Forty Hadith of Nawawi

Selections from the 40 Hadith of al-Nawawi

Class taught by Shaikh Jamaal Zarabozo (www.jamaalzarabozo.com)

This quarter will begin with, Allah willing, an in-depth discussion of Hadith #38: Allah has said, “Whoever has mutual animosity with a friend (wali) of Mine…”

Required Text: Commentary on the 40 Hadith of al-Nawawi by J. Zarabozo

Time: Tuesdays 6:30 - 7:30 PM PDT (on March 13, it will be 6:20 - 7:15)

Winter 2012: January 10 - March 13 2012

2012-01-10 Class Notes

We are studying hadith from the 40 hadith of Nawawi. We are commenting on the commentary of the 40 hadith of Nawawi.

Hadith #38: “Whoever Shows Enmity to ...” http://sunnah.com/urn/61170

حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُثْمَانَ، حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ بِلاَلٍ، حَدَّثَنِي شَرِيكُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي نَمِرٍ، عَنْ عَطَاءٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَالَ مَنْ عَادَى لِي وَلِيًّا فَقَدْ آذَنْتُهُ بِالْحَرْبِ، وَمَا تَقَرَّبَ إِلَىَّ عَبْدِي بِشَىْءٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَىَّ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ، وَمَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَىَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ، فَإِذَا أَحْبَبْتُهُ كُنْتُ سَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ، وَبَصَرَهُ الَّذِي يُبْصِرُ بِهِ، وَيَدَهُ الَّتِي يَبْطُشُ بِهَا وَرِجْلَهُ الَّتِي يَمْشِي بِهَا، وَإِنْ سَأَلَنِي لأُعْطِيَنَّهُ، وَلَئِنِ اسْتَعَاذَنِي لأُعِيذَنَّهُ، وَمَا تَرَدَّدْتُ عَنْ شَىْءٍ أَنَا فَاعِلُهُ تَرَدُّدِي عَنْ نَفْسِ الْمُؤْمِنِ، يَكْرَهُ الْمَوْتَ وَأَنَا أَكْرَهُ مَسَاءَتَهُ ‏"

On the authority of Abu Huraira who said: The Messenger of Allah (upon whom be Allah’s blessings and peace) said, “Allah the Almighty has said, ‘Whoever has mutual animosity with a friend (wali) of Mine, I declare war upon him. My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than the religious duties that I have imposed upon him; and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works such that I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his leg with which he walks. Were he to ask of Me, I would surely give him; and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it.’ “

Recorded by Al Bukhari

Last part of Hadeeth is omitted in 40 Hadith and Riyadh us Saliheen

In the Forty Hadith collection and Riyad-u-saliheen, Imam Nawawi quotes this hadith. However, there a portion in the hadith which he doesn't quote in both of his books, the ending is found in Saheeh Al-Bukhari which states “Allah said I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer, for he hates death and I hate to harm him.” This part is omitted in both of the books by Imam Nawawi.

Shaikh Jamaal’s conjecture on why the last part was omitted

No one knows why this was omitted; Shaikh Jamaal guesses that the purpose behind both of the works is for mass distribution and not for ulemas. And there is principle that when you are writing to mass as said by Ali that if you speak to the mass you should speak to them in the language they understand and should not be a difficulty or fitnah for them. Thus the portion he did not include has the aspect of Aqeedah where even among Ulema there is some confusion about the last part where Allah swt says He hesitates, will Allah hesitate. This may cause fitnah for masses and may be the reason why it was omitted.

Importance of this Hadith

This Hadith is an amazing hadith and is of extreme importance. It speaks about Allah has Awliyah who are devoted towards Allah and they are beloved to Allah and Allah defends them and gives them special guidance. Secondly this hadith tells us what is the path of purification and path of getting closer to Allah and path to become Awliya of Allah. Thirdly, it touches the concept of love of Allah for His servants which are in different levels. Fourthly, the portion which Nawawi did not include mentions one of the acts of Allah. You have Khabar about Allah and there are actions of Allah and there are attributes of Allah and there are names of Allah. And this Hadith is speaking about one of the acts of Allah (swt).

This hadith has not received its proper due

One of the great scholars in our history who had great appreciation for this Hadith is Muhammad bin Ali Al-Shaukani said “The Commentator on this Hadith, may Allah have mercy on them, did not give this hadith the full treatment that it deserves. Ibn Hajar,...” (Page 1382) so he wrote a book explaining this hadith, covering some three hundred pages.

Abuse of this hadith by misinterpreting the words of the Prophet

In this hadith there is portion that demonstrates the importance of interpreting the Prophet words in the light of the entire teaching of the Quran and Sunnah. There is a portion which has been abused greatly which we will deal with it in this class.

First issue about this hadith whether it is authentic

This hadith is from Sahih Al Bukhari and Shaukani wrote a book on it, so from it we can surmise that the hadith must be authentic.

Chain of this hadith is problematic

From among the famous six books, Bukhari is the only one who recorded this Hadith. What is much more dramatic is that the chain of this hadith is very problematic. The way Bukahri recorded the chain is

http://sunnah.com/urn/61170 (for Arabic)

Khalid ibn Makhlad خَالِدُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ - Narrator of this hadith

This hadith is not narrated by any another isnaad or chain other than the chain which includes Khalid ibn Makhlad. There are a number of issues going on here. Khalid ibn Makhlad is a problematic person. Ad-Dhahabi who was a great historian and scholar of Hadith wrote a book named Mizaan al-i’tidaal (the balance of Justice). His intent to write this book was to include all of the narrators whose quality has been critiqued, whether the critiqued is valid or not. Sometime the critiques are not always correct. Sometime he refuted the critique.

In the case of Khalid bin Makhlad, this narator is found in his book. He quotes Imam Ahmed where he says, “he has questionable things which are rejected” (Lahu Manaakir). Abu Hatim says “La yuhtajju bihi” “Is not reliable as authority of Hadith.” Dhahibi quotes Al-Kamaal fee Dhuhafa Ar-Rijaal from Ibn Adi, where Ibn Adi brings 10 hadith that he considered strange from Khalid and this hadith is one of them and Ibn Adi says “This is a very strange hadith” (Dhaeef Jiddan). Ad-Dhahabi said if it were not out of respect to Imam Bukhari, I would have rejected this hadith from Khalid bin Makhlad. Ad-Dhahabi says “I don’t think this is in Musnad Ahmad.”

Analysis of the critique of Khalid ibn Makhlad

We all know the status of Bukhari’s work, Ad-Dhahabi said if it were not respect for the place of Al-Bukhari I would have rejected. Don’t understand from this that Al-Bukhari personal deeds and piety. Don’t use the rationalization that he would pray two rakat of prayer and he was so pious etc. But it is exactly opposite; there are many people who critiqued because of this. His teacher said not to do that because people may think that these are the only hadith which are authentic and rest is not. Which is true - people did think like this. Thus overtime there were many people who critiqued Saheeh Bukahri and were refuted.

What Sahih Bukhari is claiming is that the hadith in his collection is sahih, he is less concerned about the quality of the chain. Thus, you cannot say if a narrator is included in Sahih Bukhari he must be an acceptable narrator. This is not the case, as there may be different reasons why Bukhari might want to show a narrator with respect to a particular chain. Khalid is one of those narrators.

Ibn Hajar, in Fath-ul-Baari refutes many of critiques to Bukhari, Ibn Hajar quotes Ad-Dhahabi and says there is problem with Shareek as well, who is two narrators down the chain in this hadith. Shareek is one of the people who narrated about Mi’raaj which is different from other people who narrated.

Hadith does have other chains or source (lahu Asl) which means it is hasan li ghairihi

Ibn Hajar said finally that this hadith does have other chains when you put them together you will find that indicates that in fact (lahu Asl) it has some source. Many Ulema when they use this term lahu asl which means Hasan li-ghairihi. Ibn hajr, then begins to present others narration of this hadith. He presents at least eight narrations of this Hadith.

He says this is also narrated from the following eight narrators and the collection from which the narration can be found:

Ayesha (recorded in Musnad Ahmad),

Abu Umaamah (recorded in At-tabarani, Al-Baihaqi),

Ali bin Abi talib (recorded in Al-Ismaaliyyi in musnad Ali),

Anas (recorded in Musnad Abu Yala and Musnad of Al-Bazzar, At-tabarani),

Mu’aaz ibn Jabal (recorded in Abu Naeem in Al-Hilya),

Wahb bin Munabbih (he is student of Abu Huraira and he is a Tabiee) (can be found in Imam Ahmad Kitaab Al-Zuhd and Abu Naeem in Al-Hilya),

Hudhaifah (recorded in At-Tabarani).

However, when you study these chains it is not good. In uloom ul hadith it is not the case that if you have multiple narrations which means the quality is good. Say there are three chains and there are liars in all of these chains, it does not make this a good chain. Thus you have to analyse each hadith on its own merit. Here at least the hadith is coming from different sahaba, thus the problems lies in lower down the chain in all the hadiths.

Al-Albani’s analysis of the chain of this hadith

Al-Albani in Silsilaat al-Ahadeeth As-saheeha, he discusses this hadith in 10 pages about issues with Isnaad (page 183 - 193). He begins with saying this is one of those few hadith in Saheeh Al-Bukhari that has been critiqued and he quotes Ad-Dhahabi and then the response of Ibn Hajr, and Al-Albani ends up in two of its chains which are good on its own like Hadith of Ayesha and Hadith of Anas which has good chain on its own and there are couple of more which can be raised to the level of Hasan. And he concludes that this Hadith is saheeh and he says other ulemas before me also said this is Saheeh like Ibn Hibban.

The conclusion is that this hadith is saheeh.

2012-01-17 Class Notes

Imam Nawawi does not include the last part that is recorded in Sahih al Bukhari. In the class somebody asked is it okay to shorten a hadith.

Is it permissible to abridge hadith?

Yes it is permissible. A hadith that covers multiple topics, you can abridge it as long as you do not distort it. If the overall meaning is maintained, then it is okay to abridge.

