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:
- Our good deeds and bad sins have no effect on Allah’s kingdom
- A king who has a kingdom has many subjects in the kingdom who are dependent on him, and the king may feel that these subjects are dependent on him and he is independent, but in reality, if all of these people leave the kingdom or refuse to obey the king then he will cease to have a kingdom and cease to be king, so he is in fact dependent on them
- Allah is telling us that His kingdom is different to the kingdoms that we have in the dunya. We are all subjects in Allah’s kingdom but if we all stop worshipping Him, or if we all become obedient, then His kingdom remains as it is as He is not dependent on us
- If Allah gave each one of us their requests, then that does not decrease His kingdom because us and our requests are part of His kingdom so whatever He gives us will still ultimately belong to Him. Thus when Allah gives us what we ask for, He is merely moving His possessions around and not losing anything
- We cannot possess anything in its absolute form because when we die, we cannot take it with us, and if Allah wanted to take it at any time, then He can
- We should never be attached to anything in this dunya, because whatever we have here does not belong to us, so just like we should not get attached to things we borrow and know we have to give back, we should not be attached to things we can never absolutely possess
- Having this feeling will give us comfort and not make us feel at loss when we lose something we desire because we know we were going to give it back sooner or later
- If we put a needle in the sea and take it out, some water is still left on the needle, however, this does not mean that Allah’s kingdom has decreased, but because our minds are weak and can only imagine things that decrease, Allah used this example
- The end of the hadith ties everything together in that if we are dependent on Allah, and He is the one who provides for us, then we will be held accountable for what we do
- Recompensation is of two types:
- Get rewards in the dunya and punishment in the hereafter (disbelievers)
- Get rewards in the hereafter and punishment in the dunya (believers)
- This doesn’t mean that the believers do not get rewards in this dunya, as Allah can give us blessings and make things easy for us in the dunya too
- The ending establishes that anything good we get is from Allah, and anything bad is due to our own shortcomings
- Many people blame their surroundings for what is happening to them, and always have someone to blame except themselves
- We are rewarded for more than we deserve and punished for what we deserve
- It is more stressed to say “SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam” after hearing the prophet’s name than say “Subhanahu wa ta’ala” after hearing Allah’s name because the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) is in need for this, whilst Allah isn’t
Benefits and Action points:
- Contemplate on the Majesty of Allah and His kingdom
- Internalise the fact that everything in this dunya, including the things in your possession are all owned by Allah so that when you lose any of it, you are not at sorrow because you know that the rightful owner of it has moved it to wherever He pleased
- Detach yourself from everything in this dunya because none of it belongs to you and you wouldn’t consider yourself wise if you attached yourself to something you borrowed from a friend
- Whenever you are in a difficult situation, blame yourself for it so that you can find ways of improving yourself further, and so that you free Allah from any blame. Never look to someone to blame but yourself
- Praise Allah for He rewards you for more than you deserve and only punishes you for what you deserve, that is if He hasn’t forgiven you yet
Hadith Commentary 