.: Anna :.
14-06-07, 11:26 PM
Each day in shaa Allah I will post one hadith, with the english and arabic and if i find or anyone finds something relevant like a commentary for that hadith we will post that aswell (if u posted it on a later day i will copy and paste and edit it into the correct place.) I don't want any off topic rubbish in here please insha allah, i want to make something useful, but I thought lifestyle is a good place because its quite popular also these are things we should take and incorporate into our daily lifestyle in shaa Allah :)
Day 1
Hadhrat Abu Hurayrah (radhiallahu anhu) relates that the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wa salam) said “Allah says: Whoever is inimical to one whom I befriend is at war with Me. When a servant of Mine approaches Me through the medium of that which I like best, out of what I have declared obligatory for him, and continues to advance towards Me through optional prayers (Nawafil), then I begin to love him. When I make him My beloved I become his ears to hear, and his eyes to see and his hands to grasp and his feet to walk. When he asks Me I grant him and when he seeks My protection I protect him.”
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه. قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : " إن الله تعالى قال: من عادى لي ولياً فقد آذنته بالحرب. وما تقرّب إليّ عبدي بشيء أحبّ إليّ ممّا افترضت عليه:
وما يزال عبدي يتقرّب إليّ بالنوافل حتّى أحبه, فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الّذي يسمع به, وبصره الّذي يبصر به ويده الّتي يبطش بها, ورجله الّتي يمشي بها, وإن سألني أعطيته ولئن استعاذني لأعيذنه."
رواه البخاري
[B] commentary:
In the sharh (explanation) of this hadeeth, the scholars have said these are voluntary acts of all kinds. Voluntary acts of the tongue and the limbs.
From fath al bari sharh sahih bukhari, provided by user al-ghazalli:
Al-Kirmani remarks that this is a Hadith Qudsi. In some narrations the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be Upon Him) tells this hadith from Allah the Almighty through Gabriel. This is in the hadith of Anas.
Whoever harms a friend (wali) of Mine, I declare war on him: In a mawquf narration from Wahb ibn Munabbih: "Whoever degrades My believing wali is taking Me on in battle"
Al-Fakahani said: This is a powerful threat, since Allah destroys whoever he makes war upon. It is an eloquent metaphor, since whoever dislikes the one whom Allah loves, disobeys Him, and whoever disobeys Him is hostile to Him, and whoever is hostile to Him, He destroys utterly. And if this is established in the case of hostility, then it is also established that in the case of friendship and loyalty to Allah: whoever is the loyal friend of Allah's friends, will be honoured by Him.
Al-Tufi said: The enemy of Allah's friend is the enemy of Allah, so whoever is hostile to him is as it were making war upon him, and whoever makes war upon him is as it were making war upon Allah.
My slave draws near to Me with nothing beloved to Me than that which I have made obligatory upon him: From this we learn that the discharge of obligatory acts (fara`id) is the most beloved of acts in the sight of Allah.
Al-Tufi said: The command to observe the fara`id is absolute, and punishment results from abandoning them, in contrast to nafila actions. However if nafila acts accompany the fara`id, then the fara`id are more perfect. This is why they are more beloved to Allah, and more effective in bringing one close to Him. Moreover, the fard action is like a root and a foundation, while a nafila act is like a branch or a building. When one performs the obligations in the required way, and obeys the commandments and respects the Commander, and magnifies Him through obedience, and manifesting the majesty of Lordship and the baseness of slavehood, then using this to draw close is the greatest of actions. Someone who carries out the fard may be doing so out of fear of punishment, while the person who practices the nawafil is doing so only because of his preference for service. Hence he is rewarded with love, which is the greatest aspiration of the person who seeks Divine proximity through his acts of service.
And my slave continues to draw nearer to Me with optional acts of devotion (nawafil) until I love him): There appears to be a problem in reconciling this to the previous statement. Given that the fara`id are the most beloved of works to Allah, how can they themselves not bring his Love? The answer is that what is meant by nawafil is that totality of practices which includes the fara`id, and perfects them. Moreover, it is customarily the case that "drawing near" takes place with something other than that which is obligatory for the one who seems proximity, such as a gift, in contrast to, for instance, taxation, or the repayment of a debt. Further, one of the reasons for the existence of nawafil is to compensate for the inadequately discharged fara`id, as in the sound hadith narrated by Muslin which runs "Look and see if My slave has some supererogatory act by which his farida may be made to complete." This makes it clear that "drawing close with optional acts of devotion" takes place for those who have performed what is obligatory, not for those who fail to do so. One of the great ones has remarked that "whoever is too busy with his obligations to do what is optional has an excuse; while he who is too busy with what is optional to do what is obligatory is beguiled and led astray.