For example, the hadith that discusses the seven that will be in shade of Allah swt on the day of judgement. When we are discussing it, we can discuss only one category from the seven. This is permissible.

In Sahih Bukhari, he repeats some of the hadith in an abridged format in multiple places. Other scholars such as Muslim, he never does that in Sahih Muslim, he is very specific about the narrators and the text and he never abridges the hadith. This is one aspect that is different between Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. And that is the reason why Sahih Muslim is easier for a non-specialist to study.

Biography of Abu Huraira

After discussing the takhreej of the hadith, we discuss the narrator of the hadith. We will discuss life of Abu Huraira who is the narrator of this hadith, since he is very important to the field of hadith in particular.

Abu Huraira is a very famous sahaba or companion of the Prophet saws. Abu Huraira was born 18 years before Hijra. There is lot of confusion about his name. Abu Huraira is his kunya, which is a common way of addressing people in the Arabic language. Since he was so well known by his kunya, there is a lot of confusion about his name. He was one of the most important narrators of hadith. No one called him by any other name. Similarly it was with Abu Huraira and this was not even his kunya that he preferred.

Huraira means a small female cat. He got this name, because he had this little cat with him who would follow him everywhere. And that is the reason for his kunya. Prophet (saws) called him Abu ...Hirrr... (by the male diminutive form of a cat instead of the female diminutive form of cat) ??? I could not hear the Arabic word for it, if you know it please correct the notes???

Abu Huraira is from Yemen. And there is a famous sahabi from Yemen whose name is Tufail ibn Amr Tausi. Tufail came to Mecca and embraced Islam. Prophet saws sent him back to make dawah. And one of the only ones to respond to this dawah at that time was Abu Huraira. Tufail came back and informed the prophet that no one is responding to his dawah and then the Prophet (saws) made dua for his tribe to be guided to the straight path.

In the year 7 Hijri just after the conquest of

Identifying narrators is one of the important sciences in the field of hadith. And here we have this key narrator and we are not sure of his original name. Shaikh was curious about this aspect, until he met a speaker in Boulder who was known as Abu Musa, everybody knew him by this name. And when he left the town of Boulder, somebody came and asked the shaikh about so and so. Shaikh had completely forgotten the real name of Abu Musa, since this nickname was so entrenched in his memory.

When he came back from Bahrain, Umar was very strict with Abu Huraira. But Abu Huraira proved to Umar that he was honest in his dealings. And Umar wanted him to send him back as a Governor. But Abu Huraira refused.

During the fitna, Abu Huraira and most of the sahaba kept to themselves. They did not take sides with either Ali or Ayesha.

Abu Huraira was known for his austerity and worship. He used to divide it into portions. 1/3 for sleep, 1/3 for prayers, and 1/3 for going over the hadith of the prophet saws.

He used to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. And he was known for his generosity. And he became known as a mufti or a scholar.

Ibn Abbas, .... Abu Huraira ..... were the scholars who used to give opinion in Madinah. They were well known as mufti. Later scholars argued the Abu Huraira was not a faqih, but that is not true. Abu Huraira was a known mufti at that time.

He died in 59 Hijrah

One of the most important things that we know him best for is his contribution in the field of hadith. He contributed more than any other sahaba. The number of people who narrated hadith from him is more than 800. And that includes some of the sahaba. It is often times mentioned the number of hadith that Abu Huraira narrated. Some of the introductory books on hadith will list that he narrated 5374 hadith. Unforntunately that exact number cannot be given much weight. These exact numbers are based on a scholar from Spain whose name is Baqih.... which includes authentic hadith and weak hadith.

Abu Huraira narrated than any other sahabi. In the seven books of hadith (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maja, Tirmidhi, and ... Muwatta)....

In Sahih Muslim and Bukhari you will find 325 hadith from Abu Huraira.

Muslim has additional 170

Bukhari has additional ....

Abu Huraira played a very important role in the preservation of hadith. Some people question, why is it the case that this man is narrating so much.

Somebody came to Talha, why is this that Yemeni guy is narrating so many hadith, when you spent so many years with him. He explains that we were busy with our work. While he was a poor person and he spent so much time with the prophet even though he was with him only for four years.

Abu Huraira would spend so much time studying the hadith and reviewing it. He was specializing in hadith, he dedicated his life to the hadith. He would constantly review the hadith. They continued to work and keep up in this field. They took up the burden for narrating hadith.

Prophet made dua for Abu Hurairah to .... He was very keen to learn hadith. One time he came to the prophet and asked him to be most joyous on the day of intercession. And the prophet replied I expected no one but you to come and ask this question.

From the time of the prophet, this became his speciality. And this is no surprise that he became well known for narrating hadith.

And he was tested. People were making sure that he was narrating properly. For example, Marwan who was a Governor at the time, and he sent someone to ask him about the hadith. Somebody was listening behind the curtain and writing down what he narrated. After one year, he sent the man back again to ask the same hadith and the person who wrote down the hadith to verify that he narrated the hadith just like he had narrated before.

This is not strange, nowadays we review the reading of the Quran. They did the same with the narrations of the hadith.

Al-Dhahabi said “We have never known of any mistake from Abu Huraira.”

Ayesha was listening to his narration and he asked afterwards, “Do you have any objections to my narration.” She replied that the Prophet would not narrate so quickly as you did. He would pause and let people understand it before moving on, while Abu Huraira used to narrate them very quickly.

Similarly, ibn Umar was asked and he said, I do not object to anything that Abu Huraira has narrated but he is bold in giving and we have been less than that.

We see the beginning of the school of hadith. One of his students has received a book from Abu Huraira and it was passed down and it is still with us today. The book continues to exist as special book and its content was incorporated into other books. Sahifa from Abu Huraira will be discussed in the class next time, in order to understand the history of hadith.

2012-01-24 Class Notes

Because of Abu Huraira’s position in narration of hadith, we discussed his biography last time. Having confidence in the preservation of the sunnah of the prophet is very vital for our deen. It is essential and it strengthens our deen.

That confidence is not based on blind faith, blind faith is not that which gives certainty to act upon the deen as this deen requires sacrifice, the greater the certainty the greater will be to obey Allah (swt). Part of this is achieved is by having good knowledge of the preservation of Quran and Hadith of Prophet (saws). One of the things which has been said by many people both Muslims and non Muslim, is the claim that hadith fo Prophet (Saw) is not been written down till 200 yrs after the Prophet (saw). This can effect someone confidence in hadith. Even Muslims say things about that nature about Hadith. This Idea is not true, scholars of hadith recognise 2 things very early on when it comes to recording the Hadith, writing the hadith down,

1. writing something down is not necessary condition and

2. writing something down is not sufficient condition,

Writing something down does not guarantee the preservation there can be errors while writing That is why writing down is just one aspect of preservation. This is true for the case of Quran, written is not the main basis to pass the Quran but it was mere help. They also recognise that writing down definitely help.

Ahmed ibn Hanbal never used to give lecture without his note. IN general, when you hear people lecture they are doing it without notes and prone to errors.

There are some question about recording the hadith of Prophet (Saw). This process began during the time of Prophet (Saw). In fact one of th e classic examples of this is narration recorded by Khateeb al-Baghdadi which stated Abdullah bin Amr al-as used to record everything from Prophet (saw). He said “I used to record everything i heard form Prophet (saw) out of desire to memorise. The fellow Muslim told him not do so, …... Abdullah bin Amr stopped writing the hadith and when he went to Prophet (saw), Prophet (saw) ordered him to write nothing except the truth comes out of my mouth.” This is verified by Hadith is Saheeh Bukhari by Abu Hurairah that none of them recorded more hadith then abdullah bin amr.

Prophet (saw) gave khutbah in Mekkah some one came from Yemen and asked Prophet (S) to record the khutbah for him and then Prophet (saw) asked his scribe to write down the khutbah.

There is also a hadith where one of the narration said secure knowledge and when he was asked how to do, he said by writing it down.

During the time of Prophet (saw) he had many scribe, MM Azami in one of his books traces about 61 scribes, there are some is question so it can be around 50. Some of the scribe were reserved to record Quran like Zaid bin Thabit. Other given the job of writing the letters to the leaders, these letter what Prophet (saw) wrote these are definitely hadith as this are his words and statement. We find actually the process of writing different hadith stared during the time of Prophet (saw). There is a book which captures this letter which was sent to different rulers or to his fellow sahabas.

This doesn’t mean that all of the hadith was written down during the Prophet (saw), since it is not necessary condition to be written down if the people are careful.

After the death of Prophet (saw) this idea of writing continued and grew in great number. There are no.of different sahabha known to have collection of written hadith, one of them Amr bin Al-As he passed on to his family, he passed on to his children, grand children and so forth. . Ali ibn Abi talib had collection. There is no.of different report that Ah.H had number of written collection. It seems at one point of time A.H was not skilled in writing, but his student who were not listening to him but they were active in recording like one of his student Basheer he said I used to record whatever I heard from Abu Hurairah, Whenever I used to live I used to go to him and read it back to him. Some of this students made their on collection, and those collection that they made from AH passed on, and some of them exists as manuscript in the library and these are the books that came from the time of tabieen. For example, one of them is called “collection of suhail”, this collection has about 48 hadith.

One of the big question is that people were recording and making collection during the time of sahabah, what happened to these collection ? (missed the reason during to low audio)

Saheefa of

(missed lot of things)

This collection as around 137 hadith.

Interesting thing about it, …

99 either in Bukhair and Muslim, 22 recorded by Bukahir and 48 by Muslim, Imam Muslim, his one of the distinctive quality of his work in preserving what everybody said, even in the cahin he doesnt live anything. Bukhar

[[Need to transcribe notes from the audio recording sent by Shaikh Jamaal Zarabozo]]

2012-01-31 Class Notes

We are studying hadith #38 from the Forty Hadith collection of Nawawi. Shaikh reminds us of the hadith by reciting it before we start studying it again.

We finished discussing the biography of Abu Hurairah who is the narrator of the hadith that we are studying.

Q: What is the musnad?

