. J "" (cont.)

He states that a person performs the obligatory deeds because he knows that they are obligatory and if he does not perform them, he may be punished. That, in itself, is sufficient to drive him to perform those deeds. As for the voluntary deeds, he knows that there is not going to be any punishment 1 Cf., Quoted by Fareed (pp. 30-3 1 ) from Muhammad ibn al-Qayyim, Tareeq al-Hijratain, p. 1 79. 2 Ibn Hajr, Fath (al-Maktaba al-Tijaariwah), vol. 13, p. 145. 1 154 Hadith #38: "Whoever Shows Enmity to . . . " awaiting him if he does not perform them. When he performs the voluntary deeds, he is doing so simply to get closer to Allah and not because they are a must upon him. Hence, he is doing them out of his love to get closer to Allah. The reward for that deed is a special love from Allah, even though the obligatory deeds receive a greater reward. Like ibn Hajr before him, al-Shaukaani also states that such a phenomenon can be witnessed among humans. Suppose a person has two slaves or servants. The first of them fulfills what the master requires of him. Therefore, the master is pleased with him because he has no shortcoming in his performance. However, the second one does what his master asks of him and, beyond that, he does other things that he knows that his master would like. The only reason he does those deeds is because he knows that they are pleasing to his master. The master then will be pleased with the second slave and he will also have a special love for him due to those extra actions that he is performing. This is the love, al-Shaukaani argues, that this hadith is referring to. It is the additional love that Allah bestows upon a person for doing deeds that Allah has not obligated of him. The slave is doing more than what is required of him simply to please Allah more. Therefore, this is a different type of love. The one who performs the obligatory deeds is beloved to Allah. There is no question about that. But the one who goes beyond that is even more beloved to Allah and gets the special love from Allah that is described herein. Hence, there are two types of love that come about due to two different cause. But, it should not be forgotten, that the first cause is a prerequisite for the second type of love. In other words, if a person does not perform the obligatory deeds, he will not receive the first or second type of love, even if he performs numerous voluntary deeds. 1 The result of this second type of love is what is described in the following portion of the hadith: Allah becomes the person's hearing by which he hears and so forth. "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."2 The most obvious question that arises from these words of the hadith is: How does Allah become a person's hearing, seeing and so forth? This question has been answered in a number of ways. lbn Hajr presents seven different interpretations for this passage.3 There are yet others that ibn Hajr did 1 Al-Shaukaani, Qatr, pp. 419-42 1 . 2 Other versions of the same hadith state that Allah also becomes, "his heart with which he reflects and his tongue with which he speaks." 3 Ibn Hajr, Fath (al-Maktaba al-Tijaariyyah), vol. 13, pp. 146-147. 1 155 Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi not mention. These include the following (note that some of them may be overlapping): (1) It is a kind of metaphor. Its meaning is, "I become like his seeing and hearing with respect to his being influenced by My command. He loves to obey Me in a way as strong as his love for the limbs of his body." Al­ Shaukaani states that this interpretation is far-fetched. It requires a severe twisting of the meaning of the words and it also contradicts another narration which states, "And by Me he hears and by Me he sees."1 (2) The person's whole being becomes busy with what is related to Allah. Hence, he never listens to anything except what is pleasing to Allah. He never looks at anything except what is pleasing to Allah and so forth. This is the understanding of al-Khattaabi and al-Daawoodi. Al-Shaukaani states that this is better than the first interpretation. 2 (3) The person makes Allah his goal and purpose and, therefore, it is as if Allah has become the person's hearing, seeing and so forth. Al-Shaukaani argues that this interpretation makes no sense. It virtually robs the phrases of the hadith from any significance whatsoever.