Part 7

A Precious Gem: Prophetic Hadiths Eliminating Grief and Distress

It is recorded in Musnad Ahmad and Sahih Abu Hatim on the authority of ‘Abdullah bin Mas'id that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Whoever was afflicted with grief and distress and says, ‘Allahumma inny ‘abduk, wa ibn ‘abdik,

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wa ibn amatik, nasiyaty biyadik, madin fiyya hukmuk, ‘Adlun_ fiyya qada'uk, as'‘aluka bikul ism huwa_ lak, sammaita bihi nafsak, aw anzaltahu fy kitabik, aw ‘allamtahu ahadan min khalqik, aw ista'tharta bihi fy ‘ilmilghaibi 'indik, an taj'ala al-qur'ana rabi'a qalby, wa nira sadry, wa jala' huzny, wa dhahaba hammy (O Allah! | am Your Servant, the son of Your Servant, the son of Your Maid servant. You have control over me. Your Judgment is executed on me. Your Decree on me is just. |! ask You by each Name of Yours by which You have called Yourself, revealed in Your Book, taught to any of Your servants, or kept as a secret in the knowledge of the unseen with You, to make the Qur'an the spring (delight) of my heart, the light of my chest, the eliminator of my sorrow, and the remover of my worries),' Allah, the Exalted and Ever-Majestic, will remove his grief and will change his sorrow into happiness." It was said, "O Messenger of Allah! (Do) we have to learn these words?" He said, "Yes, whoever hears them should learn them."

This great prophetic tradition implies certain matters of knowledge, monotheism and submission, for example the supplicant starts by saying, "| am Your servant, the son of Your servant, and the son of Your maid servant." This includes the forefathers of the supplicant until we reach Adam and Eve. In other words, the supplication indicates submission and full compliance to Allah, besides the confession of being His servant along with his forefathers.

It asserts the fact that the servant has no one but his Lord, His blessings and His graces. Whenever his Lord ignores him, surely he is a looser, with no refuge or support.

This confession means, | am in dire need of You, and | have no supporter or refuge other than You and it infers that the supplicant is submissive, obedient, and forbearing. He acts according to his submission to Allah, not according to his feelings of self-sufficiency. To provide help and comfort is the

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role of kings and masters, not servants. However, the actions of servants are based on submission, in order to reach the level of those obedient servants described by Allah, the Exalted. Allah says,

which means, “Certainly, you shall have no authority over My slaves." (Al-Hijr, 15:42)

And He, the Almighty says,

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which means, “And the slaves of the Most Beneficent (Allah) are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness." (Al-Furgan, 25:63)

Other kinds of servants are those slaves of submission and lordship. Ascribing them to Allah resembles ascribing houses to His Kingdom, or ascribing the Sacred Mosque to Him, or like ascribing the Camel to Him, or His Paradise, and finally ascribing the submission of His Messenger to Him in the following Qur'anic verse,

which means, "And if you (Arab pagans, Jews, and Christians) are in doubt conceming that which We have sent down (i.e. the Qur'an) to Our slave (Muhammad)..." (Al-Bagarah, 2:23)

And He, the Almighty says,

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which means, "Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allah) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him] Who took His slave (Muhammad SAW) for a journey by night.” (Al-Isra’, 17:1)

And He, the Almighty says,

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which means, "(It has been revealed to me that) When the slave of Allah (Muhammad SAW) stood up invoking (his Lord Allah) in prayer to Him..." (Al-Jinn, 72:19)

The correct meaning of, "| am Your servant" indicates full submission, compliance, and repentance to Allah, as well as being obedient to one's Lord and avoiding His prohibitions , depending on Him, seeking His help and support, seeking refuge in Him from evil, and finally being related to Him with feelings of love, fear and hope. It also indicates, "| am Your servant in all cases, whether young or grown up, living or dead, obedient or disobedient, in a good condition or otherwise (i.e. being afflicted in the soul, heart, tongue or bodily organs)."

Moreover, it means, "| am all Yours, both my money and myself," for the servant and all that which he possesses belong to his master.

It also means, “You are the one who bestowed all those blessings upon me, so those blessings are really Yours."

It also includes, "I can't act freely in that which You granted me, either my money or myself, except by Your orders, as no servant can behave freely except with his master's permission. | can neither hurt nor benefit myself, and | possess no power (of causing) death, nor (of giving) life, nor of raising the dead. So, if he really believes in all that which was previously mentioned, then he has confessed his full submission to Allah.