A: Musnad is the word used for a type of collection of hadith. It is describing the way that the book is arranged. So from the title you have an idea about its content. If the title has sunan in it, you know it is going to discuss fiqh issues. If the title is musnad, it does not necessarily tell us about its content. It tells us about the way the hadith are arranged. The musnad of Imam Ahmad is arranged according to the sahabi who narrated the hadith, regardless of who narrated from him or regardless of the topic. This is what the word musnad is telling us.

Q: Was Abu Hurairah married, or did he have any children?

A: Abu Hurairah did have children. During the time of the Prophet (SAWS) he was not a person of wealth -- he was from Ahl us Suffah, but after some time he did get married. He did have children, one of his daughters was married to Sa’eed ibn Musayyib. Wrt his children passing on his hadith, this did not happen with his children.

Footnote: Why was Abu Hurairah’s personality or character attacked by different people?

By the way, Abu Hurairah has been attacked by different people over the years. Many times the ulema discuss why he has been attacked. When the Sh first became Muslim, an Iranian person said Abu Hurairah narrated so many hadith, it was more than any one person could have said in 20 years. The highest number is 5000 which includes repetitions from different chains. He spent approximately 3 years with the Prophet -- roughly 1000 days. So 5 hadith or statements a day. Is that possible? Easily.

He is attacked for a specific reason. Given the current political situation why are people attacked?

1. Sometimes it is plainly hasad or envy. You try to bring the person down by attacking his character.

2. Sometimes it is to show you are better/greater than the other person (different to hasad, you just want to show you’re greater than that person).

3. You can’t answer the argument of that person. E.g. you might be debating an issue, and you can’t answer the logic of the other person, you attack the other person to attack the individual to distract from the logical argument.

4. When that individual stands between you and what you desire. In the case of Ahl al Bid’ah, they cannot refute from historical point of view, they have to shoot down the character of the person. And since sahaba were the first person in the chain, they stood in the path of the people of ahl al bid’ah. You can see that in the claims of shia. The only thing left for them is to bring down the sahabah and say that you cannot trust them. And that is one of the reasons why Abu Hurairah has been attacked over and over again by the ahl al bid’ah, in particular the Shi’a. Our ulema have proved those claims as false. What he said was not his invention, you can find it in the books of the Shi’a.

The nature of the hadith

This is a special kind of hadith. It is a hadith Qudsi and it is the third such hadith in the forty hadith collection.

Prophet (SAWS) is narrating what Allah (SWT) said. He sometimes say Aan rabbi, on the authority of the Rabb. Sometimes the qudsi part is in the middle of the words of the Prophet (SAWS).

We have the Quran, Hadith Qudsi and Hadith of the Prophet. What are some of the differences between the three?

Classroom discussion about the above question:

1. Hadith Qudsi is not miraculous in nature

2. Hadith Qudsi maybe ahaad, it may be weak.

Quran is mutawatir and hadith qudsi may not be

What about the wording of Hadith Qudsi and Quran?

Wording of the Quran is from Allah swt, Quran is the speech of Allah

Wording of hadith Qudsi is from the Prophet (SAWS)

Quran only can be recited in the Salah

You get special ajar for reciting the Quran

End of classroom discussion.

If you pick up a standard book on uloom al Quran, they will give you standard differences between Quran and Hadith Qudsi.

There are some questions we have to ask about these differences. If we are speaking about the essence of the difference between hadith Qudsi and Qur’an, is #2 relevant?

In order for something to be part of the Quran:

1. It must be mutawatir.

2. It must be consistent with mushaf of Uthman. Quran was written down during the life of the prophet, but it was with different sahaba. During the time of Abu Bakr, it was collated in one official copy and then it was distributed to the different lands.

3. It must be consistent with Arabic language. Quran refers to itself as being in the Arabic language, so it must be in Arabic language.

So there is no doubt about it’s authenticity. It removes the possibility of collusion and mistakes. There are two reasons for false documents: 1. People could have collaborated or colluded to create the false document, or 2. People could have made mistakes in preservation of the document.

For example, how confident are you if you have not been to a specific country, that it exists. You have not been to that country, and there is no reason for you to believe that everybody is making up that this country exists, so you feel that you are confident that it exists. This is the concept of mutawatir. You have received the information from many sources and that they are all consistent and there is no reason for you to believe that anybody has colluded to create a false document or that they have made a mistake.

If something it is mutawatir, then you don’t need conditions 2 and 3 for the definition of Quran. So why do you need the other two conditions for its authenticity?

The first criteria is that isnaad has to be sahih and then it must meet the other two conditions. Ibn Al Jazari who is scholar of Qurra says that there are the criteria.

How did the Quran come to us?

It was conveyed the same way as the hadith were narrated to us. They were narrated by the prophet and then by the sahaba and the tabieen.

Quran is a bound set. It is heard much more often. The ease of preservation is much easier for the Quran as compared to the hadith.

All of the Qurra have their chains back to the Prophet, they can trace their readings back to the Prophet. There are isnaads for the Quran.

We have shaadh readings of the Quran. These have been rejected because they did not meet the criteria. And that is like a weak hadith.

When the Prophet (SAWS) spoke the Qur’an spoke or the hadith Qudsi, what was the difference? The idea that the Qur’an is mutawaatir and Hadith Qudsi doesn’t have to be, has no bearing on the essential question.

In essence all three of them are revelations to the Prophet (SAWS).

Wording ot the Quran is the speech of Allah (SWT). You always attribute it to Allah (SWT). It is the speech of Allah (SWT), the words come from him.

Hadith of the Prophet (SAWS)

When he spoke, was it considered revelation and what proof do you have for it?

Is hadith considered a type of revelation from Allah SWT? There are the two verses from Surah Najrm (3-4):

Sahih International

Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination.

Sahih International

It is not but a revelation revealed,

How many of you have heard that speech of the Prophet is considered revelation? There is a small problem with it?

Many mufassereen say that the Surah Najm verse 3 is about the revelation of the Quran and not his own speech. Some say it is not just the Quran but it is in general.

There are number of places in which Allah swt describes the revelations to the Prophet which are kitaab and hikmah. One example is Surah Jumah verse 2

Sahih International

It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom - although they were before in clear error -

Surah Nisa verse 113 is very clear that prophet is receiving revelation and he is receiving knowledge that he was not aware of.

Sahih International

And if it was not for the favor of Allah upon you, [O Muhammad], and His mercy, a group of them would have determined to mislead you. But they do not mislead except themselves, and they will not harm you at all. And Allah has revealed to you the Book and wisdom and has taught you that which you did not know. And ever has the favor of Allah upon you been great.

Surah Al Ahzab verse 44 in which Allah describes the recitations in the house of the Prophet.

Sahih International

And remember what is recited in your houses of the verses of Allah and wisdom. Indeed, Allah is ever Subtle and Acquainted [with all things].

Also a hadith from Prophet (SAWS) that says: لا إني أوتيت القرآن ومثله معه

i.e. he was given the Qur’an and something like it with it.

The only things that are recited clearly are the Quran and the Sunnah.

Quran is the revelation which is directly from Allah swt.

The words of the Prophet are also a revelation from Allah swt, but the wording was from the Prophet, even though he was inspired by Allah swt. There is ijmaa among the scholars about this.

Hadith Qudsi is also kind of inspiration to the Prophet. What about the wording of Hadith Qudsi?

It is an inspiration and there is no doubt about it. But when

Perhaps it is an issue that cannot be resolved with the information that we have. We know that Hadith Qudsi is not part of the Quran. It is also different from the revelation that is narrated by other hadith. There is some extra level that can be ascribed to Allah swt. Even though we have these words that are attributed to Allah swt, they are not considered to be part of the Quran.

Sometimes information is passed down, without checking our sources. We have to reaffirm what we are passing on. We have understand the context, this was in reference to mutawatir requirements for Quran. When the Qurra used the word mutawatir, they did not mean in the manner used by scholars of hadith, they meant it be from many sources.

Hadith Qudsi is a revelation and it is most likely speech of Allah swt and yet it is not part of the Quran.

2012-02-07 Class Notes

Shaikh started the class by reminding us of the hadith that we are studying narrated by Abu Hurairah. The conclusion of hadith qudsi, its nature and the quran, the most important thing to understand is that we have different forms of revelations from Allah swt.

Allah swt sent down to us via Angel Jibrael, the speech of ALlah swt, which is the Quran. Some verses of the quran are more virtuous than other verses. Quran is more distinct than other revelations.

Hadith Qudsi is a form of speech of Allah swt, which was revealed as an inspiration to the prophet which is distinct from the Quran, It is another form of guidance and blessing that Allah swt provided us.

Last thing is the revelation which was given to Prophet (Saw) and allowed Prophet (Saw) to express it in hos own words which explains the details about the revelation.

All three are forms of revelation from Allah (swt) and they are a great blessing from Allah swt.

Concerning what is passed on with Hadith Qudsi, and what is the difference between hadith Qudsi and Quran?

The nature of Hadith Qudsi is not mutawatir, mutawatir doesn’t have to do anything to distinguish between Quran and Hadith Qudsi. We have to understand this. And to understand this we have to analyse it, in the process of analyzing we may some times question some of the points.

When we take this information, we should not just pass it along, we have to understand it. And in this process we have to question it. We have to preform a critical study. We have to understand it and may be add some additional information in order to understand it. (Here the shaikh is referring to the defintion of Quran, whether it has to be mutawatir or sahih, shaadh readings of the Quran, etc)

How may Hadith Qudsi are there?

There is one collection collected by Tarabzuni, in that collection he has 863 Hadith Qudsi, however in that collection he is not been careful to just include authentic hadith, sometime he points out the weakness.

In Egypt the committee of Quran and Hadith, compiled Hadith Qudsi and it has 400 hadith.

Mustafa Al-Adawi, Al-Sahih Al-Musnad fee Al-Ahadeeth Al-Qudsiyyah -- collected 185 hadith -- (available here: http://www.archive.org/details/saheh_musnad_ahadith_qudsea).

