A poem which made Ahmed ibn Hanbal cry

Abu Hamid Al-Khulqani said: I asked Ahmed ibn Hanbal (Rahimahullah):  "O Abu Abdullah, Here is a poem which mentions Paradise and Hell? What do you say about these". He asked, "Like what?" He said, "It says:

إذا ما قال لي ربي

 أما استحييت تعصيني

وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي

 وبالعصيان تأتيني

"When my Lord asks me,
Are you not ashamed to disobey Me?
And you hide your sins from My creation,
And with disobedience (sins) you come to Me"" 

Ahmad said, "Read it to me again", so he did. Then Ahmad went into his house and closed the door. Then Abu Hamid said, “I could hear him from inside the house weeping and reciting :

إذا ما قال لي ربي

 أما استحييت تعصيني

وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي

 وبالعصيان تأتيني

"When my Lord asks me,
Are you not ashamed to disobey Me?
You hide your sins from My creation,
And with disobedience (sins) you come to Me""

Source

Oh, they left me alone to suffer the torture

Imam Adh-Dhahabi mentions this story in “Kitabul-Kabaair”

““Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Al-Feriabi said, “Once I went out accompanied with a group of my friends to visit Abu Sann'an, (May Allah have mercy on him). When we entered his house and sat down for a while, he said, “Let us visit a neighbor whose brother has recently died to console him.”

Then, we all went to the man but we found him wailing and impatient for the death of his brother. Accordingly, we tried to console him but of no avail. We admonished him that death is an inevitable end. Then, he said, I know. I just weep for my brother’s death abode and the torture he is in.

We asked, “Did Allah enable you to know the Unseen?” He said,” Of course not, but when I buried him and people went away I sat down by his grave.

Meanwhile, I heard a sound of distress. I heard someone crying.” ‘Oh, they left me alone to suffer the torture. I was praying, and fasting’. The brother went on saying “I wept out of pity for those words and I began to dig the grave to see his status. The grave was full of fire and I noticed a circle of fire around his neck. Out of pity I extended my arm to help him out from the fire. No sooner I extended my hand ,my fingers were burnt. Then, the man showed us his burnt hand.

He went on saying; “I hoarded the earth over him and went away. Thus, how can I keep patient after I have seen how he is”.

We, then, asked, "What did your brother do in this world (to deserve such a status)?"

He replied. “He did not pay Zakah from his money."

We said, "This is in accordance with Allah's saying,

{And let not those who covetously withhold of that which Allah has bestowed on them of His Bounty (Wealth) think that it is good for them (and so they do not pay the obligatory Zakat). Nay, it will be worse for them; the things which they covetously withheld shall be tied to their necks like a collar on the Day of Resurrection. And to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth; and Allah is Well-Acquainted with all that you do.} (Al-Imran: 180)

Your brother, therefore, is being tortured in advance in his grave until the Day of Judgment.”

Afterwards, we went to Abu Dharr (Radiy Allah anhu), the companion of the prophet (Sallallahu ‘alahi Wasallam), and told him this man's story. We also said, "When a Jew or a Christian dies, we do not notice them suffering like this," He said; "They are undoubtedly in the Hell-fire. Allah shows you the abode of the Muslims in order to learn the lesson. Allah, the Most High, says,

{Verily, proofs have come to you from your Lord, so whosoever sees, will do so for (the good of) his ownself, and whosoever blinds himself, will do so to his own harm, and I (Muhammad SAW) am not a watcher over you.)} (AI-An' am: 104)””

Your Heart is the Pillar of Your Worship

By Sheikh Abdullah Azzam

 "...the heart is the machine that drives all acts of worship. It is what moves the entire body! As long as the heart is alive, then the limbs will be alive, and the soul will open itself up to worship. However, if the heart becomes diseased, then worship will become too heavy on the soul, leading to it eventually disliking and hating - and we seek refuge with Allah from this - worship. Because of this, Allah - the Glorified and Exalted - said, regarding the prayer:

{"...and truly, it is extremely heavy and hard except on those who are submissive..."} [al-Baqarah; 45]

The prayer is heavy, because one's legs and hands are not what get up for the prayer. What gets up for the prayer are the heart and the soul.

{"Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up for the prayer, they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little."} [an-Nisa'; 142]

Because of this, it is the heart that stands up for worship. The limbs are simply slaves of this heart, carrying out what it commands them. If the heart is alive, then the soul will be alive, and worship will become beloved and sweetened to the hearts and the souls, and they will open up for it. However, if the heart becomes diseased, then worship becomes too heavy on it. The heart is like the digestive system: right now, the most beloved thing to you is meat. However, if you develop an ulcer somewhere in your digestive system, then the meat - along with its fat and oil - becomes the most hated thing to it, since it is diseased. Sweets are also something that are beloved to the soul. For example, if you were fasting right now and were to break your fast on some desserts, then your soul would become satisfied with that, right? However, if one were to be stricken with diabetes, then he would not be able to handle these sugary foods, even if they were beloved to him. The heart is like this: it must be strong so that it can handle worship that is strong. The stronger your heart becomes, then throw as much worship upon it as you wish. You would get up to pray at night, and you would cherish this prayer and consider sleep to be your enemy:

{"Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope..."} [as-Sajdah; 16]

He begins to forsake it because an enmity develops between him and his bed. He prays behind the imam, and he says to himself: "If only he would make the prayer longer," so that he would increase in his opening up to this worship, and his tasting of its sweetness. At times, I would pray a normal prayer with the people behind me, so I would elongate the prayer.

