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:
- We are the only species to require clothing. Although we are the most intelligent, we are the most dependent of the creation
- With all the technological advancements, without clothing we will fall ill and die
- An additional blessing from Allah is that we can wear clothing with a primary function of beautification
- We should never wear لباس الشهرة (garments to show off) as this is something the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) forbade us from doing
- Being able to wear clothes and adornments is a sign of Allah’s blessings over us, and so we must not make this blessing into a punishment by rejecting it or showing off with it as that is haram
- There is no harm in wearing the best of clothing as you are actually showing Allah’s blessings over you, which is good, but the harm comes when they are worn for the purpose of standing out amongst the people and showing off as if you are better than them
- When Allah spoke about His blessings over us in terms of providing us with clothing [Surah Al-A’raaf, 7:26], He finished by saying that the best adornment is the adornment of piety, i.e. the inward adornment, so we should be more concerned with our inward state over our outward state
- We are all sinners so we must all seek forgiveness from Allah
- استغفار (forgiveness) is derived from the word غفر which means to cover up/hide
- When asking for forgiveness, we ask Allah to:
- Conceal and cover up the sin in this life and the hereafter
- Remove the effects of the sin
- Protect us from the effects of the sin
- The conditions of repentance are:
- Regret
- Stopping the sin
- Intending to never do it again
- The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) used to seek forgiveness from Allah at least 70 times a day. He was sinless as his sins were forgiven but he did so to teach us how to seek forgiveness
- We don’t just seek forgiveness for the sins we committed, but also for our shortcoming as we haven’t worshipped Allah as He deserves
- It is the first thing we say after finishing salah as we had shortcomings in our salah
- It is the first thing we say when leaving the toilet as we cannot thank Allah enough for the blessing of relieving ourselves so we seek His forgiveness for that shortcoming
- To benefit someone, it implies that the benefitted is deficient, thus we cannot benefit Allah as He is الغني (The most rich)
- When the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) asked the sahaba about who is rich, they said he is the one who has money, so he said, “Richness does not lie in the abundance of worldly goods, but richness is the richness of the soul” (Reported in Muslim)
- Richness means to not need anything. Wealthy people are always looking for money so cannot be rich, and Allah is the most rich as He is not in need of anything
- A believer can be very poor in terms of wealth, but at the same time be very rich as he doesn’t feel that he needs anything. Junayd said, “If the kings knew what we had in our hearts, they would fight us for it”
Benefits and Action points:
- Acknowledge Allah’s blessing over you by providing you with clothing and do not make it into a punishment by rejecting this blessing or wearing it in a haram manner e.g. imitating the kuffar, imitating the opposite gender, showing off, etc
- Be more concerned with adorning your inward state
- Acknowledge that you are a sinner so constantly seek forgiveness from Allah by saying استغفر الله and keeping your tongue moist with these words
- Have the reasons mentioned above in your mind when seeking forgiveness from Allah as that is more effective
- Realise that whatever good or bad you do has no effect on Allah and will only affect yourself. Your constant worship will not benefit Him in the slightest so don’t feel you have done a favour for Him when doing a righteous deed
Hadith Commentary 