Note: As some of the scholars pointed of, the existence of Weak and Fabricated hadith is the sign that the process to differentiate between what is authentic and not authentic was in place unlike in Christianity.

There are 100s of gospels from early christian history. They did not categorize it as sound or weak, very early in the history. When they got around to do it many centuries later, it was a very difficult task, and politics took hold.

In our early Islamic history, we had a process to sift through the information, and they took care to pass on authentic information.

We have authentic, fabricated and weak hadith Qudsi.

There is a PhD dissertation about the balagah or Arabic style of the Hadith Qudsi. The student who did the work from the beginning assumes that the hadith qudsi are the words of Prophet, he does not even take into account, whether they are the words of Allah swt. He concludes the words are the best style of Arabic language. And if he had considered them to be the words of Allah swt, then it would be of course the best style of Arabic language, but he did not even consider it.

All of the Quran was revealed to the Prophet by Jibrael, that is not what happened with Hadith Qudsi. He would receive inspiration or he was told, this is narrated in many hadith. Quranic revelation was distinct and unique from other types of revelations. The process in which he received was distinct and what he did after he received the information was different. When he received, he would call the scribes like Zaid bin Thabit and tell them about it and inform them where it belongs in the different surah. Q Prophet would also receive inspiration in his dreams.

Q: Whenever the Prophet said "Allaah curses so and so...." would this type of text would be a sign of hadith qudsi?

A: When Prophet said, Allah curses so and so, it is not a hadith qudsi. There should be some sign that Prophet (saws) is attributing this words to Allah (swt).

(Note : Detail discussion of difference between Quran and Hadith Qudsi, Sheikh explained it is detail when discussing Hadith #24 in Volume 2 of Forty Hadith of Nawawi)

Questions from Shaikh Jamaal to formulate how to proceed further in the class.

Allah swt describes believers who fear no one other than Allah swt. So if someone is afraid of flying, does that mean there is weakness in his tawheed ?

What about fear of certain kind of individual, such as an unjust ruler?

Suppose we describe some individual such as Abu Hanifa and ask you to love that individual. Is it possible to love the person just by telling that he should be loved ?

Premise for the next question is that we are suppose to love for the sake of Allah and hate for the sake of Allah. We should not be loving Allah does not love. But Allah (Swt) says in the Quran to Prophet (saws) “”

This describing that Prophet saw is loving people and Allah saying that these people cannot be guided by Prophet (saws). There is difference between the kind of love.

Key aspects of the hadith that we are studying

When you look at this Hadith Qudsi, when you understand what is going behind this hadith and what is the basis of this hadith, there are some key issue this hadith is premised on.

1. Having the love of Allah (swt) - Where is this in the Hadith ?

2. Loving for the sake of Allah (swt)

3. Receiving the love from Allah (swt)

4. In the process on of the things hadith is referring is having love for the Awliya (i.e. friend) of Allah (swt).

5. One of the key questions around #4 is what are the characterstics of Wali. This hadith shows us that we need to identify who is the Wali so that we dont oppose them and love them.

Concept of love of Allah

Love of Allah could mean you love Allah and Allah’s love towards you. This feeling of love towards Allah (swt) occurs in the heart. Are we going to be held responsible for feeling heart? Does this means that if you don’t have love in your heart but as long as you don’t act on it, you are not held responsible? Are this feeling in the heart, or as actions of the heart is the part of Imaan? Would they fit under the definition of Iman like Having love of Allah (swt) is this part of Iman ?

How do we teach Islam to new Muslims?

Sometime there is difference of opinion related to aqeedah in this particular case. Sometime when you study this it looks minor, when you think about ramification of it, it i not minor. IN general When you teach Islam to other, do we teach them the actions of the heart to them? No, we teach them mostly external actions.

Actions of heart are considered to be a fruit of Imaan and not core concept of Imaan - this is an incorrect understanding of many Muslims

One of the reason for this is that, according to the majority of the Muslims, the Aqeedah madhab they do not consider this is as the definition of Imaan. Because Imaan for them is affirmation in the heart and professing it by the tongue. Affirmation is recognize the truth of La ila ila.... the action of Heart having love of Allah and this is not part of definition of Imaan. They might be expected from you but it is not definition of Imaan like Ashari and Maturidis. And when these people spread Islam it is not surprising that they leave out any discussion of action of Heart and they consider this is not essential to Imaan, they consider this is fruits of Imaan.

Actions of heart is the core concept of Imaan, you do not have Imaan if you do not have it in your heart

The correct view is that this actions of Heart is part and parcel of what Imaan is. You have to love of Allah In order for your Imaan to exist you must love Allah. If your heart is void of love for Allah, then you do not have Imaan. There must be some love for Allah if you have Imaan.

Actions of the heart are missing in most of the dawaah material

We have to understand Imaan as whole and understand this aspects of Imaan which many times are neglected. If you read most introductory works about Imaan and they don’t touch about this aspect at all. If Islam is not in the heart and we cannot expect this to be strong. What has to be in the heart is love of Allah swt, and it is the love of Allah is driving force to love for the sake of Allah. You cannot expect people to love Allah swt, if they do not have that love in their heart. That is why, they might say in the tongue and have some connection to the people and might say that as well, but as long as they don’t have strong love for Allah in the heart which makes way to love for others for the sake of Allah.

We are held responsible for feeling of our heart:

Actions of the heart are something that we will be held responsible for, at least those that are in the control of the human beings. Because the heart is not just passion or desire which is driven by pure emotion. This is not true, in fact among the Ulema and history of Islam (Ibn Taymiyyah has book on this topic) the question of Al-Aql i.e. human reasoning.

Where is this Aql located in the human body? This is greatly debated among the Ulema if this is in the brain or heart. In General what you like and what you don’t like usually there is reason behind it . You like something because of its intrinsic beauty or you see some goodness in it and thus you like it. What is going on in the heart is controlled by your thoughts and belief for great extent. These two are inter related. That is why we will be held responsible for the feeling of the heart.

For example, drinking alcohol, we all agree that it is haram. (Footnote: A non-Muslim is quoting a Muslim who says that alcohol might not be haram.) We all dislike alcohol. Is that dislike for alcohol is baseless? If you see someone drinking you feel disgusting is this baseless? If you sit next to somebody who is drunk next to you in an airplane seat, you know how it is disgusting. What is all this dislike is because of Allah said this is wrong and that is why you dislike, there is some reason behind this. Even if it is cultural there should be some reason behind. If this is personal experience there is a reason behind it. Thus, most of the feelings in the heart is not which is controlled but there is something behind it. What is behind is that our knowledge and perception which can be changed. That’s why in general we are held responsible for feeling of our heart. This feeling are based on something and not pure passion of emotional aspect.

Different types of fear - Natural fear

One kind of fear is a natural fear. For example, you fear drowning, spiders or snakes. This type of natural fear is driven by emotion. This is called khauf al tabee3i. We have an example in Quran related to Prophet Musa (as) “Wa kahraj minah khaaifan” After killing the individual, Allah described that he left because of fear.

Should there be limits on natural fears?

This is kind of natural fear. In general shariah excepts this and this is not sinful within limits. Why is this within limits? Is it possible sometimes this fear due to weakness in Iman ?

Is it possible to remove some of fear due to strengthen the Imaan? Yes. this can be done.

You know that snakes bite, and you also recognize that this is due to will of Allah (Swt) and you know that out of will of Allah this things can harm you, this is kind of fear that is not acceptable and this is root of Shirk where they think that individual thing have something might have harm you which is out of control of Allah (swt) and they can do independent of Allah (swt) and they fear it.

If you fear human beings to the point that you do not do obligatory out of fear of them, this is forbidden kind of fear. going out for Jihaad and you are afraid of enemy and you don’t go then this is not allowed.

The last kind of fear is fear Allah (swt).

Sahih International

And We will surely cause you to dwell in the land after them. That is for he who fears My position and fears My threat."

When it comes to love, there is such thing called natural love and shariah love. Shariah has nothing against natural love and infact this natural love is normal. It is natural to have love to people who do good towards to you, towards your parents, love to sacrifice for others for the sake of Allah, area that you grow up in, the food you are used to. This is called natural love and which shariah does not object this kind of natural love. Prophet (Saw) had love towards his uncle and Allah said you cannot guide him. This kind of love is not objected with some condition.

2012-02-14 Class Notes

Shaikh reminded us of the hadith that we are studying which hadith qudsi narrated by Abu Hurairah.

History of the term Hadith Qudsi when it was first coined

One final note about Hadith Qudsi, they are also known as Hadeeth Al-ilahi and Hadeeth Al-Rabbani. Sheikh tried to find when these terms were first used, originally in the classic books of hadith where they collect the hadeeth and have isnaad back to Prophet (saw). In these books Hadith Qudsi was treated a another hadeeth, like Al-Bukhari he includes this as any other hadeeth in his collection. The earliest this term was used is at 9th century of Hijra, by Fairoozabaadi, Ibn Hajr, Al-Ayni they used this term. The first major collection is by Abdul Rauf Al-manawi (d 1031).

Sheikh found a contemporary book on hadith that states that the term hadith qudsi was used by the later scholars. Had earlier scholars tried to define the term and describe it, then they would have done it differently. Similarly with the term mutawattir and how it originated in the time of the Mutazilah. Footnote: Sheikh now feels more confident when he critiques the usage of the term Hadith Qudsi and how it has been defined by some.

Love of Allah swt

As we spoke about that this hadith, this hadith it is very clear that it talks about the relationship with Allah and vice versa, the key behind is that to love Allah and to love someone for the sake of Allah and in return gain the love of Allah.

Natural love and Shariah love

We spoke about natural love and shariah love. Scholars also talk about love driven by passion (Hubbu Shahawaani), This love can be between husband and wife, but many times it can effect an individual which is not halal. This is special case where individual need to control the emotion and do anything which goes against the shariah. To help to over come this, the individual need to turn to Allah and seek protection.

What are the limits of natural love?

Some one to love his parents, his people where he lived and shariah does not object to this love as Prophet (Saw) loved his uncle. Lot of things in this world they are necessary haraam in and itself and there are limits to it. If we cross the limit then we get into haraam.

