Crying for fear of Allah

All praise be to Allah and peace be upon His Messenger. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone who has no partner and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.

Crying for fear of Allah is proof on a person's belief and fear of Allah. Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "Say (O Muhammad SAW to them): Believe in it (the Quran) or do not believe (in it). Verily! Those who were given knowledge before it (the Jews and the Christians like 'Abdullah bin Salam and Salman Al-Farisi), when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in humble prostration. * And they say: Glory be to our Lord! Truly, the Promise of our Lord must be fulfilled. * And they fall down on their faces weeping and it adds to their humility." [Surat Al Isra': 107 - 109].

Allah (Exalted be He) says: "Those were they unto whom Allah bestowed His Grace from among the Prophets, of the offspring of Adam, and of those whom We carried (in the ship) with Nuh (Noah), and of the offspring of Ibrahim (Abraham) and Israel and from among those whom We guided and chose. When the Verses of the Most Beneficent (Allah) were recited unto them, they fell down prostrating and weeping." [Surat Maryam: 58].

Indeed, Allah praised the believers of kind and soft hearts who cannot stop their tears when they hear the Ayahs of the Most Compassionate or when they fear to miss a righteous action they love. Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "And when they (who call themselves Christians) listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger (Muhammad SAW), you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognized. They say: Our Lord! We believe." [Surat Al Ma'idah: 83].

Allah (Exalted be He) says: "Nor (is there blame) on those who came to you to be provided with mounts, and when you said: I can find no mounts for you, they turned back, while their eyes overflowing with tears of grief that they could not find anything to spend (for Jihad)." [Surat At-Tawbah: 92].

Crying for fear of Allah is a reason for sitting in the shade of the Most Compassionate. Al Bukhari and Muslim reported in their Sahih from the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Allah will give shade to seven on the Day when there will be no shade but His. Then he mentioned of them: And a person who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with tears."[1]

Crying for fear of Allah is one of the most beloved actions to Allah. At-Tirmidhy reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Nothing is dearer to Allah than two drops and two marks: A drop of tears from fear of Allah, and a drop of blood shed in Allah's path. and a drop of blood shed in Allah's way. As for the two marks, one is what a man may get in jihad (through a wound, etc) and the other on discharging one of the obligatory duties."[2]

Crying for fear of Allah is a cause for salvation. At-Tirmidhy reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of `Uqbah ibn `Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): How can salvation be achieved? He replied: Control your tongue, keep to your house, and weep over your sins."[3]

Crying for fear of Allah is one of the causes of keeping away from Hell-Fire. At-Tirmidhy reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "One who weeps out of fear of Allah, will not enter the Hell till milk returns back in the udder; and the dust which a person suffered in the cause of Allah shall not gather with the smoke of Hell-Fire."[4]

As for his saying: "till milk returns back in the udder," it indicates the impossibility of doing that.

The following are the causes of crying for fear of Allah:

1- Remembering death: At-Tirmidhy reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Frequently remember the destroyer of pleasures: meaning death."[5]

When a believer remembers death, his heart becomes soft, his eyes shed tears, and becomes ascetic in the world.

2- Reciting the Qur'an prudently and listening to it submissively: Abu Dawud reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of `Abdullah ibn Ash-Shikhkhir (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) offering Salah and a sound came from his breast like the rumbling of a mill owing to weeping."[6]

It was reported in Sahih Al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim from the Hadith of `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Recite the Qur'an to me. `Abdullah said: O Messenger of Allah, Shall I recite (the Qur'an) to you while it has been revealed to you? He said: I like to hear it from others. So, I recited Surat An-Nisa (The Women) till I reached the Ayah: "How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad SAW) as a witness against these people?" [Surat An-Nisa': 41], I raise my head or a person touched me in my side, and so I lifted my head and I saw his tears falling (from the Prophet's eyes)."[7]

3- Visiting graveyards and remembering the Hereafter: Al Hakim reported in Al Mustadrak from the Hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "(In the past) I forbade you from visiting graves, but visit them now for it softens the heart, makes the eyes shed tears, and reminds you of the Hereafter; and do not use bad language."[8]

Ibn Majah reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of Al Bara' (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "We were with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in a funeral and he sat at the edge of the grave weeping, until the ground became wet. Then he said: O my brothers, prepare yourselves for something like this."[9]

If the Prophet (peace be upon him) cried until the ground became wet due to his tears while he was the master of the first and the last whose previous and future sins were forgiven, how about us who are guilty and negligent?! We ask Allah to treat us with His Pardon and Kindness.

