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J ஞ '•C., 0 -- ge h "The first deeds for which the slave of Allah will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment will be his prayers. If they are in order, he will have prospered and been successful. But if they are wanting, he will have failed and been a loser. If there is some shortcoming in his obligatory prayers, the Lord will say, 'See if My slave has any voluntary prayers with which may be completed that which was wanting in his obligatory prayers.' Then the rest of his deeds will be judged in like fashion.''1 Therefore, it is no wonder that such people, who perform the voluntary deeds (which includes staying away from the disliked deeds), receive the love of Allah in both this life and in the Hereafter. Allah says about such a servant, Recorded by al-Tinnidhi and others. According to al-Albaani, it is sahih. See al-Albaani, sahih al-Jaami, vol. I , p. 405. - 1 151 . Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi "My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him." In this haditb, Allah describes those persons who have earned His love. This makes this a most important badith. This is the goal of the true believers: to gain the love, mercy, pleasure and forgiveness of Allah. In other words, the goal is to become a wali of Allah. Unfortunately, some Muslims do not seem to realize what a great blessing this achievement is. No one can take the person's religion or Allah's love from him. It is, indeed, the greatest blessing. Anyone, by Allah's leave, may destroy whatever another person possesses and prizes of this world. But no one can ever touch his religion and his relationship to Allah. This love of Allah leads to all the good in the heavens and the earth. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "If Allah loves a slave, He announces to Gabriel, 'Verily Allah loves so and so, so love him.' Then Gabriel loves him and he announces to the inhabitants of the heavens, 'Verily Allah loves so and so, so love him.' Then the inhabitants of the heavens love him. And then be is granted the acceptance of the people on earth." (Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.) Allah Himself will never take this special relationship and love away from the person as long as that person is sincere to Allah. Indeed, in His ever abundant mercy to His creatures, He turns to them whenever they turn to Him. This is made clear in another hadith qudsi in which Allah says, { ,,.. ,.. ,,,. 0 ,,.. ,,,,._ ,,.. .-. ,,.. """ ,,.. a.r 0 / சi ק 0 / ·lfi 0( E\S .WI F- -r E( T • \\ ;'_/ -r J_.lb • ங 4J . ; • 4 .ț .)/ I.$4 . ț "I am as My servant expects Me to be. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself. And ifhe makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me a hand's span, I draw near to him a forearm's length. And if he draws near to Me a forearm's length, I draw near to him an arm's length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed." (Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.) 1 152 Hadith #38: "Whoever Shows Enmity to . . . " When a believer gets to that state, then all the minor things of this life become irrelevant. Any harm that should come to him, any worldly disaster or the like thereof, will not mean anything to him as long as he knows that by his actions he is pleasing Allah. Many unbelievers of today are fond of saying, "As long as I have my health I cannot complain," but to the true believer even his health is not of everlasting importance. Indeed, to him, his health is simply an important resource and blessing from Allah to be used for the sake of Allah. 1 But if his health and everything else of this world is taken from him and he is left in a most miserable condition, he will still have happiness as long as he knows that the deeds that he is performing are those that Allah wants him to perform.2 This puts the believer on a completely different level from the rest of humanity who are not blessed with the knowledge of their Lord and Creator.