An example of when natural love can exceed the limits of shariah

For example, with respect to natural love towards a non believers, if this love attracts towards kufr and their sinful act (such as their drinking of alcohol), and start to accept these things and compromise on this things, this is where you have gone beyond the limits. Suppose if you don’t have any problem with them drinking alcohol, does this attitude on your part constitute kufr? It is a big sin, but is it kufr?

When can natural love lead to kufr?

If a Muslim drinks and that act of drinking in and itself is not kufr, so similarly if you accept someone drinking this is haram. But if you accept someones kufr and like kufr and this is kufr. This is where he has gone beyond the limits on what is acceptable part of Natural love. You cannot accept the things which people do which is shirk and kufr. You cannot say even theoretically that you accept the act of kufr. You cannot accept the act which are disobedience of Allah, this wont take you to kufr but this will lead into things which are definitely haraam.

Is it possible that something is sanctioned in shariah which you do not love?

In Surah Baqarah 2:216, Allah swt says that you dislike Jihaad even though it has been sanctioned. This is talking to Sahabah, and this verse is talking about natural dislike but not shariah point of view. From the shariah point of view you know the importance of Jihaad. You can still have natural dislike towards violence. This is a case where something is sanctioned in shariah and you might have natral dislike for it.

Shariah love should take precedence over natural love

Obviously the shariah love should take precedence over other kind of love. Once you do reverse then you are following into something which is not acceptable.

Allah swt says in Surah , 9:24

Say, [O Muhammad], "If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people."

if your father, brother, wealth, dwelling that are more beloved to you than Allah and his cause then wait for his threat. This is a very serious and strong threat to those who do not prefer cause of Allah swt over this world. This strong threat shows that this is obligation that you should love Allah and messenger above all other things. This proves that shariah love takes precedence above everything. In this verse Allah is mentioning all the natural love we can have like father, son and Allah is saying that shariah love will take precedence over all other love.

Compromise for the sake of non Muslim parents which can exceed limits of natural love

This does not necessarily have to do just with non muslims, you might have non muslim parents and you love them and you might make compromises because of your non muslim parents, may be because you Imaan is not strong and you haven’t met the obligation of having love for Allah and messenger over others, like liking pig which mother cooks. You cannot allow to compromise the shariah love due to these natural love.

Compromise for the sake of Muslim spouse which can exceed limits of natural love

This is true with muslims as well, you have a spouse who wants to do something which is not allowed in shariah, say your spouse saying not to go to jumuah but go for shopping, this is kind of trial as you have to put the natural love against the shariah love. In this case too you cannot but your natural love over sharaih love, and if this is the case where natural love takes precedence then this is crossing the limits.

Try to control what you love and what you like

The idea of what you love and what you like (Footnote: In Arabic Hubb means both love and like), many scholars point of the fact hat what you like and love, it is very important to control what you love and what you like. Since what you love and like is not because of passion in you heart. If you can control yourself and think about it, this can lead to change in attitude.

Examples of loosing control due to love

For example, if someone is drinking alcohol, and they like alcohol a lot, but if they sit down and force them to think about it, they could come to conclusion that it is not good for him but it is also potential can cause harm to him. There are cases where people know how bad it is but still they don’t change their attitude to it. Thus this is not something which is fixed and about passion, this has do to with lot of things which is going in that individuals mind. Similarly with fads and fashions and people do things which when they look later in life, cannot fathom why they did it.

Every action you do is based on your like - Ibn Taymiyyah

The reason for the emphasis on this is, as Ibn Taymiyyah wrote that virtually every action you do is based on your like and every action you don’t do is because of you dislike and hatred to it. That is why it is important to think about what you like and why you like. If you don’t think about why are you doing certain things and what is driving to do that thing, then you may never realise the wrong that you are doing and you might never change.

Feelings of heart

Thus what you love and like in your heart is of very important. A student of Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Qayim went further talking about love and like in you heart and he says those two feelings of love and like in the heart these are two sources that would strengthen your heart and foundation for happiness and the misery. The action is what leads to please Allah or not.

Hatred and love are the foundations of happiness or misery

In general people dont do actions until they have will or intention to do those actions, and similarly you dont refrain from actions except due to some dislike or hatred for an action. People make choices because of their feelings of the heart and they will weigh things. Hatred and love are the foundations of happiness or misery according to ibn Qayim.

Q&A

People do things which they believe is halal or they feel there is a difference of opinion. You have to understand that the person is not sinning, he might be doing it because it is halal. They might have proper intention. At the time of the Prophet, the bedioun who came and urinated in the mosque, he thought there was nothing wrong with it, the sahaba were very upset, bu Prophet waited until he was done and then gave him guidance. On the other hand, he was upset when the sahaba asked about something .... I missed the hadith....., and the Prophet felt that the sahaba should have known better, and then he was upset with them.

Q&A

YOu cannot separate the sinner from the sin, since he is committing the sin. You always dislike the action. but have compassion and mercy for the individual.

Having love of Allah

Loving Allah could mean that you love an action or something for the sake of Allah swt. And having love of Allah means actually loving Allah swt.

Is it possible for a human being to love Allah swt?

Ibn Taymiyyah spoke a lot about the love of Allah swt. One of the reasons why he did it, is because he wanted to prove that you can love ALlah. The Asharis say that you cannot love ALlah, it is not possible for a human being to love Allah, they say that you could love to worship etc. THey say that there has to be some way to identify with your beloved, there has to be something in common between them. ANd they say since ALlah swt is not like us, then it is not possible for us to love ALlah swt, they said that you could come closer to him but cannot love him.

One of the things that our ummah has struggled a lot which looks very miniscule, but is of grave importance. THese theories of Asharis originate with the early philosophers.

We are suffering between two extremes. One extreme is that of Asharis and Mathuridis and the other that of Sufis. This had an affect on aqeedah, and how books of tafseer write about aqeedah. The way they interpret the attributes of Allah such as Rahman are now stripped out of any emotion that would bring us close to Allah swt, it becomes dry. It is not surprising, that for many muslims, it becomes outward actions and easy to step out of bounds of allah swt.

The Asharis also say that Allah does not love either.

Ibn Taymiyyah was mostly dealing with Asharis and answering their philosophies. For him the sufis was not a big problem. Ibn Qayim was mostly dealing with the other extreme of the sufis. SO if you put both of them together, you have an answer for both of those extremes.

Having love for Allah swt is obligatory and it is one of the most important obligations in Islam. Surah Taubah ....

Allah swt does not give a threat like that unless you are failing that is obligatory, it wont be for something that is mustahab. It is a clear evidence of loving Allah swt. This is what shahadah is all about. We say la ilaha illallah, what is the meaning of ilah, it mean lamaloul??

What is worship?

It is a more intense degree of love.

When we say la ilaha..... we mean that there is no one in our heart that is more worthy of our servitude and worship. It does not mean just the creator or sustainer., It means that there is only one in our heart who is deserving of our love and worship.

Mushreeqeen objected to having only one ilah in our heart. They cannot take it, they are willing to believe Allah and accept Allah, but they are not willing to accept that Allah is the only one that is worthy of worship and love.

Even some muslims are willing to believe allah, but they are not ready to put him above everything else in our heart. They think that is too much.

This is what we are seeking to fulfill, the statement of shahada is both a khabr and a statement of intent, we are going to put only one ilah in our heart.

2012-02-21 Class Notes

Shaikh reminded us about the hadith that we are studying. The last point that we were making was having love for Allah swt or making love to Allah swt and how this is a fundamental aspect of our deen including the shahada. The meaning of ilah is one that is the highest thing in our heart, we love it above and beyond anything else. When we make testimony of faith, we are not just affirming its truth, but we are testifying that we will strive to abide by it.

The fitra of a human being is to seek Allah swt, it is something innate in human beings, the desire to seek Allah swt. Even non muslim authors who write about this desire, say that human mind or heart is always looking for god. The reality is that until the heart finds Allah swt, even if it tries to cover it up or tries to hide the reality that it needs Allah swt, the heart will not get true rest or true contentment.

Allah swt describes believers as those whose hearts have received contentment and heart can find contentment only by seeking Allah swt. Allah swt has “prewired” us to seek him. He is not forcing anything upon us. If the nafs is not misguided, it would find Allah swt. And one who does not find Allah swt would lead a miserable time in this dunya. They will not find contentment.

Allah swt says Whoever turns away from my .... will have a depressed life. And then he says that we will resurrect him blind. SO the first part is about this dunya, the suffering will be in this life. THis is a point that ibn Taymiyyah makes in a number of his works. He says that the heart needs to submit completely to allah swt.

Ibn Taymiyyah says heart is not good, no tranquility no peace until it turns towards Allah swt. He says that is the real freedom. Freedom is the worship of the ... and richness is the ...... He says that this joy is something that the believer should experience in this life and the amount that he experiences is a measure of ..

Ibn Taymiyyah says that true jannah he says that there is paradise in this life and the one who does not enter it in this dunya will not enter it in the hereafter and this jannah is the contentment of the heart.

This is the true meaning of words like uboodiyah are about. These are not just about submitting to Allah (SWT). E.g. you can submit to your boss in the military but hate the guts of the person you are submitting to. Similarly, can love someone without submitting to them.

Al-Sa’di said in his text (?) that “Complete love and submission is the true form of worship.”

THis acts of worship have to be accompanied by true feeling of love towards Allah swt. Unfortunately when we teach Islam to new muslims we focus on the acts of worship without any mention of uboodiyah.

Usually when we have a book of fiqh, the first five books are on worship and tahaarah etc. This means that we frequently don’t discuss this topic of love and fear of Allah (SWT).

This kind of love for Allah (SWT) will also be distinguished because it must also consist of feelings of

ta’deem (تعظيم) and taqdees (تقديس).

And this feeling can be for no one other than Allah swt. If you have it for anybody other than Allah swt then it is a kind of shirk. This unique love should only be for Allah swt.

