i know this as hadith 19. and almost every copy or commentary i have seen lists it as the 19th hadith.
a few more things. admins do not indemnify that every resource is checked and validated before being approved; or that an approved resource means that it has been thoroughly vetted. admins will approve resources posted by known sunni members and on general survey. notice now, that every resource has a discussion page. if the discussion leads us to believe that such a resource should not be on our site (actually we intend to post clips from zanadiqah and books of devbandis as a part of the expose) we will remove it. we rely on the community to highlight if any resource has problems in the discussion page ON the resource itself instead of starting another thread: : =============== eventually, any member repeatedly posting such resources will be warned and then banned. wa billahi't tawfiq.
these two are a must listen (have added them to the resources section - lets see if it passes the admin's 'suitability test'):
25. Twenty-Fifth Hadith: Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "I was behind the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, one day. He said, 'Young man, I will teach you some words. Hold fast to Allah and He will preserve you! Cling to Allah and you will find Him before you! If you ask, ask Allah.24 If you seek help, seek it from Allah.25 Know that even if the community were to join together to do something to benefit you, they could only benefit you, they could only benefit in what Allah has written for you. And if they were to join together to do something to harm you, they could only harm you in what Allah has written for you. The pens have been lifted and the pages are dry." At-Tirmidhi related it, and said that it is a sound/excellent hadith. In a variant other than the one of at-Tirmidhi, it says, "Hold fast to Allah and you will find Him before you! Be acquainted with Allah in ease, and He will be acquainted with you in hardship. Know that what missed you could not have hit you, and that what hit you could not have missed you!" Another version has, "Know that victory comes with steadfastness 26 relief with trouble and ease with hardship." 24. He said to ask Allah because the might of Islam rejects abasement and humbleness to other than the Creator who has favour. Asking someone like you will lead you to apathy and consideration for the people you ask. Elevating humans is contrary to pure tawhid. 25. He said to ask Allah for help, in respect to belief of harm and benefit, not for help in actions. Allah urged that as He says, "Help each other to goodness and taqwa." (5:2) 26. He said, "Victory comes with steadfastness." It is one of the principles of the deen. Most people forget it. It is not giving any scope for despair to reach the heart. The Muslims must have strong resolution in the state of trouble no less than what they have in the state of joy, and in the state of defeat no more than the time of victory. They should direct their attention to "We will help Our Messengers and those who believe," and "the Party of Allah, they are the victors." [notes are by the editor of the Arabic edition, Muhammad Munir ad-Dimishqi, 1348 AH]
from: http://bewley.virtualave.net/bustan.html Now let us turn to those hadiths which are said to be the basis of Islam and the roots of the deen. They the bedrock of Islam and the core of the science of law and knowledge. 4. Fourth Hadith: 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the truthful and confirmed one, told him: "The way that each of you is created is that you are gathered in your mother's womb for forty days as a sperm-drop and then for a similar length of time as a blood-clot and then for a similar length of time as a lump of flesh. Then an angel is sent and he breathes the spirit (ruh) into you and is encharged with four commandments: to write down your provision, your life-span, your actions, and whether you will be happy or wretched. By Him, apart form Whom there is no god, one of you can do the actions of someone destined for the Garden until there is only an arm's length between him and it, and then what is written will overtake him and he will do the actions of someone destined for the Fire and enter it."8 And one of you can do the actions of someone destined for the Fire until there is only an arm's length between him and it, and then what is written will overtake him and he will do the actions of someone destined for the Garden and enter it." Al-Bukhari and Muslim related it in their Sahih collections. 8. An- Nawawi said in his Commentary on the Forty in reference to this hadith that the seal of whoever believes and does sincere right actions is only good. The evil seal comes to the one whose actions are bad, or someone who mixes bad actions with sound actions based on some kind of hypocrisy and reputation. It is also indicated by this hadith, "One of you may perform the actions of the Garden in what he shows to people," i.e. in what he presents to them of a good outward appearance while his secret is foul and corrupt. Allah knows best. As for the one who performs the actions of the Fire, he may have sincerity for Islam and the Muslims beyond his own worship and his actions will bring about results of general benefit in accord with what the Prophet intended, but these actions will originate from something other than personal worship. It is a blessing from Allah and he is repaid for what he has performed of good actions and restraining harm. Allah grants him success in those actions in which people see the sign of success, so he enters the Garden by the favour and generosity of Allah. ------ this interpretation puts the hadith in a completely different perspective!
