The Creation (2/4)

‘Aisha (radhyAllahu ‘anha) reports in the two books of sahih that the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) used to say in bowing and in prostration: "Glorified are you O Allah, our Lord and with Your praise. O Allah, forgive me." ‘Aisha (radhyAllahu ‘anha) commented: "Putting the Qur'an into practice."

Also in the two books of sahih, it is reported that he used to say:

"O, Allah forgive me my mistakes and my ignorance, and my excesses in my affairs and all that which you know better than I. O, Allah forgive me (mistakes done in) jest and in earnest, (and those done) unintentionally and intentionally, and all of that which I may have. O, Allah forgive me that which has come before and that which is still coming, that which I hide and that which I make public - there is no deity but You!"

Also in the two books of sahih is that Abu Bakr said: "O, Messenger of Allah, teach me a du'a (supplication) with which I can ask Allah in my prayer."

The Prophet said: Say: "O, Allah, surely I have oppressed myself to a great degree and none can forgive sins except for You. Forgive me with a forgiveness from You and have mercy on me, verily, you are the Forgiving, the Merciful."

And, in the books of hadith known as As-Sunan, it is narrated that Abu Bakr said to the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam): "O, messenger of Allah, teach me a du'a (supplication) with which I can ask Allah in the morning and the evening."

The Prophet said: Say: "O, Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the visible, Lord of everything and its sovereign, I bear witness that there is no deity other than You. I seek refuge in You from the evil within myself, from the evil of the shaitaan and his associationism, and from anything which would bring evil to me or to any other Muslim." Say it when you get up in the morning, in the afternoon, and when you lie down to sleep.

Clearly, it is not allowed for anyone to imagine that he is not in need of repenting to Allah and seeking His forgiveness for his sins. Rather, everyone is in constant need of that. Allah said:

“We offered this trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to accept its burden and were afraid of it. Then man took it on, verily he is ever prone to criminality, ever prone to foolishness. * That Allah may punish the hypocrites, male and female and the associationists, male and female, and turn in acceptance to the believers, male and female, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” [Qur'an, Surah Al-Ahzab, 33:72-73]

So man is criminal and foolish in nature, and the goal of the believing men and women is repentance. Allah has informed us in His book of the repentance of His righteous slaves and His forgiveness of them.

In the two books of sahih, it is recorded that the Prophet said:

"No one will enter paradise by his actions." The companions asked him: "Even you, O, messenger of Allah?" He said: "Even me, unless Allah envelopes me in His mercy and His grace."

This does not represent a contradiction of the verse in the Qur'an which reads:

“Eat and drink because of your works which preceded in the days which have passed.” [Qur'an, Surah Al-Haqqah, 69:24]

The hadith rejected the equivalence between the good works of the people of paradise and their reward from Allah and rejected the idea of the reward of paradise being in exchange for these good works in this life. The verse from the Qur'an, on the other hand established the causal relationship between obeying Allah in this life and being rewarded with paradise in the next.

As for the statement of the one who says: "When Allah loves one of His slaves, his sins do him no harm." The meaning of this is that when Allah loves one of His slaves, He inspires him to repent and seek forgiveness and so, when he sins, he never determinedly continues in his sin. Whoever believes that sins could do no harm to someone who determinedly continues to commit them has gone astray, and is in contradiction to the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the first generations of Muslims and the Imams of the Muslims.

Rather, “Whosoever does an atoms weight of good will see it, and whosoever does an atoms weight of bad will see it.” [Qur'an, Surah Al-Zalzalah, 99:7-8]

The praiseworthy slaves of Allah are none other than the ones mentioned in the verse:

“And rush to forgiveness from you Lord and a garden whose width is like the heavens and the earth which has been prepared for the pious. * Those who spend in good times and in bad, who refrain themselves when enraged, and who are forbearing with people. Allah loves the doers of good. * Those who, when they commit some outrage or oppress themselves (by disobedience to Allah), remember Allah and seek His forgiveness for their sins. And who can forgive sins except for Allah? And they do not persist in the wrong which they did after they know. * Their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever, and that is the reward of those who strive.” [Qur'an, Surah Al-‘Imran, 3:133-136]

Whoever believes that the decree of Allah is an excuse for sinners is of the same type as the associationists whose statement Allah reported in the Qur'an:

“Those who associate will say: If Allah had so willed, we would never have associated (partners with Allah), nor would have our forefathers, and we would never have forbidden anything.” [Qur'an, Surah Al-An'am, 6:148]

Allah said, in answer to them:

“In this way those who came before them denied (the truth) until they tasted our wrath. Say: Do you have any knowledge which you can produce for us? You follow only imagination, and you do nothing but guess. * Say: Allah's is the conclusive argument: If He had wished, He would have guided all of you.” [Qur'an, Surah Al-An’am, 6:148-149]

If Allah's decree was any excuse, He would not punish anyone among the rejecters of the prophets such as the people of Nuh, 'Aad, Thamud, Al-Mu'tafikaat, and the people of Pharaoh. Nor would He have ordered the punishments (Al-Huduud) to be inflicted on those who transgress the boundaries of His law. No one cites the decree of Allah as his argument or excuse except one who is following his hawa (whims) without guidance from Allah. He who sees Allah's decree as an excuse for the sinners does not ascribe to them blame nor punishment, thus, it is upon him to blame no one, nor to seek anyone's punishment no matter what they may do to him (since it is all by Allah's decree!). In fact, that which causes pleasure and that which causes pain are the same to him, thus, he should not differentiate between those who do good to him and those who do evil to him. This is clearly unacceptable by common sense, reason, and the rule of shari'a! Allah said:

“Or should we treat those who believe and do good works the same as the spreaders of corruption in the earth, or should we make those of pious practice as the transgressors?” [Qur'an, Surah Saad, 38:28]

“Should we then treat those who submit (i.e. Muslims) in the same way as the criminals? What is wrong with you, how do you judge?” [Qur’an, Surah Al-Qalam, 68:35-36]

“Did those who practice evil think that we would make them the same as those who believe and do good works, the same in life and in death? How poorly you judge!” [Qur'an, Surah Al-Jathiyah, 45:21]

“Do you then think that we created you in jest, and that you would not be

returned to us?” [Qur'an, Surah Al-Mu'minun, 23:115]

“Does man believe that he is to be left without purpose?” i.e. neglected, not ordered with anything, not forbidden anything.

(Continued)