We can find a number of verses in the quran that speak about having this kind of love for Allah swt

Surah Baqarah verse 165

And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allah . But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah . And if only they who have wronged would consider [that] when they see the punishment, [they will be certain] that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment.

This verse comes in the midst of the verses that establishes his oneness using a logical argument, he is showing that he is the only one worthy of worship. And after stating that he says that there are some who take others as equals to him. All of these things that these people worship are not worthy of worship, it is simply that humans have taken them as objects of worship.

In this verse Allah (SWT) describes that people take those objects of worship as they should love Allah (SWT). It’s important to recognize who this messages was addressed to and whom it refers to. The point to note is that the mushrikeen knew about Allah (SWT) and at no time did they ever claim that the idols were partners in the creation. They never say, e.g. Al-laat and Al-uzza created the world with Allah (SWT).

Also the Christians never claim that the son was ever responsible for the creation. So where is their shirk? It is not that someone else has claimed that somebody else has created this creation. Their shirk is just the love that should be directed towards Allah swt is now shown to someone other than Allah swt.

So you don’t have to identify others as creating like Allah, but it is sufficient that you *love* these objects of worship as much as you love Allah. Other verses also show the same thing.

Even inthe sroty of Ibrahim where he uses logical argument to find the creator, and he says that I do not love those that set and go away. So he is avoiding identifying his love for things that go away. THis is a key aspect of what Imaan is about. Even if you love the prophet as equal to Allah swt, then this is also a kind of shirk, even though we know the high level of our prophet.

Allah swt says that they love them as they love Allah. One of the explanations is that they did not deny allah swt, they did love him, but they love others in the same way as they love Allah swt. And then Allah swt continues, Those that believe are stronger in their love for Allah.

Where are their emotions the greatest, are they more upset when their idols are spoken about in a bad way. This does not have to be an idol.

One person converted from Hinduism to Islam and he said it took him 20 years to get rid of his love of the idols.

Even now, some people get more concerned about human rights than Allah’s laws. If they were to establish human rights and democracies the people would be happier than if Islam had been established in these countries. This is almost like they love these things more than they love Allah (SWT).

One of the other things that people take and give it their love and follow is their own hawaa -- their own impulses and desires etc. This is where you raised your own ego above what Allah (SWT) says.

Allah refers to this explicitly: Have you not seen the one who has raised his hawa to the level of a deity.

Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be responsible for him?

HIs own hawa is greater to him than Allahs swt. Then this foundational love of our Imaan is now destroyed by following your own hawa.

Allah swt then says, those who believe are stronger in their love for Allah.

There are two interpretations for this verse and Ibn Taymiyyah prefers one and shows why the other interpretation is wrong. One of the interpretation is that they love their idols like the believers love Allah but the believers love for Allah is stronger than their love for their idols.Second interpretation is that they love their idols like they love Allah but the believers have a stronger love fo Allah.

Ibn Taymiyyah says that the mushrikeen’s love for their idols cannot be equivalent to the believers love for Allah swt. And he says that is because the believers know Allah swt. And he says that love follows knowledge. (Student’s Note: Amazing, May Allah swt give peace and blessings to Ibn Taymiyyah)

And that means that believers will know the greatest object of love, and so there is no way the love they experience towards the idols. Therefore it is impossible for anyone to have love towards a false idol that is comparable to the love that a believer feels towards Allah SWT.

Furthermnore, the believers have given all their love to one entity, but the disbelievers have spread it over multiple deities. Believers love for Allah is solely for ALlah. And then he brings some parables from the quran.

Some of the parables from the Qur’an show the idea of divided love is not similar. Could these two be possibly be equal? So that individuals love should be greater than the love that these idol worshippers have for their idols.

Sahih International

Allah presents an example: a slave owned by quarreling partners and another belonging exclusively to one man - are they equal in comparison? Praise be to Allah ! But most of them do not know.

Further more the believers are the only ones worshipping the one that is truly deserving of worship. ANd this will be consistent with their fitra. And this is going to increase their love and happiness and closeness to ALlah swt. ANd the love of the idolators will always have some friction some inconsistencies.

If you go to the books of tafseer and if you try to find the love for ALlah swt and you cannot find it, and hence Shaikh went to other sources such as Ibn Taymiyyah’s work on Uboodiyah.

We are starting with the love for Allah swt, this is the foundation and then we will discuss loving for the sake of Allah swt and we will get to the other points later.

Even the tafseer of Surah Baqarah, you will not find many scholars who stop and comment on it. And that is the reason why shaikh is emphasizing the love for Allah swt. It is the key for the first part of the hadith.

Surah Al Maida verse 54

Sahih International

O you who have believed, whoever of you should revert from his religion - Allah will bring forth [in place of them] a people He will love and who will love Him [who are] humble toward the believers, powerful against the disbelievers; they strive in the cause of Allah and do not fear the blame of a critic. That is the favor of Allah ; He bestows it upon whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.

This is another example where scholars of tafseer very quickly go to the second part before finishing analyzing the first part of the verse. This is a very strong warning from Allah (SWT) and talking about those who turn away from Allah (SWT). It is talking about an extreme case, but it may be a case that can offer us lessons.

When Allah swt says that you are going to turn away from the deen, he says that he will replace them with other people. These replacements will be the one’s that are deserving of his love. THese replacements have one important quality, ALlah swt loves them and they love him.

If you are not fulfilling your obligations to your community or society, it is not just rights of an individual, if we fail to establish the deen, then he will bring replacements.

If you Muslims are not interested in doing what is required of you then he will replace you. So what is required is that they love Allah swt, everything that comes after it is just a reflection of this love for Allah swt. THere is no conjunctions between them. They are humble towards other people because of their love for Allah swt and they are going to strive for the sake of Allah swt. There is no conjunction between the various clauses, it is one characteristic. The love for Allah swt dominates anything else in their heart.

This verse is a threat or warning to muslims if they do not love Allah swt properly and as a consequence they do not receive help or support from him.

If Allah makes a promise he will fulfill his promise. But if he makes a threat, it does not mean that the conditions are met that he will carry out this threat, maybe out of his mercy, he will not carry out the threat.

But it does not mean that we are loving Allah (SWT) properly and that we can look at the rest of the characteristics and check that we as an ummah are really fulfilling the requirements of this verse. Another relevant verse is:

Surah Taubah verse 24

Sahih International

Ibn Taymiyyah when commenting about this verse says look at this strong threat from Allah swt. The last part where Allah swt say wait until Allah executes His command, is a very strong. If there is preparation for something then it is something more severe than what could happen now.

If you allow natural love to take precedence over shariah love, then it is a sign that you are showing love for this world more than love for Allah swt. Your heart just goes to something other than pleasing Allah swt. You know that Allah swt is asking you to do something, but your heart gives precedence to something else.

Here Allah swt emphasizes love for Allah and his Messenger.

Sh thinks this is a very important verse for people to reflect upon this verse and this dunya has many demands on us -- not just financial, physical, but also on our emotions. There’s nothing wrong with natural love. Nothing wrong with being engaged in this dunya, but where is your priority, where is your real love? Is it in these things? If so, then it is a wake-up call. And whatever it is that you are loving and it is definitely not as deserving of your love (SWT).

Surah Ali Imran verse 31

Sahih International

Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah , then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

This verse has many important points:

#1 As reported by Hasan al Basri and others, during the lifetime of the prophet there were many people who claimed that they loved Allah swt, then Allah swt tried them. You cannot have love for Allah swt and that there are no signs of this feeling. THere has to be signs. If you really have love for Allah swt then you should hope and wish that Allah swt loves you, you should have this feeling of reciprocation.

We will continue next time with this verse and then discuss a hadith that will give us great hope, Insha-allah.

2012-02-28 Class Notes

Ibn Taymiyyah says that Allah swt is shuqoor for the actions performed by the individual, which is the joy in the heart of the individual who truly loves Allah swt above every thing else. This is the taste of sweetness as a result of this action.

Ibn Qayyim says that the reality of putting Allah swt and the prophet above anything else is at the outset one of the most difficult things, as you first set out on that path, since the shaytan, your brethren, your family are trying to be more beleived to you than the path towards Allah swt and the prophet. But as you go on that path, and you begin to experience the joy, it becomes easier, the love from Allah swt grows and it becomes easier and easier to follow that path. THen everything else becomes secondary. But you have to make the effort to grow your imaan, to develop strong love for ALlah, strong tauheed, strong reliance on Allah swt.

We will discuss loving for the sake of Allah swt in the next session.

The last part of the hadith, where you hate kufr. a lot of scholars did not comment on it. Because most of them grew up in Islam and they did not recognize it. If somebody grew up in state of kufr and they did not know the joy of being on the path of Allah swt, so when one starts tasting the sweetness, the last thing that invidiual would want would be to go back to the state of kufr. This was more relevant to the sahaba, but a lot of meaning of it was lost to many scholars who came later, since they did not experience jahiliyyah.

If you can imagine in the state of kufr, where you want to worship God, but dont know how to perform it, this is a really difficult state to be in. And once you enter Islam and taste its sweetness, you would not want to go back to kufr.

In another hadith, a man came to the prophet and asked him when is the hour? The prophet did not answer his question directly, he redirected his question, and Prophet asked him what have you prepared for the hour? So when is the hour is not the issue, but the preparation for the hour is much more important, because the hour could come much later after your death. The man said that he did not prepare much, however I love Allah and his messenger.

SOmetimes you might love somebody but might not be in the situation to do more. In some narrations, it says that the man was a bedouin, and they have a very tough life.

ANd then the prophet said, you will be with the ones you love.

Anas said, this hadith made them happier than anything else they heard from the prophet. He said that I love the prophet and Abu Baqr and Umar, and I hope that I will be with them, even though my deeds are not similar to theirs.

Even if your love for Prophet and Allah is strong, it might not be comparable to the love that Abu Bakr and Umar had for Allah and the Prophet. Their love might have been much stronger because of their knowledge and other things.

SO you might not be at the same rank, then you would be with them in jannah and you would have opportunity to be with them in jannah, and this is based on number of other reports.

