Stories about the Fear of Allah
It
is very difficult to cover all that is said in the Qur’aan and the
Hadith about the importance of the fear of Allah . However, it may be
understood that fear of Allah is an essential step towards all
spiritual advancement. Nabi b has said: "Fear of Allah is the
root of all wisdom". Hadhrat Ibn 'Umar used to weep so much with
the fear of Allah that he lost his eyesight. He said to somebody
watching him: "You wonder at my weeping. Even the sun weeps with
the fear of Allah ." On another occasion, he is reported to have
said: "Even the moon weeps with His fear." Nabi b once
passed by one Sahaabi who was reciting the Qur’aan, when he came to
the verse:
"And when the heavens split and become rosy like red hide",
(LV:37)
The
hair of his body stood on end, and he was nearly choked, with
excessive weeping. He would cry and say: "Alas, what will happen
to me on the day when even the Heavens will split asunder. Woe to
me!"
Nabi SAW said to him: "Your crying has made even the Malaa’ikah
weep." Once an Ansaari Sahabi sat and wept after Tahajjud,
saying: "I cry to Allah for protection from the fire of
Jahannum". Nabi SAW said to him: "You have made the
Malaa’ikah weep today". Hadhrat Abdullah bin Rawahah was once
weeping. His wife also began to weep on seeing him in this condition.
He enquired of her: "Why are you weeping?" She replied:
"Whatever makes you weep makes me weep too". He said: "The
idea that I have to cross the bridge of Siraat across Jahannum makes
me weep. I don't know whether I shall be able to cross over or fall
into Jahannum’.
Zurarah
bin Aufawas leading the Solah in a Musjid when he recited the verse:
"For
when the Trumpet shall sound; surely that day will be a day of
distress"! (LXXIV: 8 & 9)
He
fell down and passed away. Thereafter, people carried his body to his
house. Khulaid was saying his Salaah. During his Qiraat, he reached
the verse:
"Every
soul will taste of death" (III: 185)
He
began to repeat it again and again. He heard a voice from a corner of
the room saying: "How often are you going to repeat this verse?
Your recitation has already caused the death of four Jinns". It
is reported about another Sheikh that (while reciting theQur’aan)
when he reached the verse:
"Then
are they returned unto Allah, their Lord, the Just, is not His the
Command?" (VI: 62)
| TO ALLAH ONLY WE FEAR. |
He
gave out a cry, shivered and breathed his last. There are many
stories of this type. Fudhail (Rahmatullah alaih), a famous Sheikh,
says: "Fear of Allah leads to everything that is good". Shibli
(Rahmatullah alaih), another Sheikh of high position, says: "Whenever
I have felt Allah's fear in me, I have found a fresh door of
knowledge and wisdom opened for me".
In
a Hadith, it is said: "Allah says; ' I do not impose two fears on
my slave. If he does not fear me in this world, I shall give him fear
in the next, and if he fears me in this world I shall save him from
all fears in the Hereafter".
Nabi
b says: "All things fear a person who fears Allah , while
everything is a source of fear to him who fears somebody other than
Allah ."
Yahya
bin Ma'az (Rahmatullah alaih) says: "If a man fears Jahannum as
much as he is afraid of poverty then he may enter into Jannat." Abu
Sulaiman Daaraani (Rahmatullah alaih) says: "There is nothing
but ruin for a heart that is devoid of fear of Allah ."
Nabi SAW says: "The face that gets wet with the smallest drop of tear
from the fear of Allah is safe from entrance into the fire of
Jahannum." He also said: "When a Muslim shivers with the
fear of Allah, his
sins fall away from him like the falling leaves of a tree." Nabi SAW has said: "A person weeping with the fear of Allah cannot go
to Jahannum until milk goes back into the udders, (which is an
impossibility)." Hadhrat Uqbah bin Amir once inquired of Nabi b:
"What is the way to salvation (i.e. becoming saved from the fire
of Jahannam)?"
He
replied: "Guard your tongue, stay indoors and cry over your
sins." Hadhrat A'ishah (Radhiyallaho anha) once asked Nabi SAW:
"Is there anybody among your followers who will go to Jannat
without reckoning?" "Yes," replied Nabi SAW, "The
person who often cries over his sins." There is another Hadith,
in which my dear Master, Hadhrat Muhammad SAW has said: "No drop
is more dear to Allah than two drops; a drop of tear shed in the fear
of Allah, and a drop of blood shed in the path of Allah ."
It
is said in a Hadith that seven persons would be under the shade of
the Arsh on the day of Qiyaamah. One of them would be the person who
remembered Allah when he was all alone, and tears flowed from his eyes
with the fear of Allah and in repentance for his sins. Hadhrat Abu
Bakr RA says: "One who can weep should do so, and one who cannot
should make the appearance of a weeping person."
 |
| Fear Allah and Others Fear You. |
It
is reported of Muhammad bin Munkadir (Rahmatullah alaih) that, when
he wept, he smeared his tears over his face and beard saying: "I
have heard that the fire of Jahannum does not touch the place touched
by these tears." Thabit Bunaani RA was suffering from a disease
of the eyes. His doctor said to him: "Your eyes would be all
right, provided you do not weep in future." He replied: "What
is the good of an eye if it cannot shed tears."
Yazid
bin Maisarah RA says: 'There can be seven reasons for weeping viz.,
extreme joy, insanity, extreme pain, horror, fraud, intoxication and
fear of Allah . A single tear shed in the fear of Allah (is
sufficient to quench oceans of fire (of Jahannum)."
Hadhrat
Ka'ab Ahbar says: "By Him who holds my life in His (hands), I
love to weep for fear of Allah , with tears flowing down my cheeks,
rather than spend a mountain of gold in charity." There are
numerous other sayings of the Auyliyaa and other pious people,
indicating that weeping because of the fear of Allah , and over one's
sins, is very effective and beneficial in attaining spiritual
elevation. However, we should not lose hope in Allah . His Mercy is
all-embracing. Hadhrat 'Umar says: "If it be announced on the Day
of Qiyaamah that all except one individual shall go to Jahannum, my
expectation of the Mercy of Allah would make me hope that I may be
that chosen one. Again, if it be announced on that day that all
except one individual shall go to Jannat, then my sins would make me
fear that I may be that one."
It
is therefore necessary that we should combine fear and hope together
in our hearts. Especially when the time of death is approaching, we
should have more hope than fear. Nabi b says: "None of you
should die, except with a strong hope in the Mercy of Allah ."
When Imaam Ahmad bin Hanbal t approached his end, he sent for his son
and asked him to read to him the Ahaadith that induce hope in Allah
and His Mercy.
