💎[The Excellent Character of the Prophets]

✒️ Ibn Baṭṭāl -رحمه الله- said:

إِنَّ لِقَاءَ النَّاسِ بِالتَّبَسُّمِ، وَطَلَاقَةَ الْوَجْهِ، مِنْ أَخْلَاقِ النُّبُوَّةِ، وَهُوَ مُنَافٍ لِلتَّكَبُّرِ، وَجَالِبٌ لِلْمَوَدَّةِ.

“Meeting people with a smile and a cheerful face is part of the character of Prophethood. It contradicts arrogance and brings about affection.”

📚 Ibn Baṭṭāl. Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Vol. 5, p. 193.

💎[Adam said: If I repent and set things right, will You return me to Paradise?]

⭐️It has been authentically reported, as a mawqūf narration with the ruling of being marfūʿ (attributable in meaning to the Prophet), from Ibn ʿAbbās - رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا - regarding the saying of Allah, the Exalted:

﴿ فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ ﴾ [البقرة: ٣٧]

{Then Ādam received from his Lord words, and He accepted his repentance} [Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:37]:

«قَالَ آدَمُ: أَي رَبِّ، أَلَمْ تَخْلُقْنِي بِيَدِكَ؟ قَالَ: بَلَى،

“Ādam said: O my Lord, did You not create me with Your own Hand? He said: Yes, indeed.

قَالَ: أَي رَبِّ، أَلَمْ تَنْفُخْ فِيَّ مِنْ رُوحِكَ؟ قَالَ: بَلَى،

He said: O my Lord, did You not blow into me from Your Spirit? He said: Yes, indeed.

قَالَ: أَي رَبِّ، أَلَمْ تُسْكِنِّي جَنَّتَكَ؟ قَالَ: بَلَى،

He said: O my Lord, did You not settle me in Your Paradise? He said: Yes, indeed.

قَالَ: أَي رَبِّ، أَلَمْ تَسْبِقْ رَحْمَتُكَ غَضَبَكَ؟ قَالَ: بَلَى،

He said: O my Lord, did Your mercy not precede Your anger? He said: Yes, indeed.

قَالَ: أَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ تُبْتُ وَأَصْلَحْتُ، أَرَاجِعِي أَنْتَ إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ؟قَالَ: بَلَى،

He said: So, if I repent and set things right, will You return me to Paradise? He said: Yes, indeed.

قَالَ: فَهُوَ قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: ﴿ فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ ﴾ [البقرة: ٣٧]».

He [Ibn ʿAbbās] said: So that is His saying: {Then Ādam received from his Lord words, and He accepted his repentance} [al-Baqarah 2:37].”

📚 This was narrated by al-Firyābī, ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in al-Tawbah, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Ḥākim (who declared it authentic), and Ibn Mardawayh. Authenticated by al-Albānī in his book al-Tawassul (p. 90).

💎[The Categories of People in Repentance]

By al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī (d. 795 AH)

People fall into various categories when it comes to repentance:

1️⃣ The first are those who are never granted success in sincere repentance. Instead, they are enabled to commit sins from the beginning of their lives until the end, dying while persisting in disobedience. This is the condition of the wretched.

Even more disgraceful is the one who is granted the ability to perform acts of obedience early in life, but whose end is sealed with evil deeds—so he dies having abandoned righteousness. As mentioned in the authentic narration:

“Indeed, one of you may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until there remains between him and it only an arm’s length, then what is written overtakes him, and he acts with the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters it.”

And in another narration reported by the authors of the Sunan:

“Indeed, a servant may act with the deeds of the people of Paradise for seventy years. But when death approaches, he commits injustice in his will and thereby enters the Fire.”

How difficult it is to descend from vision into blindness—and more difficult still is to fall from guidance into misguidance, or from piety into sin.

2️⃣ The second are those who spend their lives in heedlessness and idleness, then are granted success in a righteous deed near the end, and die upon it.

This resembles the one who acted like the people of Hell until there remained between him and it only an arm’s length—then what is written overtakes him, and he performs the deeds of the people of Paradise and enters it.

Indeed, deeds are judged by their conclusions. And in the ḥadīth:

“When Allah wills good for a servant, He ‘sweetens’ him.”
They asked, “And what is his ‘sweetening’?”
He said, “He enables him to perform a righteous deed, and then takes his soul while he is upon it.”

Some among these are awakened before death with enough time to gather provisions of righteous deeds with which to end their lives. Others are awakened at the moment of death itself and are granted the success of sincere repentance upon which they die.

And then there remains a final category—the most noble and exalted of all. This is the one who spends his life in obedience and is then alerted to the nearness of death, prompting him to increase his striving, gather more righteous deeds, and prepare for departure with a sound conclusion and hopeful meeting with his Lord.

Ibn ʿAbbās said: When the verse was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

“When the help of Allah comes and the victory…” [al-Naṣr 110:1]

—Ibn ʿAbbās said: It was a sign that the Prophet’s ﷺ end had drawn near. So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ increased his effort and striving for the Hereafter more than ever before.

Adapted from Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif by Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī.

💎[On the meaning of the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: "Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him."]

It is reported in al-Zuhd by Ibn al-Mubārak (no. 972) and Musnad Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh (no. 1591), through the chain:

Al-Aʿmash → Khaythamah → Abū ʿAṭiyyah, who said:

"Masrūq and I entered upon ʿĀʾishah, and we mentioned to her a report from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd.

We said to her: ʿAbd Allāh said:
'Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him. And whoever dislikes to meet Allah, Allah dislikes to meet him.'