And what I love him, I am his ear with which he hears, his sight with which he sees: In Aisha's narration in the account of `Abd al-Wahid: "his eyes with which he sees: in Ya`qub ibn Majahid's narration: "his two eyes with which he sees, using the dual for the ear and hand and foot." `Abd al-Wahid's narration also adds: "And the heart with which he comprehends, and the tongue with which he speaks." A version which resembles also the narration of Abu Umama.
Here the problem arises how the creator can be a slave's hearing and sight, and so on. The answer has several aspects. Firstly the expression denotes representation and abstraction, so that the meaning is "I am his hearing and his sight in his choosing My command, so that he loved my obedience and prefers My service."
Secondly, the meaning is "His whole being is occupied with Me, so that he listens with his hearing only to what pleases Me, and sees with his eye only that which I have commanded him to behold."
Thirdly the meaning is "I am the One who sets his objectives," so that is as though he attains them by his sight, His hearing, and so on.
Fourthly, the meaning is "I support him as do His sight, His hearing, his hand and his feet, in his struggle against his enemy."
FIfthly: on that opinion of al-Fakahani, there is an abbreviation in the text, so that the full meaning is "I am the protector of his hearing, and with which he sees, so that he hears only what is permissible, and I am the protector of his eyes, etc."
Sixthly al-Fakahani states "The text support one more subtle interpretation, which is that "his hearing" means "that which he hears" since a gerund may take the sense of the passive participle as when we say, "So-and so is my hope" meaning, "So-and-so is the one for whom I hope." Here the meaning would be that "he hears only My remembrance (dhirk) and finds delight only in the recitation of My book, and experiences intimacy only in close converse with Me, and beholds only the wonders of My kingdom, and holds out his hand only to that in which is My good-pleasure ext.
In his book of Renunciation (Katib al-Zuhd) al-Bayhaqi relates that one of the imams of the Path. Abu Uthman al-Hiri said: Its meaning is that I will be swifter in fulfilling his needs than his own hearing, his sight, his hand, and his foot. Some of the later Sufis apply it to the spiritual degrees (maqams) of Annihilation and Obliteration, which they mention, these being the utmost point beyond which is the void. In this station, the Muslim is established by Allah's establishing him, he loves through Allah's love for him, he sees through His sight of him, without there remaining with him anything to which a name could be attached, or which this discourse is that he witnessed Allah's establishment of him so that he is established, Allah's love of him so that he loves Him, and His sight of him so that he comes, looking to Him with his heart.
In none of these interpretations is there any scope for the believers of Ittihad, or those who believe in absolute Unity, since he says in the remainder of the hadith: "If he asks Me...which is like an explicit refutation of them.
If he asks Me, I surely bestow it upon him, and if he asks My protection, I surely grant it to him: A problem exists here, namely the lack of response to the fervent prayers of many worshippers and righteous people. The explanation lies in the fact that responses to prayers take many forms. At times the desired result may take immediately, while at others it may come later for wise reason known to Allah. On occasion the response may take place in the form of something different to what was requested, because what was request was not beneficial.
The hadith reveals the great value of the salat prayer, which leads to Allah's love for His slave by which he draws near to Him, since it is the place of intimate discourse. In a sound hadith narrated by al-Nasa`i: "the coolness of my eyes in in prayer."
Holding to this hadith, some ignoramuses of the "people of manifestation and discipline" say: "When the heart is protected with Allah, its passing notions are infalliable." But this has been refuted by the correct followers of the Way, who comment: "None of that should be taken seriously unless it conforms to the Book and the Sinnah; and infalliability (isma) is for the Prophets, and any other person may err.
Al-Tufi said: This hadith is one of the foundations of the path of wayfaring (suluk) to Allah, and of attaining knowlodge (ma`rifa) and love of Him. Inner duties constitute faith (iman) and outward duties constitute islam, while ihsan (spirtual excellence) occurs when they are combined, as implied in the hadith of Gabriel. Ihsan comprises the stations (maqamat) of the wayfarers (salikin), including renunciation (zuhd) sincerity (ikhlas), vigilance (muraqaba) and others.
