The Book of Miscellany
كتاب المقدمات
Chapter 51: Excellence of Good Hopes
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah says: 'I am just as My slave thinks of Me when he remembers Me.' By Allah! Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than one of you who unexpectedly finds in the desert his lost camel. 'He who comes closer to Me one span, I come closer to him a cubit; and he who comes closer to Me a cubit, I come closer to him a fathom; and if he comes to Me walking, I come to him running".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying three days before his death: "Let none of you die unless he has good expectations from Allah".[Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah, the Exalted, has said: 'O son of adam, I forgive you as long as you pray to Me and hope for My forgiveness, whatever sins you have committed. O son of 'Adam, I do not care if your sins reach the height of the heaven, then you ask for my forgiveness, I would forgive you. O son of 'Adam, if you come to Me with an earth load of sins, and meet Me associating nothing to Me, I would match it with an earthload of forgiveness."'[At- Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan].
Chapter 52: Combining Hope and Fear (of Allah)
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "If a believer had full knowledge of the chastisement of Allah, none would covet His Jannah; and were an infidel to know the Mercy Allah has, none would despair of His Jannah".[Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "When a dead body is placed on a bier and men carry it on their shoulders, if the deceased was pious, it (the corpse) will say: 'Take me in haste'; but if he was not, it will say (to its bearers): 'Woe to it. Where are you taking it?' Everything except man hears its voice. Had a human being heard its voice, he would have surely died".[Al- Bukhari].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Jannah is nearer to you than your shoelace, and so is the (Hell) Fire".[Al-Bukhari].
Chapter 53: Excellence of Weeping out of Fear from Allah (swt)
The Prophet (ﷺ) said to me: "Recite the Qur'an to me". I said, "O Messenger of Allah! Shall I recite the Qur'an to you, when it has been revealed to you?" He (ﷺ) replied, "I love to hear it recited by others". So I recited to him a portion from Surat An-Nisa'. When I reached the Ayah:"How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad (ﷺ)) as a witness against these people?". (4:41)He (ﷺ) said, "Enough for now". When I looked at him I saw his eyes were shedding tears.[Al- Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) delivered a Khutbah to us the like of which I had never heard from him before. In the course of the Khutbah, he said: "If you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much". Thereupon those present covered their faces and began to sob.[Al- Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "One who weeps out of fear of Allah, will not enter the Hell till milk returns back in the udder; and the dust raised on account of fighting in the path of Allah and the smoke of Hell will never exist together".[At- Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan Sahih].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Seven people Allah will give them His Shade on the Day when there would be no shade but the Shade of His Throne (i.e., on the Day of Resurrection): And they are: a just ruler; a youth who grew up with the worship of Allah; a person whose heart is attached to the mosques, two men who love and meet each other and depart from each other for the sake of Allah; a man whom an extremely beautiful woman seduces (for illicit relation), but he (rejects this offer and) says: 'I fear Allah'; a man who gives in charity and conceals it (to such an extent) that the left hand does not know what the right has given; and a man who remembers Allah in solitude and his eyes become tearful".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
I came to Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) when he was performing prayers. He was sobbing and his chest sounded like a boiling kettle.[Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to Ubayy bin Ka'b (May Allah be pleased with him), "Allah (SWT) has ordered me to recite to you Surat-Al-Baiyyinah (98): 'Those who disbelieve ..."Ubayy (May Allah be pleased with him) asked, "Did He name me?" Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) replied in the affirmative. Whereupon Ubayy (May Allah be pleased with him) began to weep.[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
After the death of Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), Abu Bakr said to 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them): "Let us visit Umm Aiman (May Allah be pleased with him) as Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to visit her." As we came to her, she wept. They (Abu Bakr and 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) said to her, "What makes you weep? Do you not know that what Allah has in store for His Messenger (ﷺ) is better than (this worldly life)?" She said, "I weep not because I am ignorant of the fact that what is in store for Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) (in the Hereafter) is better than this world, but I weep because the Revelation has ceased to come." This reply moved both of them to tears and they began to weep along with her.[Muslim].
When the illness of Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) became serious, he was asked about the leading of Salat and he said, "Ask Abu Bakr to lead Salat." Whereupon, 'Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) said; "Abu Bakr is very tender hearted. He is bound to be overcome by weeping when he recites the Qur'an." Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) repeated, "Ask him (Abu Bakr) to lead Salat".In another narration: 'Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) said: "When Abu Bakr stands in your place, he will not be able to recite the Noble Qur'an to the people on account of weeping."[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Food was brought to 'Abdur-Rahman bin 'Auf (May Allah be pleased with him) when he was observing Saum (fast) and he said: "Mus'ab bin 'Umair (May Allah be pleased with him) was martyred and he was better than me, but only one sheet was available to shroud him. It was so small that when his head was covered; his feet remained uncovered and if his feet were covered, his head remained uncovered. Then the bounties of this world have been bestowed upon us generously. I am afraid that the reward of our good deeds have been awarded to us in this world." On this he began to sob and left the food untouched.[Al- Bukhari].
Al-'Irbad bin Sariyah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: One day Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) delivered us a very eloquent Khutbah on account of which eyes shed tears and hearts became softened.[Abu Dawud and At- Tirmidhi].
Chapter 54: Excellence of Leading an Ascetic Life, and Virtues of Simple Life
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent Abu 'Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah (May Allah be pleased with him) to Bahrain to collect (Jizyah). So he returned from Bahrain with wealth. The Ansar got news of it and joined with the Prophet (ﷺ) in the Fajr prayer. When the Prophet (ﷺ) concluded the prayer, they stood in his way. When he saw them, he smiled and said, "I think you have heard about the arrival of Abu 'Ubaidah with something from Bahrain". They said, "Yes! O Messenger of Allah!". He (ﷺ) said, "Rejoice and hope for that which will please you. By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear that this world will be opened up with its wealth for you as it was opened to those before you; and you vie with one another over it as they did and eventually it will ruin you as it ruined them".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sat on the pulpit and we sat around him. He said: "What I am concerned most is the flourishment and the beauty of this world will be available to you".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "The world is sweet and green (alluring); and verily, Allah is making you to succeed each other, generations after generations in it in order to see how you act. So beware of this world and beware of women".[Muslim].
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "O Allah, there is no true life but the life of the Hereafter".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].