In another hadith also from Sahih Bukhari, there was a man in the time of the prophet, his name was Abdullah most likely, his nickname was also Himaar or donkey, he was humorous and he would make the Prophet laugh. At the same time, he was an alcoholic and he received punishment for it. One of the people among the sahaba cursed this person for drinking alcohol. The prophet said, dont curse this man, because I know he loves Allah and his messenger. (Shaikh also read the hadith about all of the persons who are cursed who are dealing in alcohol, one who crushes the grape, one who sells it, one who buys it, etc etc)

Most muslims are in the state like this man in the above hadith. Most muslims have love for Allah and the prophet and they do not realize that, that by itself is not sufficient. You should not let your desires, your customs to hold sway over you. You have to let your love for Allah and the prophet to grow in your heart, to the point that it is stronger than anything else. This love needs to be developed further, it is a part of the bounty of allah swt, that it is part of our fitrah to love allah swt. Every human being has it in his heart to love Allah swt.

Ibn Al Qayyim in his book Madarij al Salikeen, he describes ten means by which an individual can increase his love for Allah swt. At the end he says, starting from these ten causes, the person can reach the level of true lovers of Allah swt, but it is contingent on two things, استعداد الروح لهذا الحال first preparing your soul for this matter and secondly opening one’s eyes and vision for it -- افتتاح العين لهذه البصيرة.

You have to prepare for the goal and be aware that the goal will make some demands on you. And everything else should become secondary to Allah swt. You have to become spiritually and be ready for change. It takes understanding, vision, and knowledge.

He mentions ten points which we will not discuss in order or detail. Shaikh has read these ten points in many books and articles but the authors rarely try to explain it. Shaikh will try to offer some explanation for these points.

#1 Recite the Qur’an and understand its message in order to get its meaning and message.

Al-Hassan Al-Basri said that people have taken recitation of the Qur’an as its action, but reflecting on it and acting on it is the real action. While much of our learning must come from narration, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t reflect upon its mean. We have to reflect on what it means on my situation. You may need to discuss with other people, but you get the chance to get its meaning in your situation.

Sahih International

Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an, or are there locks upon [their] hearts?

Allah swt says do they not ponder over the quran or over their hearts are seals. Allah swt says this is blessed book so that people can reflect upon it.

Ibn Masood says, if someone is pleased and wants to love Allah and his messenger then he should read the mushaf.

The Quran is a beautiful miracle. A beauty in all its forms is attraction to human beings, it speaks to your heart in ways that you cannot imagine. It will fill your heart with desire to get closer to Allah swt. You will be very grateful to Allah swt and that he sent this Qur’an to us and made us able to understand it. Philosophers debate how the infinite can speak with the finite, arguing it is beyond our means -- but who cares? But the fact is that it is in front of us and we can get an understanding from it. You will love the book so much, that you will increase your love for its author. The book will become so dear to you and you would thank Allah swt and this gratefulness would turn into love of Allah swt.

You will see how Allah swt saves us from the ways of the shaytan and all other means in this dunya. You will appreciate it from the ways that it saves you. Every time you walk upon the path, it increases your love.

2012-03-06 Class Notes

Ibn al Qayim in one book called Madarij al saalikeen. in which he discusses how to increase love for Allah swt. When people read this, they think that these are actions that will increase love from Allah swt to his abd, it is because of the vagueness of the language, but it is in reality how to increase love of Allah swt and that would in return increase the love from Allah swt to his abd.

#2: Performing voluntary deeds after performing the obligatory deeds

This will take the individual from a state of love to a special rank of love. And he quotes the hadith or verse??? By following this way, the individual would reach special rank of love. If individual does the actions with imaan in his heart, they will increase his love for Allah swt. Because when you worship and perform the voluntary actions it will increase the love, just as you go the extra mile in your love for your spouse

When you do these actions in addition you receive also the sweetness of imaan. You get the corresponding feeling that you grow closer to Allah SWT. We hear the hadith of the Prophet (SAWS) when he mentions tasting the sweetness of imaan. Just the sweetness of imaan can increase the love for Allah (SWT).

One of the salaf mentions, that sometimes it occurs to me that if peoiple in jannah are in the state are in the same state as we are, then they are in good state. Here he is talking about the feeling of sweetness of faith.

Suppose you have find some money and when you return it, then you feel the joy because you know that you have done the right action. And more and more you realize that by performing voluntary deeds, that is increasing the feeling of ALlah swt becoming more beloved to you. And as the salaf said you have feeling of jannah in your heart.

When Ibn Taymiyyah was arrested (as he was on a number of occasions), one time he told Ibn al Qayyim, “What can these people do to me? My jannah is in my chest. And when they put me in prison it is a form of khalwah (solitude) without having to worry about the matters of this life.”

Prophet (SAWS) says: “The one who has tasted imaan is the one who is pleased with Allah as his lord, Islam as his deen, and Muhammad as his messenger”

This kind of experience is known to those who go through it. There’s a joy/feeling that everyone gets when they worship. But what we neglect is that if we make that a pattern of our life all the time, we can continue to experience that feeling. And this will bring us closer to Allah (SWT) because of the feeling we get from submitting to him.

#3: Have remembrance of Allah under all circumstances.

This remembrance is with one’s heart, one’s deeds and one’s tongue. THis is one of the most important deeds that you can perform. Qur’an reminds us to do this remembrance over and over again in Surah Ahzaab verse 41

In Surah Rad verse 22, Allah swt says, those who are ....... hearts are assured.

This feeling is of intense tranquility, peace and happiness. Remembrance should put believer in this state. If someone has foundation for love of Allah swt, then by remembrance the person increases the love. Just as with spouses, when you remember them, it increases your love. When we think about Allah swt, all of those things by which Allah swt is great in our heart, then by this process of thikr, is by itself is going to increase our love of Allah swt.

Quran and sunnah are filled by different exhortations to remember Allah swt. The most dangerous thing is being heedless or ghaflah towards Allah swt, then your hearts get filled with other things. Your heart and mind gets filled with other things and filled with love of other things.

Words of thikr should have meaning in our heart

We have been commanded in many different ways to keep up our remembrance of Allah (SWT). Unfortunately, the words of thikr become routine, and sometimes if they are in Arabic, we don’t even know the meaning. So they don’t have much effect on us. This is something we have to fight. Once we do this they are no longer a real kind of remembrance of Allah (SWT) so they do not have the impact they are supposed to on us.

Benefits of making thikr

All of the ramifications are hard to describe of the benefits of making thikr. If you just take one verse. Allah (SWT) says “Remember me and I will remember you.” Also in a hadith Qudsi where Allah (SWT) says “I am as my servant thinks of me. I am with him when he remembers me. When he thinks of me in his hear, I think of him. and when he mentions me in a group of people, I mention him in a setting better than his.”

What does this verse and hadith mean?

We should stop and think about it. Allah swt mentions us and remembers us. Full meaning of it is something that we cannot comprehend. In books of tafseer, sahaba explain it that Allah swt is going to support us and help us. These are things that we can express. When Allah swt mentions us in better company, is something that we cannot truly imagine or comprehend. But we know from all the descriptions by sahabaa, that it is something truly special.

#4: Give preference to what Allah swt favors over what you favor when your desire overcomes you

Even if this is a difficult thing, it is a very beneficial thing for you. When your desire is something that is not desirable by Allah swt. You have to give preference to Allah swt over your own nafs. This is having love for Allah swt over everything else, but it also increases your love, since it is a struggle, and it requires sacrifice and effort. When you accomplish it, you feel pleasure from abstaining from your desires. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment and joy. In general all of the actions done as described above, it gives sweetness of imaan in your heart, both in this life and the hereafter. This feeling of pleasure is from Allah swt and it is better than what you have sacrificed.

One of the positive results is that you don’t need those things that you are striving for due to your desires are not the true joys. When you sacrifice for the pleasure of Allah swt, you realize you don’t need those desires. This realization does not happen overnight, it takes some effort. As you strive more and more, this realization occurs.

Halaawat al imaan, the sweetness of Imaan is something that we have to open ourselves spiritually. There are people who have overcome their passions but their visions was not clear enough for them to see, since they were not open to it, they did not see it. Your mind has to be clear and you have to open spiritually to receive this sweetness of Imaan.

#5: The humbling of one’s heart completely in front of Allah

(He commented: this was the most amazing one -- there’s really no way to express this one)

If you think about yourself and ask where you would you be without Allah (SWT) -- your very existence is due to Allah (SWT) and were it not for him you would not have existed. All of the joys that you have experienced in your life would not be there without Allah (SWT). If you ask most people would they have preferred to have never existed or be in existence most would choose to be in existence. That is only through the mercy and will of Allah (SWT). Your existence is dependent upon Allah swt.

Allah swt has given us a simple task to worship him and worship him alone. Even this worship of Allah swt and how deficient we are and what Allah swt deserves from us. As soon as we finish salat is to say astagfirullah, we have finished a good task, and yet we ask for forgiveness, because we know even those good actions have shortcomings. We hope that Allah swt overlooks our shortcomings and accepts them.

We have to think about our relationship with Allah swt.

#6: Time alone with Allah (SWT) at the time of the nuzool and reading his words and then seeking Allah’s forgiveness

Hadith of the prophet which says, Allah swt our lord descends on every night to us when the last third of the night remains and asks is there anyone who needs that I can respond to, is there anyone seeking my forgiveness so that I may forgive him.

To be alone with Allah swt at this time, khalwaatal requires special effort. This is the time of contemplation and being with Allah swt. There are plenty of times during the day for congregational prayers with community and these are good acts. There should be times when you are truly alone with Allah swt when your heart is open and your mind is open and there is nobody else other than you and Allah swt.

This time is also crucial in order to increase the feeling of help, support, forgiveness at that time when you are alone with Allah swt. It is a time of closeness with Allah swt. It is a good time to read the book of Allah swt and to remember Allah swt and to seek repentance from Allah swt. For many people it is difficult to do contemplation at this time, but you should strive to do it.