The hadith also reveals the fact that the prayers (du`a) of whoever performs his duties and draws close through optional devotions will not be rejected, due to the existence of this truthful promise which is supported by an oath. The explanation of why responses to prayers may come slowly has been given above.
The hadith also explains that however high the degrees attained by a slave of Allah, to the extent that he becomes Allah's beloved, he never ceases to petition Him, due to his humility and manifest slavehood (`ubudiyya).
I do not hesitate in anything which I am to do more than in talking the soul of the believer: The Hilyat al-awliya (The Adornments of Saints, a major collection of Sufi biographies by Abu Nu`aym Rahimullah), in its biography of Wahb ibn Munabbih, narrates" "I find in the books of the Prophets that Allah the Exalted says: "I hesitate to take the spirits of the believer more than I hesitate to do any other thing."
Al-Khattabi writes: "Hesitation (taraddud) is not possible for Allah. However it is possible that its meaning is that "I do not send my Messengers and repeatedly with regard to something which I will do, as often as I send them for the soul of the believer." as in the story of Musa's slapping the eye of the Angel of Death, and his coming repeatedly (taraddud) to him. The real sense is Allah's gentleness for His slave.
Al-Kalabadhi states, in brief, that the reflexive form of the root is here used to indicate a transitive meaning, that is to say, that the word taradud (hesitation) is employed to give the sense of tardid (repeating). The repetition conforms to the successive states in which the slave finds himself, such as exhaustion, until he reaches the stage at which his love for life is transformed into a love for death, at which point Allah takes his soul. Kalabadhi states that Allah may create in the heart of His slave such yearning for Him and love for the encounter with Him that he not only fails to dislike death, but actually longs for it. Hence he states that he hates death, and that this brings him harm, and that because Allah hates to bring him harm He banishes from him the hatred of death by means of the states which He sends upon him. Hence when death comes to him, he prefers and desires it.
Ibn al-Jawzi attributes the "hesitation" to the angels which takes the spirit, that Allah attributes the process to himself because their hesitation is itself by His command. It may be, he says, that angels hesistation is occassioned by the kindnes towards him, so that the angel, beholding the believer's great rank and utility in the world, so he respects him that he delays taking his soul; but when the Lord's command is given, he has no choice but to obey.
A fourth interpretation is that the expression is framed in the species of the language which we understand, although Allah transcends what it implies; rather as He says "When he comes to Me walking, I come to him running." (Hadith Qudsi in Bukhari). It is like the hesitation that one of us feels when purposing to smack his son to teach him manners: our love for the child may cause us to hesitate in way that would be foreign to the schoolmaster. Hence "hesitation" is used here to help us to understand the reality of Allah's love for His friend.
Al-Mirmani mentions a fifth interpretation, which is that the believer's soul is taken slowly and deliberately, in contrast to all other matters, which happens suddenely upon the Divine command: "Be!"
He dislikes death, and I dislike to bring him harm: In his Kitab al-Zuhd, al-Bayhaqi attributes the following to al-Junayd, the master of the group (sayyid al-ta`ifa: The "group" are the the Sufi's.) What he dislikes here is the difficulty and suffering associated with death which the believer must experience. The meaning is not "I dislike that he should die", since death brings him to Allah's mercy and forgiveness. Another of them expressed this as follows: "death is a fated decree, and takes the form of the separation of the spirit from the body, something which rarely occurs without very severe pain, as is indicated by `Amir ibn al-`As, who when questioned on his deathbed, replied that he felt as though he was breathing through the eye of a needle, and as though the branch of a thorn-bush was being dragged through the length of his body. Ka`b relates that once `Umar asked about death, and he described it in similar terms. Now, since death has this attribute, and since Allah dislikes harming a believer, he uses the word "dislike" here.
It is also possible that the bringing of harm refers to extension of one's lifetime, since that leads to the "worst time of life" 16:70, the decay of one's created form, and a decline to the lowest condition.
