. J; 1," (cont.)

Put into practice, this would include being soft and loving toward His believers and stem toward those who do not believe in Him. Similarly, when this love is put into action, it implies the willingness to stand up or sacrifice for the sake of the Beloved. This verse from surah al-Maaidah is, in fact, closely related to the hadith under discussion here. The beginning of this hadith qudsi states, "Whoever shows enmity to a friend (Ar., wali) of Mine, I shall be at war with him." The verse in question states the law for the community as a whole but this hadith states the same law for the individual. In the former case, the community will be removed by a new community and, in the latter case, the individual will have Allah declare war upon him which means that he will be ruined. So in this case, the destruction of those who oppose the true believers while giving wala or love and loyalty to the unbelievers (as opposed to the believers) is not just a societal sunnah ("law of creation") but it applies to the individual also. "My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have imposed upon him." After mentioning that no one should oppose the devoted servants of Allah, Allah then gives a description of those devoted servants or auliyaa. The root of the word al-mawaala (from which the word auliyaa is derived) is "to come closer".1 Therefore, the real "devoted servants" or auliyaa of Allah are those who work to get closer to Allah by performing the deeds that take them closer to Him; and the true enemies of Allah are those who go farther away from Allah by performing those deeds that take them farther away from Him. It is clear from this hadith that those who claim to love Allah and claim to get closer to Allah but at the same time do not follow the commands of Allah as stated by His messenger are actually lying-- either to themselves out of ignorance or knowingly to everyone. This was the case with the polytheists who claimed to be getting closer to Allah by worshipping the intercessors that they invented. Allah says, 1 While the opposite of that, al-muaadat, means to "go farther away". 1 145 Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi "Surely pure religion is for Allah only. And those who choose protecting friends beside Him (say): We worship them only that they may bring us near unto Allah. Lo, Allah will judge between them concerning that wherein they differ. Lo, Allah guides not him who is a liar, an ingrate" (al-Zumar 3). The same is true for the Jews and Christians who claim to be the beloved "children" of God while at they same time they deny the messengers of God and the clear teachings of those messengers as found in their own scriptures. Allah says about them, J "" (. tZ ... /,., ,,.. ,,.. ,., ., ,., ,,.. ?:'. V/ JJ J@Aij BI 1¥-C!i :? ij·/,,/l\j Hadith #38: "Whoever Shows Enmity to . . . " only to avoid the punishment from Allah has not performed the deed in the best manner that will take him closest to Allah. 1 The Importance of Obligatory Deeds This hadith makes it clear that the most important deeds that a person can perform to take himself closer to Allah are the deeds that Allah Himself has made obligatory upon His servants. Allah is the One who determined that His slaves must perform these deeds and, as is made clear here, He is most pleased by those deeds. 2 Previously, based on a verse from the Quran, there was a discussion of three categories of Allah's auliyaa. However, another way of categorizing the auliyaa can be found in this particular hadith. In this manner, the auliyaa are divided into two groups: those who perform the obligatory deeds and those who perform both the obligatory deeds as well as the voluntary deeds .. As just mentioned, the first group gets closer to Allah by fulfilling the obligatory duties. This includes avoiding the forbidden deeds as that is a type of obligation from Allah.3 These are known as the "companions of the right hand" (see al-Waaqiah 38). The performance of the obligatory duties is important and beloved to Allah. Umar ibn al-Khattaab said, "The most virtuous deed is to perform the deeds Allah has made obligatory and remain away from what Allah has forbidden accompanied with a pure intention in Allah's sight.'..i Umar ibn Abdul Azeez also said, "The best acts of worship is the fulfilling of what is obligatory and the abstaining from what is forbidden."5 In fact, Allah has made those deeds obligatory upon the believer in order for the believer to get closer to Allah and to earn Allah's pleasure and mercy. The obligatory deeds are like the foundation or roots while the voluntary deeds are like the branches.