If you cannot get that time, then maybe just before you go to bed in the evening,, and really think about your relationship with Allah (SWT). So there is no question that this is a special time for us and if we don’t take advantage of it.

For many people the only time they catch that is that they do it in ramadaan as part of Qiyaam. Note that this is still at a time when it is engaged with others. So the only time that they catch this time is in the company of others. It is important to have this special time.

It is not necessary that you physically feel something different. But this hadith tells you that itis different. The knowledge of this fact should affect you.

This shows you that Allah (SWT) is not your enemy. His goal is not to destroy you. Allah (SWT) is willing to help. Especially at that time you should feel that Allah (SWT) is there for you and it should affect your heart.

#7: To be in the company of those sincere people who love Allah (SWT)

The point is that you will benefit from their speech. They won’t speak unless there is some benefit to what they say. If you can spend time in the company off people who know their deen, this will inevitably affect you and will be different from those who don’t have the relationship with Allah (SWT).

You will realize that that difference is Allah (SWT) guiding them through life. This is a very beloved characteristic. When the people saw the Prophet (SAW)’s manners and khuluq they were affected. That can affect your imaan and your relationship with Allah (SWT).

#8: To distance yourself from everything that will be between you and Allah (SWT)

Many times there are similarities between the physical and spiritual hearts. The heart doesn’t just need what is good for it, but it also needs to be protected from what is bad for it. Heart needs exercise just as our body does. But if you follow an unhealthy diet, maybe the food you will do more harm than the good for your heart.

This is the problem with many Muslims. They do the good deeds but they fail in protecting from those things that will harm them. Sins will harm you. It is important that you protect yourself from all kinds of sins, and mental arguments and debates. Some people like to get into arguments with ahl al bidah and this can harm them since doubt could creep into your hear. Dont just debate ahl al bidah, and some doubt might affect your yaqeen and feeling of sacrifice for Allah swt. Some people go to listen some speaker just to know what they are taking about, but this could create doubt in your heart and affect your imaan.

2012-03-13 Class Notes

We have a lot to cover and the conclusion is that we will not be able to finish it this quarter, but our goal is to finish at a point where we can start with a new discussion topic next quarter.

We are discussing the ways in which we can increase our love of Allah swt as described by ibn al Qayyim. We will discuss beneficience and beauty of Allah swt.

#9 Bear witness to Allah’s bounties that are internal and external, his blessings and its munificence.

It is natural for human beings to love those who do good to them. In a statement by ... sahaba, hearts have been created by a natural disposition to love those who do good to them. If this is the case, then the heart is awake to it and thinks about this reality, and this should drive the muslim to love ALlah swt and increase his love of Allah swt. If one reflects upon the bounties and blessings, he realizes that they come from Allah swt (Verse from Quran.... nyamah from Allah) and in addition to that, he will not be able to reckon or count all of his bounties or blessings (again quote from quran, you will not be able to count all blessings).

When you start thinking about it, you start encountering more and more bounties that were not obvious to you earlier, it is an endless process.

In order for this to have the correct effect on us, we should be conscious and recognize this blessings from Allah swt. And we must recognize it comes from Allah swt and only from Allah swt.

And that we are completely dependent upon ALlah swt and that he is independent of us. We are in need and he is not in need (again another quote from the verse, oh human kind you are in need and ALlah is free from all need).

If all of humankind would get together to benefit us they would not be able to do so unless Allah swt wills it. THere is a famous hadith from ibn Abbas, if all of you were to gather to benefit you, they would be able to do so only if Allah wills it....

This should increase our love for Allah swt. This should also increase our desire to worship Allah swt. And this is highlighted in many verse of the Quran (be greatful for the blessings of Allah; be greatful to me for my bounties....)

IN essensce kufr is being ungrateful to Allah swt, you deny the bounties from Allah swt, so in reality it does not increae your love of Allah swt, since you are denying these bounties are from Allah swt. Allah swt describes in the Quran, recognize the grace of Allah and then they yet deny it and they are ungrateful.

Some of these bounties that we have, we take them for granted. By definition, it means that it does not have effect upon us.

Couple of bounties that we should think about in order to have an effect on us

1. Blessing of Islam and Imaan and knowing Allah swt

Inhabitants of jannah are described by Allah swt, they will praise ALlah and say that we would not be guided if Allah swt had not guided us. Infact you cannot guide even those whom you love, it has to come from Allah swt. Hadith: you cannot guide those whom you love, ALlah swt guides those whom he guides......

We take this bounty for granted, specially if you grew up as a Muslim, but those who have converted to Islam, and they had earlier in their life had incorrect ideas about Allah or did not know how to think about Allah, they are aware of this bounty.

THis bounty will save us from hellfire. We have to think about it and be grateful. Majority of mankind are not Muslims. It is a great bounty and blessing from Allah.

2. Bounty of eyesight

Even small things are also important and we should think about them. A contemporary scholar has written a book about it and he presents many stories that are nice reminders.

He narrates that he was driving in Makkah and saw a blind man walking in the street and he appeared to be in difficulty. He stopped and inquired. He gave the man a ride. This man is missing one of the bounties that we have and we sometimes use this bounty in a way that is inappropriate. He asked the man about his difficulties, he said that in middle of night when one of his child is crying, he can feel the pain and emotion, he feels completely helpless. We take this bounty of eyesight completely for granted.

We need to reflect upon these bounties. Majority of mankind are negligent. ALlah swt says in the Quran, we have shown the way and human beings are greatful or ungrateful. Allah swt uses the word grateful and very ungrateful. Notice the intensity for rejecting the bounty of Allah swt.

Even if we try to thank Allah swt, in reality we will be falling short. We are using the bounties in ways that are displeasing to Allah swt.

Best way to seek forgiveness from Allah swt is to say that we recognize your bounties and I admit the sins that I have committed...... We recognize our shortcomings even though ALlah swt is giving and giving.

Many times, even Muslims are upset that Allah swt is not giving them enough.

We dont even think about the number of harms that Allah swt is protecting us from.

#10 The heart perusing and casting a glance at Allah’s name and attributes and knowledge of him and moving about in the garden of his knowledge, he will love Allah without any doubt. Thus the deniers have cut their heart from the attributes and true understanding of Allah swt.

This is the key of all of the points that are discussed by al Qayyim.

Preliminary points: It is difficult to love someone that you do not know. It could be abstract love, but it will not be the love that flows.

Preliminary points: If your object of love, your beloved, truly has qualities to be loved, then the more you know those qualities, then greater will be your love of your beloved. Many scholars whom the shaikh has known and met or read their writings or heard from their students, then shaikh’s love for those scholars is greater than other scholars whom he does not know.

We see this in our worldly life, experts who recognize poetry or art recognize it and love it.

Ibn al qayyim says, Only the vilest of the heart can resist the love of Allah swt. There is no excuse for human being not to love Allah swt. He has either a sick or vile heart or he is too lazy to take steps to love Allah swt. Ibn al qayyim goes further and says, .... love is based on Allah’s names and attributes and it is the one’s who truly get it or understand Allah. It is that beauty and perfection of Allah swt which should be our source for love of Allah swt.

So understanding bounties is not the greatest source of love, rather it is understanding the name and attributes. And that is the reason why those who enter jannah will receive the utmost happiness when they will see Allah swt.

Quran is constantly reminding us about the names and attributes of Allah. Ayat al Kursi the most virtuous verse is about the attributes of Allah, kul hu wallahu ahad is 1/3 of the Quran which describes the attributes of Allah swt.

Our love of Allah should be an intense love and it should be greater than anything else.

Shukoor, Allah swt is shukoor, it is in the intensive form. When you say somebody is appreciative, you do something small for them, and they are so happy and love what you have done. Allah swt loves even the smallest things that we have done and increases our rewards. ANd he overlooks our sins??? misdeeds??? Allah swt is truly shukoor.

Allah swt it truly Halim, many people deny Allah swt, yet he gives them many chances to repent and turn back to Allah swt.

Even in tafseer of the verses, the attributes of Allah swt that are closely related to the verse are skipped in the tafseer, it is just mentioned without highlighting it. One of the greatest travesties in our history is that different groups of aqeedah who were dominant, who stripped away the attributes of Allah based on their theories and reject those attributes.

When Suyooti describes in his tafseer, he says Rahman is one who posseses mercy and it means to want that is good for those who deserve it. So he says Rahmah is simply justice. And then you love somebody who is just stripped away from the true description of Rahmah.

Shaikh reordered the 10 points from ibn Al Qayyim, he has the tenth point is his fifth point. And the fact that he just mentions this points in passing without highlighting them. In fact if you understand these ten points, you will increase your love of Allah swt. Shaikh then made dua for Al Qayyim and thanked him for his work. Amin.

Q: Can you recommend books in Arabic to learn more about names and attributes of Allah swt

A: Four volume set by Najli called النهج الاسمى في شرح أسماء الله الحسنى للنجدي, in Arabic on the names and attributes of Allah swt. Najli is from Kuwait, he goes through each one of the names of Allah swt, what do they mean, and what effect it should have upon you.

On the topic of love of Allah swt, ibn al Taymiyyah spent most of his time refuting the mutazilah and ..... while Ibn al Qayyim spent his time refuting the sufis. In madarrij ....

If you are looking for purification of soul that is not written by Sufis that contains these insights, you should read ibn al Qayyim’s madarri

Qurtubi also has a two volume book on names and attributes.

Sayeed al Qahtani has also a book on names and attributes

Ghazali’s book has been translated into English, but you have to be careful.

In general be careful about any books that say that you have to repeat the name of Allah swt one hundred times or something like that, since they are mostly based on fabricated hadith.

Allah swt has many more names than 99, however there are hadith that enumerate the names, it has ninety names, these hadith are weak, they are not fabricated, and some scholars do not agree upon all of the names that are listed in that hadith, such as Ar Rashid, al Makhsam

In order to love for the sake of Allah swt and that love should be result of loving Allah swt. Next quarter we will discuss loving for the sake of Allah swt and then describe who is wali of Allah swt and how does one become wali of Allah swt. And then we will discuss what Allah swt means that he will help them.