Shaykh Abu'l-Fadl ibn `Ata said: This hadith demonstrates the enormous worth of the wali, since His Lord's choice has replaced his own choice, and His support for him has supplanted his support for himself, and he has departed from his own power and ability through his own sincere reliance (tawakkul). He also remarked: It also demonstrates that a person who harms a wali but does not then suffer an immediate misfortune in his person, his property, or his family, must not be considered safe from Allah's revenge. For his misfortune could occur in some other, even more dire matter, such as a misfortune in his religion. He also said: His statement that which I have made obligatory upon him includes outward (zahir) obligations of commission, such as the prayer, zakat, and other forms of worship, and also obligations of omission, such as fornication, murder, and other forbidden acts. It also includes inward (batin) obligations, such as knowing Allah (`ilm bi Llah), love and fear of Him, and reliance upon Him. These also subdivide into duties of commission and omission. He also said: Furthermore, the hadith contains an indication that the wali is informed of hidden matters (mughayyabat), through the insight that Allah tala has given him. This is not obstructed by the apparent meaning of His word, Knower of the Unseen (ghayb), so no-one is informed over His unseen, save the messengers who enjoy His good-pleasure (72:27), for this passage does not exclude the inclusion of some of his followers in as much as they are his followers, just as we correctly say: "Only the minister visited the king today", when it is well known that some of his minister's servants accompanied him."
Note: It is not clear why this hadith has been included in the chapter of humility. Al-Dawudi records that "this hadith has nothing to do with the subject of humility," while another has written that "It would have been more appropriate to have incorporated it into the previous chapter, which concerns disciplining the self. Al-Bayhaqi included it in a chapter which he called "Effort in obedience and Constant Servitude."
In defence of al-Bukhari, the following points have been noted, Firstly, there is al-Kirmani's observation that drawing close to Allah through optional acts of devotion can only take place where there is absolute humility and reliance on Allah. Secondly, Kerman also notes that some hold the quality is implicit (as a response to) His words, "I become his hearing", and His "hesitation". He also has a third explanation. A fourth occurs to me, which is as follows. Humility is necessary implied by His words, "Whoever harms a friend of Mine", since this warns us against harming Allah's friends, and requires us to be their ally; and being loyal to all Allah's friends, and requires us to be their ally; and being loyal to all Allah's awliya is only possible when there is absolute humility, since among them there are dusty, wild-haired ones, to whom ordinary people pay no attention. There are a number of sound hadiths which encourage humility, but none which conforms to his conditions of reliability, so in this chapter he included these two hadiths instead. Among the other hadiths are "Allah the Exalted has revealed to me that you should be humble, until not one of you boasts that he is superior to one." a hadith which is narrated by Muslim, Abu Daud and others.
Day 1
Hadhrat Abu Hurayrah (radhiallahu anhu) relates that the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wa salam) said “Allah says: Whoever is inimical to one whom I befriend is at war with Me. When a servant of Mine approaches Me through the medium of that which I like best, out of what I have declared obligatory for him, and continues to advance towards Me through optional prayers (Nawafil), then I begin to love him. When I make him My beloved I become his ears to hear, and his eyes to see and his hands to grasp and his feet to walk. When he asks Me I grant him and when he seeks My protection I protect him.”
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه. قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : " إن الله تعالى قال: من عادى لي ولياً فقد آذنته بالحرب. وما تقرّب إليّ عبدي بشيء أحبّ إليّ ممّا افترضت عليه:
وما يزال عبدي يتقرّب إليّ بالنوافل حتّى أحبه, فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الّذي يسمع به, وبصره الّذي يبصر به ويده الّتي يبطش بها, ورجله الّتي يمشي بها, وإن سألني أعطيته ولئن استعاذني لأعيذنه."
رواه البخاري
[B] commentary:
In the sharh (explanation) of this hadeeth, the scholars have said these are voluntary acts of all kinds. Voluntary acts of the tongue and the limbs.
From fath al bari sharh sahih bukhari, provided by user al-ghazalli:
Al-Kirmani remarks that this is a Hadith Qudsi. In some narrations the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be Upon Him) tells this hadith from Allah the Almighty through Gabriel. This is in the hadith of Anas.
Whoever harms a friend (wali) of Mine, I declare war on him: In a mawquf narration from Wahb ibn Munabbih: "Whoever degrades My believing wali is taking Me on in battle"
Al-Fakahani said: This is a powerful threat, since Allah destroys whoever he makes war upon. It is an eloquent metaphor, since whoever dislikes the one whom Allah loves, disobeys Him, and whoever disobeys Him is hostile to Him, and whoever is hostile to Him, He destroys utterly. And if this is established in the case of hostility, then it is also established that in the case of friendship and loyalty to Allah: whoever is the loyal friend of Allah's friends, will be honoured by Him.