At-Tirmidhy reported in his Sunan from the Hadith of Hani', the freed slave of `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: When `Uthman stood by a grave, he wept so much that his beard would get wet. So, it was said to him: Paradise and the Fire are also mentioned but you do not weep, yet you weep here (why)? He said: Surely, I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saying: The grave is the first stop of the several stops before the Hereafter, and deliverance from it means that after it is an easy sailing, but if one does not get deliverance from it then the following stages are more severe than it. He said: And I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saying: I have not seen a sight more frightening than the sight of the grave."[10]

4- Pretending weeping: It is a second stage of crying which is exhorting oneself to crying. Ibn Al Qayyim (may Allah be merciful with him) said after mentioning the types of crying: Of which is the pretending weeping which is of two types: Praised and dispraised. The praised is recalled to soften the heart and for the fear of Allah not for hypocrisy or show off, whereas the dispraised is recalled to show off. `Umar ibn Al Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said to the Prophet (peace be upon him) after he had seen him and Abu Bakr crying in regard to the captives of Badr Battle: "Tell me what makes you and Abu Bakr cry? If I find the reason for your crying convincing, I will cry like you and if not, I shall try to pretend crying. The Prophet (peace be upon him) did not rebuke him for that. [11]"[12].

Perhaps one of the greatest causes of xerophthalmia and lack of crying for fear of Allah is hardheartedness. A person is not inflicted by a punishment severer than hardheartedness, but rather Hell was not created except to melt cruel hearts. Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "Is he whose breast Allah has opened to Islam, so that he is in light from His Lord (as he who is non-Muslim)? So, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of Allah! They are in plain error!" [Surat Az-Zumar: 22].

Therefore, a person has to remove this cruelty through the remembrance of Allah, visiting graves, and remembering death and the Hereafter with its horrors.[13]

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds [i.e., people] and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his Companions.

                          

---

[1] No. 1423 and Sahih Muslim No. 1031 and Al Hafizh said in Fathul-Bary (2/144) and at Sa`id ibn Mansur with good chain of transmission on the authority of Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) "Seven types of people Allah shall shade under His Throne."

[2] No. 1669 and At-Tirmidhy said: This Hadith is Hassan Gharib (a good Hadith that is strange to come from this chain of narration), and Al Albany graded it as good in Sahih Sunan At-Tirmidhy (2/133) No. 1363.

[3]No. 2406 and At-Tirmidhy said: This is a good Hadith.

[4] No. 1633and At-Tirmidhy said: This is a good and authentic Hadith.

[5] No. 2307 At-Tirmidhy said: This is a good and authentic Hadith but Gharib (A Hadith reported by just one narrator at even one stage of the chain of transmission).

[6] No. 904, and Al Albany graded it as authentic in Sahih Sunan Abu Dawud (1/170) No. 799.

[7] No. 4582 and Sahih Muslim No. 800 with his own wordings.

[8] (1/711) No. 1433 and the verifier of Al Mustadrak said: A good and authentic Hadith, and Al Albany graded it as authentic in Sahih Al Jami` No. 4584.

[9] No. 4195 and Al Albany graded it as good in Sahih Sunan Ibn Majah No. 3383.

[10] No. 2308 and Al Albany graded it as good in Sahih Sunan At-Tirmidhy (2/267) No. 1878.

[11] Sahih Muslim No. 1763.

[12] Zad Al Ma`ad (1/178).

[13] See the booklet of our brother Sheikh `Abdul-Hady Wahby entitled "Crying for fear of Allah" for he had done well and benefited many people.