the pen has been lifted and the book [ink] is dried somewhere on the forum I had read the complete hadith. I am unable to locate it via the search option. can the admins please direct me to it. jazakAllahu Khayran
your questions are quite interesting sayyidi. but mawlana, the answers aren't simple - it requires a lot of reading, and of course the tawfiq from Allah to grasp a little of it. the real meaning of destiny and what it entails is known only to Him who has Ordained everything. -- the collection of ghawth al-a`aDHam shaykh `abdu'l Qadir al-jilani's sermons under al-fat'H ar-rabbani wa'l fayD ar-raHmani is a good start. imam ghazali's books: minhaju'l `abidin, kimya e sa'adat and of course the peerless iHyaa all describe tawakkul, tafwiD and taqdir in various places - in `ajayib al-qalb, in tawHid, in tawakkul etc. at-tanwir fi isqati't tadbir of ibn `aTaAllah is a comprehensive discussion covering most aspects. if you want to read only one book in this subject, then this is the one. [as taqdir would have it, i found this book only this year in april in abu dhabi book fair; i have been fascinated by this topic for years and i do not spare any material on this topic. yet, i found this book very fresh. at-tanwir seems to me as a summary of all the other materials. well-organized, answers objections etc.] various tafsirs - tafsir ibn kathir, an-nasafi, fakhr ar-razi, al-bayDawi, explaining ayats like 54:49, 85:22, 65:2, 65:3, 10:107, 57:22, 64:11, 9:51, various hadith on destiny in mishkat [tawakkul under kitab ar-riqaq vol.3 and iman bi'l-qadar under kitab al-iman, vol.1] and its explanation by `ali al-qari in mirqatu'l mafatiH. [mawlana mufti ahmed yar khan reproduced this in urdu in his sharH of mishkat combining mirqat and ash`atu'l lam`at by muHadith `abdu'l Haqq dahalwi] sharH al-maqaSid by taftazani, sharH al-mawaqif by sharif jurjani cover this from the point of doctrine. various books of taSawwuf - like al-qushayri's ar-risalah, futuH al-ghayb, kitab al-qadar of al-faryabi - collection of hadiths in this matter and a refutation of qadariyyah (the deniers of destiny) ibn al-qayyim's shifa al-`aleel fi masayil al-qaDa wa'l qadar wa'l Hikmati wa't ta`aleel is a good reference, but somehow i don't like it; also, i didn't find much that is not found in other books. same with kitab ar-ruH. [oh yes, i am biased. i don't like ibn al-qayyim anyway] the 19th Hadith - the Hadith of ibn `abbas - in ibn rajab's 'jamiy al-ulum wa'l Hikam' , [a collection of 50 hadith built upon an-nawawi's arbayin or the forty] the hadith of ibn `abbas in arbayin [numbered 19] and its explanation by ibn daqiq al-eyd. this is the hadith that mentions 'rufi`ati'l aqlam wa jaffati's suHuf/the pen has been lifted and the book [ink] is dried. the various letters of imam rabbani [mujaddid alf ath-thani] in his maktubat. various letters of imam sharfuddin yaHya muniri in his maktubat sadi [100 letters] and maktubat do sadi [200 letters] ---- sharH al-Hikam by ibn `ajibah named eeqaDH al-himam also addresses many points (that is where at-tanwir of ibn aTaAllah is mentioned and i first read about it) particularly under the maxims: 'give yourself a reprieve from planning; do not go about doing things that someone else is already doing for you' [ariH nafsaka mina't tadbir] 'even the strongest of determination cannot breach the fences of preordination' [sawabiqu'l himam la takhriqu aswaru'l aqdar] Allah ta'ala knows best.
jazak Allah Khair for the post and as usual I have more questions inshaallah ! people generally agree on life and death, life-span etc for pre-ordination but whenever I say that matters like wealth are also pre-ordained they hit back saying that if you sit at home doing nothing do you think that you will get what is ordained for you? also regarding seeking a spouse, consider a case that someone does not look at all, and believe that whoever one is to marry will come to him or her eventually and in a second scenario what if the same someone made a great effort and spent a lot of time seeking a spouse , he will anyhow still marry the same person right ? now the effort that is put in the second case, isn't that toil a part of preordination ? and in the first case the calmness and lack of effort also a part of preordination - if yes then how is the individual in the first case better than the second as both did what was ordained. that brings me to another question , is it the proper belief to consider that hastening of that which has been destined is possible through du`a ? also since qadar is divided into two kinds one which is qatai or absolute and the other which can be changed by good action and du`a, how is this classification made and what falls under what category ? was salam
assalam`alaikum, how does one keep onself from the blame of inaction if one shows faith as mentioned by the shaykh :ra: above. was salam --abu nibras
Ghawth al A`aDHam said: Young man! He who knows and has absolute faith that Allâh `azza wa jall has distributed everything and is done with it, will not [be haraunged] go seeking it out of modesty. Instead, he will indulge in remembrance [dhikr] of Allâh. He will not ask to hasten that which has been destined nor seek that which has been fated to be somebody else’s. He seeks solitude, silence and good manners and forgoes objection [on that which is fated]. Go not complaining amongst the creation – neither of little nor of more. {al fat’H ar-rabbâni, 32nd sermon}