Al-Tufi said: The enemy of Allah's friend is the enemy of Allah, so whoever is hostile to him is as it were making war upon him, and whoever makes war upon him is as it were making war upon Allah.
My slave draws near to Me with nothing beloved to Me than that which I have made obligatory upon him: From this we learn that the discharge of obligatory acts (fara`id) is the most beloved of acts in the sight of Allah.
Al-Tufi said: The command to observe the fara`id is absolute, and punishment results from abandoning them, in contrast to nafila actions. However if nafila acts accompany the fara`id, then the fara`id are more perfect. This is why they are more beloved to Allah, and more effective in bringing one close to Him. Moreover, the fard action is like a root and a foundation, while a nafila act is like a branch or a building. When one performs the obligations in the required way, and obeys the commandments and respects the Commander, and magnifies Him through obedience, and manifesting the majesty of Lordship and the baseness of slavehood, then using this to draw close is the greatest of actions. Someone who carries out the fard may be doing so out of fear of punishment, while the person who practices the nawafil is doing so only because of his preference for service. Hence he is rewarded with love, which is the greatest aspiration of the person who seeks Divine proximity through his acts of service.
And my slave continues to draw nearer to Me with optional acts of devotion (nawafil) until I love him): There appears to be a problem in reconciling this to the previous statement. Given that the fara`id are the most beloved of works to Allah, how can they themselves not bring his Love? The answer is that what is meant by nawafil is that totality of practices which includes the fara`id, and perfects them. Moreover, it is customarily the case that "drawing near" takes place with something other than that which is obligatory for the one who seems proximity, such as a gift, in contrast to, for instance, taxation, or the repayment of a debt. Further, one of the reasons for the existence of nawafil is to compensate for the inadequately discharged fara`id, as in the sound hadith narrated by Muslin which runs "Look and see if My slave has some supererogatory act by which his farida may be made to complete." This makes it clear that "drawing close with optional acts of devotion" takes place for those who have performed what is obligatory, not for those who fail to do so. One of the great ones has remarked that "whoever is too busy with his obligations to do what is optional has an excuse; while he who is too busy with what is optional to do what is obligatory is beguiled and led astray.
And what I love him, I am his ear with which he hears, his sight with which he sees: In Aisha's narration in the account of `Abd al-Wahid: "his eyes with which he sees: in Ya`qub ibn Majahid's narration: "his two eyes with which he sees, using the dual for the ear and hand and foot." `Abd al-Wahid's narration also adds: "And the heart with which he comprehends, and the tongue with which he speaks." A version which resembles also the narration of Abu Umama.
Here the problem arises how the creator can be a slave's hearing and sight, and so on. The answer has several aspects. Firstly the expression denotes representation and abstraction, so that the meaning is "I am his hearing and his sight in his choosing My command, so that he loved my obedience and prefers My service."
Secondly, the meaning is "His whole being is occupied with Me, so that he listens with his hearing only to what pleases Me, and sees with his eye only that which I have commanded him to behold."
Thirdly the meaning is "I am the One who sets his objectives," so that is as though he attains them by his sight, His hearing, and so on.
Fourthly, the meaning is "I support him as do His sight, His hearing, his hand and his feet, in his struggle against his enemy."
FIfthly: on that opinion of al-Fakahani, there is an abbreviation in the text, so that the full meaning is "I am the protector of his hearing, and with which he sees, so that he hears only what is permissible, and I am the protector of his eyes, etc."
Sixthly al-Fakahani states "The text support one more subtle interpretation, which is that "his hearing" means "that which he hears" since a gerund may take the sense of the passive participle as when we say, "So-and so is my hope" meaning, "So-and-so is the one for whom I hope." Here the meaning would be that "he hears only My remembrance (dhirk) and finds delight only in the recitation of My book, and experiences intimacy only in close converse with Me, and beholds only the wonders of My kingdom, and holds out his hand only to that in which is My good-pleasure ext.
