. J Â .r ऀँ J Â .r (cont.)

The command was repeated with respect to the believers due to the importance of the command itself and the fact that all true servants of Allah must abide by it. 2 The believers must also do their best to get their sustenance through legal means and to consume only 1 Cf., Muhammad ibn Ashoor, Ta/seer al-Tahreer wa al-Tanweer (no publication information riven), vo.L 1.s. p. 68. Cf., al-Smd1, Sharh, p. 54. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi what is good and legal. Hence, the Prophet (peace be upon him) then quoted the following verse: " 'O believers! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you."' Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) quoted the following verse, J ., ,,,,. 0 .z..., / (',--.4-:; C: ઌ . I ."'tࣾ I Ǜ ;\;  .:U \ 1 "..d.୑ r-- JJ . i:..r: _,...-- )'-'-'° j ....:._.r.; A ; ; "O believers! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you" (al­ Baqara 172). In the Quran, this verse follows a number of verses in which the disbelievers are rebuked for prohibiting some pure and good things that Allah has allowed them. They prohibited them supposedly as an act of worship of Allah, although Allah never sanctioned such behavior. Hence, Allah commands the believers to eat of the pure things that Allah has allowed them. So the believers have been given the same command as the messengers. They must only consume what is pure and goodin other words, what is allowed by the shareeah. They must neither disallow what Allah has permitted nor may they consume what Allah has forbidden. In the context of this hadith, however, it seems that the point stressed here by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is that one must not consume what Allah has prohibited. Consuming what Allah has prohibited takes the person further away from Allah and may cut him off from Allah's mercy. Therefore, the messengers and their followers are ordered to eat from the good and permissible sources and to do righteous deeds. Ibn Rajab states, As long as the food eaten is permissible, then the good deeds are accepted. If the food eaten is not permissible, how, then, could the deeds be accepted? What is mentioned later concerning supplication and how it will not be accepted while one is participating in forbidden acts is an indication of how far away deeds are from being accepted when the person is sustaining himself through forbidden means. 1 The order to "eat" in this verse implies permissibility and is not an obligation. Scholars have divided consuming food into five categories. The first category is that which is obligatory. This is the amount of food that it takes for one to survive and maintain himself. The second category is that food for which one will also receive a reward for eating. This is the food that is specifically consumed with the intention that it will give one the strength needed to perform acts of worship and so forth. The permissible food is that which is beyond the first two categories. The next category is that of disapproval, where the person eats more than what he needs to satisfy and fill 1 Ibn Rajah, Jaami, vol. 1 , p. 260. ' l l Hadith #10: "Allah is pure and accepts only .. " himself. The fifth category is the forbidden level where one eats so much or such foods that he actually is physically harming his body and his ability to worship Allah. 1 "Then he [the Prophet (peace be upon him)] mentioned a man ... " The remainder of this hadith is a very moving example that the Prophet (peace be upon him) has given. As shall be seen, the man has done almost everything that one should do in order for his supplication to be answered. However, because he is living his life off of forbidden means, Allah may not respond to him, even though Allah loves to respond to those who call on Him. Allah has said in the Quran, ..!.IOI! ,,. ,,.. J J .!- ,,. ,,., / ઇઈ; 11._ r-1:UI ÉÌ; Í Ü , ..Ju . અ ($*' આ -iJJt.::. 11) , , ࣯ , 1 .... ; '-5; ,,.. ,... ; "And when My servants ask you [O Muhammad] concerning Me, then [answer them] that I am indeed near. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me. So let them obey me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright" ( al-Baqara 1 86). "after a long journey" This is the first characteristic that the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned about that man. Ibn Daqeeq al-Eid and others understand this to mean that the person has undertaken a long journey for the cause of worship, such as for jihad or Hajj .2 This is not explicitly mentioned in the hadith. However, it is sufficient that the person was on a journey and was invoking Allah.