. J (cont.)

The extent of this closeness, protection and care from Allah is described in another hadith, wherein Allah says, "My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have imposed upon him. And My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. 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 foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him; and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it."1 Finally, al-Haitami makes the point that "in front" is the only direction mentioned. He says that this is the case because every human being is headed forward, forward to the Hereafter, and is not going to remain in this world. Hence, he is like a traveler who is moving on. He is in need of having Allah in front of him, in the direction that he is moving, in order to protect him and safeguard him in thatjourney.2 "If you ask, ask of Allah." This is an advice to ask only of Allah and not to ask any of His creation. 3 In the Quran, also, Allah has ordered His servants to ask from Him. Allah says, .!!. ߜ , :U\ lp!.:j "And ask of Allah of His bounty" (al-Nisaa 32).1 1 Recorded by al-Bukhari. This hadith is Hadith Number 38 of this collection and shall be discussed in more detail at its proper location, Allah willing. 2 Al-Haitami, Fath, p. 1 72. 3 The Arabic word in this hadith can also mean, "to beg". Sultaan states, "What is meant by asking here is supplications [dua] and supplications are an act of worship." Sultaan, p. 172. l J .l l I Hadith #1 9: "Young man, I shall teach you some words ... " The important point for the Muslim is to realize that Allah and Allah alone is able to truly grant his needs. Therefore, he should turn only to Allah and realize that, even if Allah uses other humans to meet his needs, the one who truly fulfilled his needs is Allah. Beyond that understanding, a Muslim should do his best never to rely on others but to work for himself and, by the help of Allah, accomplish every deed without the help of any other human. In fact, it is recorded in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet (peace be upon him) took an oath from a number of Companions, such as Abu Bakr, Abu Dharr and Thaubaan, that they would never ask for anything from anyone. If any of these Companions dropped their stick or their camel reins, they would never ask anyone to pick it up for them but would get it themselves. Ibn Rajah points out that both from the shareeah texts and rationally speaking, one should only ask of Allah and one should not ask of anyone else. First, a person must degrade himself in front of the one from whom he is requesting something. To do this towards another human, who is no more than a human and equal to the person himself, is not becoming to anyone. Imam Ahmad used to say, "O Allah, in the same way that you have kept my face from prostrating to other than You, protect me from asking of anyone other than You." Hence, this type of requesting and submissiveness should be towards Allah and Allah alone. Thus, it becomes a form of worship and generates love for Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the only one who meets the needs of the creation.2 Second, ibn Rajah continues, when asking anyone else to meet some need, one is showing his dependence and need on that person to fulfill his wants. To ask another human for such a thing is a kind of wrongdoing. This is because, in reality, a human is powerless to bring about benefit for himself or to ward off evil from himself. Therefore, how can he be asked to do something of that nature for somebody else? In that case, he is being asked to do something that he is not qualified for and this is a type ofwrongdoing.3 Furthermore, it simply does not make sense for anyone to turn to or beseech any creature instead of asking Allah. This is because it does not make sense for one to ignore the Rich and the Powerful for one who is himself in need of Allah's help and bounty. Not only that, there is a big difference between asking a human for something and asking from Allah. In general, humans do not like to be asked for favors or bounties. They do not like to give up their time and wealth for 1 There are also numerous hadith encouraging one to ask of Allah. However, the general ones among them seem to be weak.