On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (RadhiyAllahu ‘anhu) that the Prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said:
“Whosoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, Allah will remove from him one of the grievances of the Day of Judgment. Whosoever alleviates the needs a needy person, Allah will alleviate his needs in this world and the next. Whosoever conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in this world and the next. Allah will aid a servant [of His] so long as the servant aids his brother. Whosoever follows a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise. No people gather together in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it among themselves, except tranquillity descends upon them, mercy envelopes them, the angels surround them, and Allah makes mention of them amongst those who are with Him. Whosoever is slowed down by his actions will not be hastened forward by his lineage.”
[Reported by Muslim in these words]
Brief Commentary
- Loving for your brother what you love for yourself brings about the help from Allah
- The hadith went on to speak about seeking knowledge. The connection here may be due to that one of the key ways of helping someone is via knowledge
- “Whoever follows a path to seek knowledge” can be understood from both a literal and figurative translation
- Making the path of Jannah easy can be by:
- Making your path to knowledge easy, so you will be guided to Jannah
- Making it easy for you to benefit from the knowledge to enter Jannah
- Making your passing over the Sirat (Bridge over Hellfire) easy
- If we don’t act upon our knowledge, we will only decrease in knowledge, no matter how much we study
- Some of the scholars used to say, “Knowledge called upon actions. If it (actions) answered then it (knowledge) would remain, and if it didn’t then it would leave”
- Some of the scholars used to say, “Whoever acts upon what he knows, Allah will teach him more things he didn’t know”
- We need to struggle to seek knowledge as you will gain what you want by how much you struggled for it
- The best way of seeking knowledge is to study the book of Allah together
- Studying the Qur’an amongst ourselves can be
- One big circle, and in order, everyone recites a part of the Qur’an
- One big circle with everyone reciting together
- Studying the Qur’an together is not just reading, but includes studying tajweed and tafsir
- The tranquillity that descends down is true tranquillity and not a figurative thing
- By mercy enveloping them, it protects them, guides them and softens their hearts
- Our lineage will not help us. It is only our actions that will help us in hereafter
- A beautiful way to end the hadith is to imply that all of the things mentioned are part of the actions that will help us in reaching Jannah
Benefits and Action points:
- Ensure you act upon whatever little knowledge you have
- When seeking knowledge, don’t expect things to come easy, rather struggle to gain the knowledge that you require
- Study the Qur’an in the Masjid for it is a highly virtuous act
- Intentions when seeking knowledge:
- To please Allah, not to fulfil our intellectual cravings
- To remove ignorance from oneself and others
- To defend the shari’ah
- To reform our character and act upon our knowledge
- For more intentions when seeking knowledge, please visit this page
Hadith Commentary 