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The sentence, "My forelock is in Your hands," means, "! cannot act freely as far as my soul is concerned,” for how can he act freely when his soul is possessed by his Lord, his forelock is in His hands, his heart is between two of His fingers, and moreover, his death, life, happiness, misery, good-condition, and affliction are in the charge of his Lord, the Exalted? By no means is the servant in the charge of himself. The master owns him, and he is weaker than any worthless slave whose forelock is in the grasp of a powerful and mighty ruler. It is so much more than that.

Whenever the servant of Allah confesses the fact that his forelock and the forelock of all other servants are in the grasp of Allah (i.e. under His control), he will neither fear nor aspire to any worldly sovereign nor will he overestimate them, because he knows quite well that they are but subdued servants, whose destiny is controlled by Allah. Whoever confesses this fact, surely will stand in need of Allah and whenever he witnesses the reality of other people, he will neither overestimate them nor exaggerate in seeking their support. In this way, his belief, trust and submission will be turned to Allah alone. This is the reason behind Hid's speech to his people when he said in the Quranic verse,

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which means, "I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving (living) creature but He has grasp of its forelock. Verily, my Lord is on the Straight Path (the truth)."

The sentence, "Your Judgment is executed on me. Your Decree on me is just," implies two themes, the first of which is the execution of His judgment on His servant.

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The second theme implies praising Him and that His Decree is just, in addition to the fact that Allah, the Exalted, is the Dominion, and that to Him belong all praise and thanks, and that is the meaning of Hid's words, "There is not a moving (living) creature but He has grasp of its forelock," and also his words, “Verily, my Lord is on the Straight Path (the truth)." In other words, despite the fact that Allah is the Dominion, the Almighty and the Controller of the destiny of His servants as their forelocks are in His grasp, yet He is on the straight path. He is the Just One, Who oversees His servants’ affairs justly. He is on the straight path in His words, His actions, His judgment, His destiny, His commandments, His prohibitions, His rewards and His punishment. His verses are truthful, His Judgmentis correct, and His commandments are beneficial. He prohibited all that which is evil and mischievous. His reward descends upon those who deserve His mercy and grace. His punishment descends upon those who deserve torment by means of His Justice and wisdom.

There is a distinction between judgment and decree, because judgments are executed and decrees are just.

The judgment of Allah, the Exalted, implies His legitimate judgment and His preordained judgment upon the whole universe. Both judgments are executed on human beings, who are subjected to them, either willingly or unwillingly. However, there is only one distinction between the two, the preordained universal judgment is compulsory, whereas the _ religious judgment is optional.

On the other hand, decree means completion and perfection whenever it is executed. The expression "Your decree is just" means "Your decree which you completed, and perfected is the rightful one.

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The word "judgment" refers to every commandment prescribed by Allah, the Exalted. The judgment of Allah is ordained. Religious judgments will surely be executed, and universal ones will be executed if it is ordained by Allah. Verily, Allah executes that which He ordains, and anyone else can decide whichever judgment he wants but he may still lack the ability to execute it. Allah alone has the power of judgment and implementation. The expression, "Your decree is just" comprises ail the decrees ordained by Allah upon His servant: ilIness or health, luxury or poverty, pleasure or pain, life or death, punishment or reward etc.

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which means, "And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much." (Ash-Shara, 42:30)

And He, the Almighty also says, wee ait, oh ge es Bee SR

which means, "but when some ill befalls them because of the deeds which their hands have sent forth, then verily, man (becomes) ingrate!" (Ash-Shira, 42:48)

Every decree ordained upon the servant of Allah is just. The Perception of Destiny and Decree in Other Sects

It was argued, "If sin is preordained by Allah's decree and destiny, then, where is justice?” Justice here is concealed.

It was replied, "That's a good question, and for that reason a sect once claimed that only justice is preordained but injustice is inconceivable." They answered, "Injustice is the disposal in

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other's property, and Allah is the Owner of all things. Accordingly, His disposal of affairs is just, concerning His creation.

Another sect claimed, "Justice means to abstain from punishing for that which is preordained and predestined, so as long as He approved of the punishment, then sin is neither preordained nor predetermined. Thus, punishment for one's sin is just, and it is the consequence of one’s words and deeds in this worldly life.”