The youth would then come to me and say (the hadith): "Whoever leads the people in prayer should go easy on them," - the youth! And there was an old man behind me who was between 90 and 100 years of age - his face filled with light - and he would say to me: "Keep making the prayer long and do not answer them." A man of 90 years getting pleasure out of a long prayer, and a youth of 20, who probably practices karate and judo, cannot handle the same prayer. Why? If he went to the soccer field and spent two hours playing there without becoming bored, then why would he become bored from hearing the Qur'an for five minutes? The difference between a short prayer and a long prayer is simply five minutes, so why does he become bored from these five minutes of Qur'an, yet he does not become bored from two hours of soccer? Why does he not get bored from standing for two hours staring at an inflated piece of leather, his heart attached to it? Because, what stands up to pray is the heart, and what stands up for sports are simply the body and muscles."

['at-Tarbiyah al-Jihadiyyah wal-Bina''; 1/220]

Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Mu'een and the Hadith fabricator

On one occasion, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Mu'een prayed in the Ar-Rassafah Mosque. A storyteller stood among the people gathered in the Mosque and said,

"Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Mu'een related to me from 'Abdur-Razzaq from Qatadah from Anas that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alahi Wasallam) said…..”

He continued to relate twenty or so pages worth of narrations, while Ahmad stared in amazement at Yahya and Yahya stared in amazement at Ahmad. Each asked the other, "Did you relate this?"

And each of them answered, "By Allah, until this hour, I had not heard this." When the storyteller was finished, Yahya asked, "And who related this to you?" He said,"Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Mu'een."

Yahya said, "I am Yahya and this is Ahmad, and we have never heard of this to be among the sayings of the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alahi Wasallam)"

The storyteller said, "I used to always hear that Yahya ibn Mu'een was an imbecile, but that fact has not dawned upon me until now." Yahya asked, "And how is that?" He said, "Is there not any Yahya ibn Mu'een and Ahmad ibn Hanbal in the world other than you two? I have indeed written from seventeen Ahmad ibn Hanbals and Yahya ibn Mu'eens”.

Tahdheer al-Khawas min Akadheeb al-Qussas by As-Suyootee

Source: The Sunnah and its role in Islamic legislation by Dr. Mustafa as-Siba'ee / Translated by Faisal ibn Muhammad Shafeeq / P122

The status of the shuhadha and the Muraabit on the Day of Judgment

When the people will be filled with terror on the Day of Judgment, the shaheed (martyr) will feel no fear.

In Sunan at-Tirmidhi and sunan ibn Maajah it is narrated that Al-Miqdaam ibn Ma’di Karb related: The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alahi Wasallam) said:

“Before Allah, the shaheed has six virtues: he is forgiven from the first drop of blood shed; he will be shown his place in paradise; he will be protected from the torment of the grave; he will be safe from the greater terror (of the Day of Resurrection); a crown of dignity will be placed on his head, of which one ruby is better than this world and all that is it; he will be married to seventy two of Al-Hoor al ‘Iyn; and he will intercede for seventy of his relatives. “ (1)

The pertinent point of this Hadith is that the shaheed will be safe from the greater terror, the terror of the Day of Resurrection. Similar to the Shaheed (Martyr) is the the muraabit, who guards the borders of Islam for the sake of Allah. If he dies whilst he is guarding the borders of Islam, Allah will keep him safe from the greater terror.

Tabaraani narrated with a saheeh isnaad from Abu’d-Dardaa’ that the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alahi Wasallam) said:

“Guarding the borders of Islam for a day is better than fasting for a lifetime. Whoever dies guarding the borders of Islam for the sake of Allah will be kept from the great terror, his provision and breeze will be brought from Paradise, and the reward of the Muraabit will continue until Allah resurrects him.”(2)

One of the ways in which Allah will honor the shaheed on the day of Resurrection will be that He will raise him with his wounds flowing with blood. The color will be blood but it will smell like musk.

Bukhari narrated from Abu Hurayrah ( Radi Allah anhu) that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alahi Wasallam) said:

“By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, no one is wounded for the sake of Allah- and Allah knows best who is wounded for His sake- but he will come on the Day of Resurrection with his wounds flowing with blood . The color will be of blood but smell musk.”(3)

Tirmidhi, Nasaa’i and Abu Dawood narrated with a saheeh isnaad from Mu’aadh ibn Jabal that he heard the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alahi Wasallam) say:

“Whoever fights for the sake of Allah , even for the interval between two milkings of a camel, will be entitled to Paradise, and whoever is wounded or injured for the sake of Allah , the injury will appear on the Day od Resurrection bleeding copiously , the color of saffron and with the fragrance of musk.” (4)

Ibn  Hajar said: “The scholars said: ‘The reason why he will be resurrected in this state is that it will be a testimony to his virtue, becausae he sacrificed himself in Obeying Allah.”” (5)

(1)Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh, 2/358, Hadith no.3834. The editor of Al-Mishkaat said its isnaad is saheeh.

(2)Saheeh al-Jaami’ as-Sagheer, 3/171, hadith no. 3473.

(3) Bukhari: kitaab al-Jihaad, Baab man yujrah fi Sabeel Allah, Fath al-Baari, 6/20.

(4) Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh, 2/355, Hadith no.3825.

(5)Fath al-Baari, 6/20.

Taken from the book "The Day of Resurrection" by Dr. 'Umar S. al-Ashqar