In his book of Renunciation (Katib al-Zuhd) al-Bayhaqi relates that one of the imams of the Path. Abu Uthman al-Hiri said: Its meaning is that I will be swifter in fulfilling his needs than his own hearing, his sight, his hand, and his foot. Some of the later Sufis apply it to the spiritual degrees (maqams) of Annihilation and Obliteration, which they mention, these being the utmost point beyond which is the void. In this station, the Muslim is established by Allah's establishing him, he loves through Allah's love for him, he sees through His sight of him, without there remaining with him anything to which a name could be attached, or which this discourse is that he witnessed Allah's establishment of him so that he is established, Allah's love of him so that he loves Him, and His sight of him so that he comes, looking to Him with his heart.
In none of these interpretations is there any scope for the believers of Ittihad, or those who believe in absolute Unity, since he says in the remainder of the hadith: "If he asks Me...which is like an explicit refutation of them.
If he asks Me, I surely bestow it upon him, and if he asks My protection, I surely grant it to him: A problem exists here, namely the lack of response to the fervent prayers of many worshippers and righteous people. The explanation lies in the fact that responses to prayers take many forms. At times the desired result may take immediately, while at others it may come later for wise reason known to Allah. On occasion the response may take place in the form of something different to what was requested, because what was request was not beneficial.
The hadith reveals the great value of the salat prayer, which leads to Allah's love for His slave by which he draws near to Him, since it is the place of intimate discourse. In a sound hadith narrated by al-Nasa`i: "the coolness of my eyes in in prayer."
Holding to this hadith, some ignoramuses of the "people of manifestation and discipline" say: "When the heart is protected with Allah, its passing notions are infalliable." But this has been refuted by the correct followers of the Way, who comment: "None of that should be taken seriously unless it conforms to the Book and the Sinnah; and infalliability (isma) is for the Prophets, and any other person may err.
Al-Tufi said: This hadith is one of the foundations of the path of wayfaring (suluk) to Allah, and of attaining knowlodge (ma`rifa) and love of Him. Inner duties constitute faith (iman) and outward duties constitute islam, while ihsan (spirtual excellence) occurs when they are combined, as implied in the hadith of Gabriel. Ihsan comprises the stations (maqamat) of the wayfarers (salikin), including renunciation (zuhd) sincerity (ikhlas), vigilance (muraqaba) and others.
The hadith also reveals the fact that the prayers (du`a) of whoever performs his duties and draws close through optional devotions will not be rejected, due to the existence of this truthful promise which is supported by an oath. The explanation of why responses to prayers may come slowly has been given above.
The hadith also explains that however high the degrees attained by a slave of Allah, to the extent that he becomes Allah's beloved, he never ceases to petition Him, due to his humility and manifest slavehood (`ubudiyya).
I do not hesitate in anything which I am to do more than in talking the soul of the believer: The Hilyat al-awliya (The Adornments of Saints, a major collection of Sufi biographies by Abu Nu`aym Rahimullah), in its biography of Wahb ibn Munabbih, narrates" "I find in the books of the Prophets that Allah the Exalted says: "I hesitate to take the spirits of the believer more than I hesitate to do any other thing."
Al-Khattabi writes: "Hesitation (taraddud) is not possible for Allah. However it is possible that its meaning is that "I do not send my Messengers and repeatedly with regard to something which I will do, as often as I send them for the soul of the believer." as in the story of Musa's slapping the eye of the Angel of Death, and his coming repeatedly (taraddud) to him. The real sense is Allah's gentleness for His slave.
Al-Kalabadhi states, in brief, that the reflexive form of the root is here used to indicate a transitive meaning, that is to say, that the word taradud (hesitation) is employed to give the sense of tardid (repeating). The repetition conforms to the successive states in which the slave finds himself, such as exhaustion, until he reaches the stage at which his love for life is transformed into a love for death, at which point Allah takes his soul. Kalabadhi states that Allah may create in the heart of His slave such yearning for Him and love for the encounter with Him that he not only fails to dislike death, but actually longs for it. Hence he states that he hates death, and that this brings him harm, and that because Allah hates to bring him harm He banishes from him the hatred of death by means of the states which He sends upon him. Hence when death comes to him, he prefers and desires it.
Ibn al-Jawzi attributes the "hesitation" to the angels which takes the spirit, that Allah attributes the process to himself because their hesitation is itself by His command. It may be, he says, that angels hesistation is occassioned by the kindnes towards him, so that the angel, beholding the believer's great rank and utility in the world, so he respects him that he delays taking his soul; but when the Lord's command is given, he has no choice but to obey.
