Part 4

Ibn Qutaibah said, "The meaning is that this is what | have written and counted from his words and deeds. They are all recorded here. The verse includes both meanings. That is to say, this person is the one whom | have been accompanying

* He is Mujahid bin Jabr, Abu Al-Hajaj from Mecca. He is from the followers and is a scholar of recitation and exposition. He learned exegesis from Ibn ‘Abbas, a famous scholar of this nation. He passed away in 104 A.H. See Tahdhib At-Tahdhib, vol.1, p.42, Al-Jarh wat-Ta‘dil, vol.8, p.1469, Mizan AlI'tidal, vol.3, p.439, Lisén Al-Mizén, vol.7, p.349, and Siyar Alam An-Nubala‘,

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and these are his deeds, which | have counted. Then Allah, the Almighty will say,

which means, "(And it will be said), "Both of you throw (Order from Allah to the two angels) into Hell." (Qaf, 50:24)

The order may be referring to the two angels or to the angel that accompanied him during life, and it is the same. The way this speech is written is quite famous among the Arabs. Allah then mentioned six characteristics of the person who would be thrown into Hellfire:

One: He is a disbeliever in Allah, His rights, His religion, Monotheism, His Names, His attributes, His Messengers, and His Angels. He disbelieved in His Books and the Resurrection.

Two: He rejects the truth due to his stubbornness and denial.

Three: He hinders good and that includes both the good that would be done to him if he performed good deeds and the good done to other people. There is no good in him neither for himself nor for his people and this is the state of most creatures.

Four: Besides hindering good to people, he transgresses against man with his hand and his tongue. He is unjust and an oppressor.

Five: He is doubtful, in fact he is suspicious.

Six: Although being a polytheist, who sets up another god with Allah, he worships, loves and hates for His sake, swears by Him, gives oaths to Him, and takes friends and enemies for His sake. The disbeliever might even quarrel with his companions from the devils and Satan would accuse him of wronging himself and that he is the one who pushed himself to transgress. His companion would say that it never had the

18 * AL-FAWA'ID: A Collection of Wise Sayings

power to mislead him but he was himself in error and far astray so he chose his condition for himself. Allah says that Satan would say to the people of Hellfire,

which means, "I had no authority over you except that | called you, SO you responded to me." (Ibrahim, 14:22)

So his companion here is Satan and they are disputing in the presence of Allah.

Another group said, "His companion here is the Angel. He will claim that the angel exaggerated in his writing, was unjust, and that he did not commit all these sins, and that the angel was quick and did not give him a chance to repent before he wrote. The Angel would say that he did not add anything in his writing more than what was _ really done and that he was not quick to write. Allah says that Angel would Say,

which means, "But he was himself in error far astray." (Qaf,

Allah, the Almighty would say,

4B)... GU lpia Y UG >

which means, “Dispute not in front of Me." (Qaf, 50:28)

Allah informed us about the quarrels between the disbelievers and Satan in His presence in chapter of As-Safat and Al-A'raf, the disputes of people in His presence in chapter Az-Zumar, and the disputes of people of Hellfire in chapter Ash-Shu'ara' and Sad.

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After that Allah, the Exalted told us that the Punishment He decrees cannot be changed. This is mentioned in the following verse,

which means, "Surely, | shall fill Hell with jinns and men all together." (Hid, 11:119)

Also His promise to the people of faith to enter Paradise and this will never be changed or reneged. ibn ‘Abbas said, "He wants to say that My promise will never be changed either concerning people who obey Me or those who disobey." Mujahid said, "As if He says, "| have executed what | had decreed." And these are the most correct explanations of this verse."

As Al-Farra' said, "The meaning is that no one will tell lies in the presence of Allah as He knows the unseen." And Ibn Qutaibah said, "It means that sayings will never be distorted, increased, or decreased in Allah’s presence. As he said, "The sayings in My presence and not My sayings." This is, "Lies will never be told in My presence." So from this one point the following two verses bear the same meaning. Allah says,

3 Al-Farra' is Yahya bin Ziyad bin ‘Abdullah bin Mansiir, Abu Zakariyya from Kifah. He is a scholar of grammar and linguistics. They used to say to him, “The emir of believers in grammar." He passed away in 207 A.H. See Tahdhib At-Tahdhib, vol.121, p.212, Al-Ansab, vol.10, p.155, and Tarikh Baghdad,

20 * AL-FAWA'ID: A Collection of Wise Sayings

which means, "And | am not unjust (to the least) to My slaves."

And He, the Exalted says,

That is to say, whatever | said and promised will be done and it will always be just. From the other point, Allah described Himself with two things:

One: sayings would never be changed in Allah's presence as He has perfect knowledge.

Two: He will never be unjust toward His servants as He is perfectly just.

