is the requirement of His saying ﷺ:
There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُNor is there to Him any equivalent."
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌThe presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.