A fourth interpretation is that the expression is framed in the species of the language which we understand, although Allah transcends what it implies; rather as He says "When he comes to Me walking, I come to him running." (Hadith Qudsi in Bukhari). It is like the hesitation that one of us feels when purposing to smack his son to teach him manners: our love for the child may cause us to hesitate in way that would be foreign to the schoolmaster. Hence "hesitation" is used here to help us to understand the reality of Allah's love for His friend.
Al-Mirmani mentions a fifth interpretation, which is that the believer's soul is taken slowly and deliberately, in contrast to all other matters, which happens suddenely upon the Divine command: "Be!"
He dislikes death, and I dislike to bring him harm: In his Kitab al-Zuhd, al-Bayhaqi attributes the following to al-Junayd, the master of the group (sayyid al-ta`ifa: The "group" are the the Sufi's.) What he dislikes here is the difficulty and suffering associated with death which the believer must experience. The meaning is not "I dislike that he should die", since death brings him to Allah's mercy and forgiveness. Another of them expressed this as follows: "death is a fated decree, and takes the form of the separation of the spirit from the body, something which rarely occurs without very severe pain, as is indicated by `Amir ibn al-`As, who when questioned on his deathbed, replied that he felt as though he was breathing through the eye of a needle, and as though the branch of a thorn-bush was being dragged through the length of his body. Ka`b relates that once `Umar asked about death, and he described it in similar terms. Now, since death has this attribute, and since Allah dislikes harming a believer, he uses the word "dislike" here.
It is also possible that the bringing of harm refers to extension of one's lifetime, since that leads to the "worst time of life" 16:70, the decay of one's created form, and a decline to the lowest condition.
Shaykh Abu'l-Fadl ibn `Ata said: This hadith demonstrates the enormous worth of the wali, since His Lord's choice has replaced his own choice, and His support for him has supplanted his support for himself, and he has departed from his own power and ability through his own sincere reliance (tawakkul). He also remarked: It also demonstrates that a person who harms a wali but does not then suffer an immediate misfortune in his person, his property, or his family, must not be considered safe from Allah's revenge. For his misfortune could occur in some other, even more dire matter, such as a misfortune in his religion. He also said: His statement that which I have made obligatory upon him includes outward (zahir) obligations of commission, such as the prayer, zakat, and other forms of worship, and also obligations of omission, such as fornication, murder, and other forbidden acts. It also includes inward (batin) obligations, such as knowing Allah (`ilm bi Llah), love and fear of Him, and reliance upon Him. These also subdivide into duties of commission and omission. He also said: Furthermore, the hadith contains an indication that the wali is informed of hidden matters (mughayyabat), through the insight that Allah tala has given him. This is not obstructed by the apparent meaning of His word, Knower of the Unseen (ghayb), so no-one is informed over His unseen, save the messengers who enjoy His good-pleasure (72:27), for this passage does not exclude the inclusion of some of his followers in as much as they are his followers, just as we correctly say: "Only the minister visited the king today", when it is well known that some of his minister's servants accompanied him."
Note: It is not clear why this hadith has been included in the chapter of humility. Al-Dawudi records that "this hadith has nothing to do with the subject of humility," while another has written that "It would have been more appropriate to have incorporated it into the previous chapter, which concerns disciplining the self. Al-Bayhaqi included it in a chapter which he called "Effort in obedience and Constant Servitude."
In defence of al-Bukhari, the following points have been noted, Firstly, there is al-Kirmani's observation that drawing close to Allah through optional acts of devotion can only take place where there is absolute humility and reliance on Allah. Secondly, Kerman also notes that some hold the quality is implicit (as a response to) His words, "I become his hearing", and His "hesitation". He also has a third explanation. A fourth occurs to me, which is as follows. Humility is necessary implied by His words, "Whoever harms a friend of Mine", since this warns us against harming Allah's friends, and requires us to be their ally; and being loyal to all Allah's friends, and requires us to be their ally; and being loyal to all Allah's awliya is only possible when there is absolute humility, since among them there are dusty, wild-haired ones, to whom ordinary people pay no attention. There are a number of sound hadiths which encourage humility, but none which conforms to his conditions of reliability, so in this chapter he included these two hadiths instead. Among the other hadiths are "Allah the Exalted has revealed to me that you should be humble, until not one of you boasts that he is superior to one." a hadith which is narrated by Muslim, Abu Daud and others.