Then He told us about the large space in Hellfire and that whenever people would be thrown inside it, Allah says that it would say,

4D Aue of UA >

which means, "Are there anymore (to come)?" (Qaf, 50:30)

He is wrong who says that this verse indicates the negative, that is to say: that there would be no more to come. Many authentic hadiths refutes this interpretation.

Attributes of the People of Paradise

Allah told us that Paradise will be brought near the pious people and that its peopie have four characteristics:

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One: They are oft-returning to Allah in sincere repentance. These believers always return to Allah after committing sins and start to obey and remember Allah. ‘Ubaid bin 'Umair said, "The repentant is the one who remembers his sins and asks forgiveness for them." Mujahid said, "He is the one who asks forgiveness when he remembers his sins while he is alone. And Sa'id bin Al-Musaiyab* said, "He is the one who commits sin, repents, commits again, and repents again.”

Three: Allah, Exalted says,

“He is Sa'id bin Al-Musaiyab bin Hazan bin Abu Wahab Al-Makhzimy AlQurashy. His surname was Abu Muhammad. He was the head of the followers and one of the seven top jurists in Medina. He used to be called the narrator of 'Umar because he was the best among people to memorize laws under the leadership of ‘Umar bin Al-Khattaéb. He (may Allah be merciful to him) passed away in 94 A.H. See Tahdhib At-Tahdthib, vol.4, p.84, Tarikh AlBukhary Al-Kabir, vol.3, p.510, Al-Jarh wat-Ta‘dil, vol.4, p.262, and Siyar Alam An-Nubala’, vol.4, p.217.

5 He is Qatadah bin Du'amah bin ‘Aziz, Abu Al-Khattab As-Suddsy from Basra. He was an exegete and a memorizer. He was blind and passed away in 118 A.H. See Tahdhib At-Tahdhib, vol.8, p.351, Tarikh Al-Bukhary Al-Kabir, vol.7, p.185, Al-varh wat-Ta’‘dil, vol.7, p.756, Mizan Al-l'tidal, vol.3, p.385, and Lisan Al-Mizan, vol.7, p.341.

which means, "Who feared the Most Beneficent (Allah) in the Ghaib (unseen): (i.e. in this worldly life before seeing and meeting Him)." (Qaf, 50:33)

This verse declares the Existence, Divinity, and Power of Allah and His knowledge of every detail of His servants’ conditions, His Books, Messengers, orders and prohibitions, His promise, threat, and standing before Him on the Day of Resurrection.

Four: Allah, the Almighty says,

which means, “And brought a heart turned in repentance (to Him - and absolutely free from each and every kind of polytheism)." (Qaf, 50:33)

Ibn ‘Abbas said, “He is far from sins and rushes to obey Allah. The reality of repentance is to devote the heart to obedience, love, and striving to be near to Allah.” Allah then mentioned the reward of the one, who has these attributes. Allah says,

ae Cal Gb sl E bem oT aus wh wb STp

which means, "Enter you therein in peace and security; this is a Day of eternal life! There they will have all that they desire, and We have more (for them, i.e. a glance at the Almighty, AllMajestic)." (Qaf, 50:34-35)

Then He frightened them with the destruction that had happened to those who were before them. Such were stronger in power but that did not prevent their destruction. And when the time of destruction came, they ran seeking refuge in the land! Could they find any place of refuge to save themselves from destruction? Qatadah said, "The enemies of Allah got into a fix and found that the order of Allah would catch up with them." Az-Zajjaj said, "They ran seeking refuge but did not find

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any other way except death.” They searched for any other refuge other than death but they did not find any.”

which means, "A reminder for him who has a heart or gives ear while he is heedful." (Qaf, 50:37)

He then told us that He created the heavens and the earth and all between them in six Days and that nothing of fatigue touched Him. He accused His enemies from among the Jews of lying when they said that Allah rested on the seventh day. Then He ordered His Prophet to follow His example and be patient toward what his enemies are saying about him, as Allah was patient toward what the Jews had said about Him. And there is no one more capable of being patient than Him. He ordered him to do something that will help him to be patient, and that is to glorify the Praises of His Lord, before the rising of the sun and before its setting (i.e. the Fajr, Zhuhr, and 'Asr prayers), as well as during a part of the night also, glorify His praises (i.e. Maghrib and ‘Isha’ prayers). Likewise there are more prayers other than the Fard prayers: (As-Sunnah, Nawéafil optional and additional prayers). It was said that after the /sha prayer is Al-Witr prayer (Odd prayer) and said it means the two rak'ahs after Maghrib (Sunset Prayer). The first is the opinion of Ibn ‘Abbas and the other is of 'Umar, ‘Aly, Abu Hurairah, and AlHasan bin ‘Aly. And there is a third opinion from Ibn ‘Abbas that it means glorifying Allah verbally after every obligatory prayer.