On the authority of Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari, of the prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) is that among the sayings he relates from his Lord is that He said:
“O My servants, I have forbidden oppression for Myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another. O My servants, all of you are astray except for those I have guided, so seek guidance of Me and I shall guide you. O My servants, all of you are hungry except for those I have fed, so seek food of Me and I shall feed you. O My servants, all of you are naked except for those I have clothed, so seek clothing of Me and I shall clothe you. O My servants, you sin by night and by day, and I forgive all sins, so seek forgiveness of Me and I shall forgive you. O My servants, you will not attain harming Me so as to harm Me, and you will not attain benefiting Me so as to benefit Me. O my servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to become as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you, that would not decrease My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more than a needle decreases the sea if put into it. O My servants, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then recompense you for, so let him who finds good praise Allah, and let him who finds other than that blame no one but himself.”
Reported by Muslim
Brief Commentary:
- The phrases “all of you are astray except for those I have guided” and “all of you are hungry except for those I have fed” remind us of our need for Allah in this life and the next
- They are linked to each other as one is speaking about spiritual nourishment and the other about physical nourishment. We need both nourishments (for our soul and body) to survive
- This part of the hadith affirms that man cannot bring good to himself unless if Allah wills
- When Allah speaks about guidance in the Qur’an, He stresses that it lies in His hands
- The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) was fearful for the Iman of the sahabah, so how fearful for our Iman should we be?
- These phrases do not mean we must then sit down and do nothing and just say it is up to Allah to guide us and feed us. We must sincerely look for the truth. The reason why someone is guided is because they are sincerely trying to find the truth
- When searching for guidance, we must prevent ourselves from the things that act as a barrier, otherwise we are not really sincere in our search for the truth
- When Salman Al-Farsi was searching for the truth. The first thing he did was abandon fire worshipping, then he left the evil country/place he was in. He was sincere and thus guided
- Ibn Al-Qayyim said guidance is of four types
- هداية عامة: Knowing what you need for this life e.g. fire burns, how to eat, etc. (Everyone has this guidance)
- إرشاد: Showing people what is right from wrong (This guidance is merely being shown right from wrong, and does not necessarily mean the person has acted upon this guidance)
- توفيق: Guidance placed in the heart of a person (This is solely from Allah)
- هداية الآخرة: Knowing where your place is in Jannah, who your hoor al-‘ayn are (This is guidance given to the believers in the hereafter only)
- By looking at the four types of guidance, we can see that this hadith is talking about the third type, which is the guidance placed by Allah in the heart of someone so that they know the truth and act upon it
- Ibn Rajab said this guidance is of two types:
- General: Being guided to Islam and Iman
- Detailed: Being guided to having the knowledge of the detailed aspects of Islam, e.g. knowing true tawheed, knowing the fiqhi rulings, etc
- Once we understand this, we know that we must always ask for guidance as we will never be able to have full guidance in knowing all the detailed aspects of the religion
- By saying, “so seek guidance of me”, we know it is legislated for us to ask Allah for guidance
- Although we may go out and buy food from our money, we must realise that it is Allah who provided us with this food. This is because it is Allah who provided the means for us to get the food, and He who decreed the amount of sustenance we get
- Knowing this will make someone feel more dependent on Allah and increase his tawakkul on Him
Benefits and Action points:
- Stay away from the prohibited matters so that you may be guided
- Stay away from bad influences and bad surroundings so that you may be guided
- Constantly ask Allah for guidance, even if it be for matters related to the dunya as He has knowledge of those matters too
- Never feel that you have full guidance and remember that Allah makes us ask for guidance from Him in every rak’ah we pray when we read Surah Al-Fatiha so it is an important thing that we are always in need of
- Constantly remember Allah’s blessings over you and realise that the spiritual and physical nourishment that you received came from Him so thank Him for it
- Increase your tawakkul on Allah by contemplating onyour need for him
Hadith Commentary 