She replied:
May Allah have mercy on the son of Umm ʿAbd! He mentioned to you the beginning of the ḥadīth, but you didn’t ask him about the rest of it.

We said: So tell us, O Mother of the Believers.

She said:

'When Allah intends good for a servant, He assigns for him—one year before his death—an angel who guides and directs him. This continues until the servant dies in the best state he has ever been in. And people say, "So-and-so died at his best."
And when the time of death comes, and he sees his place in Paradise, his soul longs to depart, and it is in that moment that he loves to meet Allah, and Allah loves to meet him.

But if Allah intends evil for a servant, He assigns to him a devil who misleads and deludes him until he dies in the worst condition he has ever known.
And when his death approaches, and he sees his place in Hellfire, his soul resists leaving, and in that moment he hates to meet Allah—and Allah hates to meet him.'"

💎[Allah is Magnificent to Them, so Creation is Insignificant to Them]

🖊️Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al Basrī wrote to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz:

«أَمَّا بَعْدُ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ الدُّنْيَا‌‌ لَيْسَتْ بِدَارِ إِقَامَةٍ، وَإِنَّمَا أُهْبِطَ إِلَيْهَا آدَمُ عُقُوبَةً،

"To proceed: O Commander of the Believers, know that this world is not a place of settlement. Indeed, Adam was only cast down into it as a punishment.

فَبِحَسْبِ مَنْ لَا يَدْرِي ثَوَابَ اللَّهِ أَنَّهُ ثَوَابٌ، وَبِحَسْبِ مَنْ لَا يَدْرِي عِقَابَ اللَّهِ أَنَّهُ عِقَابٌ،

It is enough (of a delusion) for one who does not recognize the reward of Allah that he mistakes this world for a reward. And it is enough (of a misjudgment) for one who does not understand the punishment of Allah that he imagines being denied this world is the punishment.

لَيْسَتْ صَرْعَتُهَا كَالصَّرْعَةِ، تُهِينُ مَنْ أَكْرَمَهَا، وَتُعِزُّ مَنْ أَذَلَّهَا، وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ أَعَزَّهَا، وَتُفْقِرُ مَنْ جَمَعَهَا، وَلَهَا فِي كُلِّ حِينٍ قَتِيلٌ،

Its blow of defeat is unlike any other: it degrades those who honor it, and elevates those who scorn it. It disgraces the one who seeks status through it, and impoverishes the one who amasses it. With every moment, it claims a new victim.

فَالزُّهْدُ فِيهَا تَرْكُهَا، وَالْغِنَى فِيهَا فَقْرُهَا،

Renunciation of it is to let it go. True wealth lies in perceiving it as poverty.

هِيَ وَاللَّهِ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كَالسُّمِّ يَأْكُلُهَا مَنْ لَا يَعْرِفُهَا لِتَشْفِيَهُ، وَهِيَ حَتْفُهُ،

By Allah, O Commander of the Believers, this world is like a deadly poison—consumed by the one who does not know its nature, hoping it will cure him, when in fact it brings his ruin.

فَكُنْ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كَالْمُدَاوِي جُرْحَهُ، يَحْتَمِي قَلِيلًا مَخَافَةَ مَا يَكْرَهُ طَوِيلًا، وَيَصِيرُ عَلَى شِدَّةِ الدَّوَاءِ مَخَافَةَ الْبَلَاءِ،

So be like a man tending his wound: he restrains himself briefly, fearing long-term harm; he endures bitter medicine to ward off greater affliction.

فَأَهْلُ الْبَصَائِرِ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مَشْيُهُمْ بِالتَّوَاضِعِ، وَمَلْبَسُهُمْ بِالِاقْتِصَادِ، وَمَنْطِقُهُمْ بِالصَّوَابِ، وَمَطْعَمُهُمُ الطَّيِّبُ مِنَ الرِّزْقِ،

The people of insight, O Commander of the Believers— walk with humility, dress with moderation, speak with clarity and truth, and eat from what is wholesome and pure.

وَقَدْ نَفَذَتْ أَبْصَارُهُمْ فِي الْآجِلِ كَمَا نَفَذَتْ فِي الْعَاجِلِ، فَخَوْفُهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ كَخَوْفِهِمْ فِي الْبَحْرِ، وَدُعَاؤُهُمْ فِي السَّرَّاءِ كَدُعَائِهِمْ فِي الضَّرَّاءِ،

Their gaze penetrates the world to come just as it sees the world before them. Their fear on land is like their fear at sea. Their supplications in ease are like their supplications in hardship.

وَلَوْلَا الْأَجَلُ الَّذِي كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَمْ تَقِرَّ أَرْوَاحُهُمْ فِي أَبْدَانِهِمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا خَوْفًا مِنَ الْعِقَابِ، وَشَوْقًا إِلَى الثَّوَابِ، ‌

Were it not for the fixed term written for them, their souls would scarcely remain in their bodies, out of fear of punishment and longing for reward.

عَظُمَ ‌الْخَالِقُ فِي أَعْيُنِهِمْ، وَصَغُرَ الْمَخْلُوقُ عِنْدَهُمْ،

The Creator is immense in their estimation, and all creation has diminished before them.

فَارْضَ مِنْهَا بِالْكَفَافِ، وَلْيَكْفِكَ مَا بَلَّغَكَ الْمَحَلَّ»

So be content with sufficiency from this world. Let what brings you to your destination suffice you."

📚Source: Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Sufyān al-Baghdādī al-Umawī al-Qurashī, known as Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (d. 281 AH), al-Zuhd, ed. Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir Aḥmad ʿAṭā (Damascus: Dār Ibn Kathīr, 1st ed., 1420 AH / 1999 CE), p. 136, no. 282.