|| || o || _o_,_\ ,;: .'_o_\ ,;: (_|_;: _o_,_,_,_; ( .. / (_) / ( . Bismillah irRahman irRaheem In the Name of Allaah, The Most Gracious, The Most Kind ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hijri date: Friday 22 Jumaada al-awal 1420 A.H. FEARING ALLAH AND HOPING FOR HIS FORGIVENESS FROM THE BOOK: FAT-HUL MAJEED by Abdur-Rahman Hassan 'Aali Sheikh (d. 1285 H) (which is an explanation of the book) SHARH KITAAB AT-TAUHEED BY SHEIKH ABDUL WAHAB (d. 1206H) The subject of this paper is fearing Allah "al khauf" and hoping for His Forgiveness "ar-rajaa' " and the aspect of negating either one of these qualities. It is based upon several ayats, the principle one being Allah's statement in Suratul 'Araaf:(7: 99) {'A fa 'aamanou makrillah? Fa la y'amin makrillah 'ilal qaum ul-khaasiroon} "Did they then feel secure against the plan of Allah? None feel secure against the plan of Allah except those who are lost." By quoting the above ayah, the writer, may Allah have mercy on him, intends to bring to the attention of the reader the fact that "al 'amin min makrillah" (which means feeling safe and secure from what Allah has planned as punishment for wrongdoing) is one of the major sins and it is a complete negation of faith in the Oneness of Allah (like saying God doesn't exist therefore He is not feared). Similarly, "al qanut min rahmatullah", despairing of Allah's Mercy, is a sin of equal magnitude and this points to the fact that the Believer goes to his Lord between fear and hope (al khauf war-rajaa'), just as the Qur'an and Sunnah point to this, as the salaf of the Ummah and the Imams (religious leaders). We see, in Suratul Hijr: (15:56), the Prophet, Ibrahim, peace be upon him, said, "And who despairs of the Mercy of his Lord except those who are astray". Some commentary by the Mufasiroon (Qur'anic commentators of old): Qataadah, Imam al mufassir, who is Qataadah bin Di'amah As Sadusi Al Basri (d.118H, may Allah have mercy on him) states the meaning of this ayah: Verily, Allah, tabaarak wa ta'ala, when He mentions the condition of the residents of a particular group of towns who are rejecters of the messengers, He makes known that what caused them to do so was their "over-confidence" or their heightened sense of security or safety from whatever Allah had planned and the absence of faith in Him. This as it appears in the two ayats before the main ayah mentioned at the beginning of this paper from Suratul 'Ar'aaf: 97-99: "Did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our punishment by night while they slept? * Or, did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our punishment in the forenoon while they play? * Did they feel secure against the plot of Allah? None feels secure from the plot of Allah except the people who are lost". What is meant by the word "makr" is destruction - Allah's punishment for those who reject. The word that is used in the explanation is "al-haalikoon" - those who are destroyed. This is because they felt safe from Allah's plot or plan "makr" and they were unaware of the fact that He let them continue in their rejection and sin without punishing them immediately. This is from Allah's wisdom and we cannot totally understand it totally, but He does allow the people every opportunity to believe, obey and accept His messengers and the messages that they carried. He gives them time and heaps upon them bounties upon bounties, blessings upon blessings, going along in happiness and prosperity and in the end, they mistakenly assume that Allah would not punish them, rather, they are being blessed! The idea of Allah punishing them for their rejection and sins is far from their thoughts. [Writer's interjection: we can see this today happening in many of the powerful nations of the West, as well as among other nations all over the World -- the idea of accountabilities, the idea that those actions which are sins and which have become so pleasing to them would be punishable in some form at some point in time is completely foreign to them; the farthest thing from their minds. Why? Because they do not believe in God, not in His Books, nor in His Messengers, nor in the Day of Judgment. In short, they have NO fear of Allah] insha Allah will be continued. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------