Allah states the following in a sacred hadith: "When I love my slave, I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks." Can you explain this?

- Allah states the following in a sacred hadith:
"When I love my slave, I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks."
- Will you explain the hadith above?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Abu Hurayra (radiyallahu anh) narrates: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

«إِنَّ اللَّه تعالى قال: منْ عادى لي وليًّاً. فقدْ آذنتهُ بالْحرْب. وما تقرَّبَ إِلَيَ عبْدِي بِشْيءٍ أَحبَّ إِلَيَ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْت عليْهِ: وما يَزالُ عبدي يتقرَّبُ إِلى بالنَّوافِل حَتَّى أُحِبَّه، فَإِذا أَحبَبْتُه كُنْتُ سمعهُ الَّذي يسْمعُ به، وبَصره الذي يُبصِرُ بِهِ، ويدَهُ التي يَبْطِش بِهَا، ورِجلَهُ التي يمْشِي بها، وَإِنْ سأَلنِي أَعْطيْتَه، ولَئِنِ اسْتَعَاذَنِي لأُعِيذَّنه»

"Allah states the following:

‘I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper of Mine. And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing nawafil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him, so I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him, and if he asks My protection (Refuge), I will protect him; (i.e. give him My Refuge) and I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer, for he hates death, and I hate to disappoint him.’" (Bukhari, Riqaq 38)

EXPLANATION:

1. The hadith above is one of the sacred hadiths the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) reported from his Lord.

2. The term "waliyyullah" mentioned in the hadith means a person who knows Allah and who worships Him fully, regularly and sincerely.

Ibn Hajar says, this hadith was found difficult to explain: "The existence of a person to be hostile to such a person is impossible ". "For, enmity occurs as a result of the existence of two parties. As a matter of fact, one of the attributes that a wali (saint) needs to have is lenience and showing tolerance toward the person who acts ignorantly toward him." This difficulty is explained as follows: "Hostility is not related to only enmity and worldly affairs. On the contrary, hatred sometimes originates from bigotry like the hatred or a Rafizi toward Hz. Abu Bakr and the hatred of a bid’ah person toward the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). In both examples, hatred occurs unilaterally. The hatred of wali is for the sake of Allah and on behalf of Allah. A wali hates a fasiq mutajahir (a person who commits sins openly) for Allah. In return, the sinner hates the wali since the wali tells him that what he does is bad and prohibits him from acting in compliance with his lustful desires. Hatred is sometimes active in one party and potential in the other; this is called enmity."

3. Some scholars state the following:

"A waliyyullah wants Allah's friendship by worshipping Him; therefore, Allah accepts him as a friend by guaranteeing to protect and help him. According to a current law of Allah, 'the enemy of an enemy is a friend and the friend of an enemy is an enemy.' In that case, the enemy of a waliyyullah is an enemy of Allah. Thus, a person who shows hostility to a waliyyullah is regarded to have declared enmity against him. He who declares war against a waliyyullah is regarded to have declared enmity against Allah."

4. Abul-Qasim al-Qushayri states the following related to a slave’s approaching Allah: "The closeness of a slave to Allah occurs first with his belief and then with his good deeds. Allah’s closeness to a slave occurs with the knowledge He grants to His slave in the world and with consent in the hereafter. In addition, Allah's various boons and treats become manifest between them. A slave’s closeness to Allah becomes perfect when he is far away from people." Qushayri adds: "Allah's closeness with His knowledge and power is valid for all people. His closeness with his grace and help is peculiar to distinguished people. His closeness with His familiarity is peculiar to walis."

5. The apparent meaning of the hadith states that Allah's love toward a slave occurs with and depends on the slave’s regular nafilah (supererogatory) worshipping. It seems contradictory that it is stated at the beginning of the hadith that the most beloved worship is fard deeds and that later it is stated that Allah's love can be attained through nafilah worship but the following explanation clarifies it: "What is meant by nafilahs is the nafilahs that fards contain and that complete fards." This is also confirmed by an explanation in the narration by Abu Umama: "O son of Adam! You cannot attain what is near me without performing what I rendered fard."  Faqihani states the following: "The meaning of the hadith is as follows: "If a slave performs fard deeds and continues performing the nafilah deeds related to daily prayers, fasting, etc., he will attain Allah’s love with them."

Ibn Hubayra's statement regarding the issue is remarkable: It is understood from the statement "My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing nawafil..." that nafilah deeds cannot exceed fards. The reason why nafilah is called nafilah is that it is added to fards as extra. In that case, nafilah will not occur unless fard is performed. If a person performs fard deeds and adds nafilah deeds to them, and continues doing them, the will to approach Allah occurs from it." Ibn Hajar adds the following: "As a matter of fact, according to current custom, coming closer usually occurs through the things that are not wajib for the person who comes close like gifts and donations. A person who pays his debt or tax cannot be as close to hearts as a person who gives a gift. Among the things the Messenger of Allah states, nafilahs to complete fards exist. This issue is expressed as follows in a hadith included in Muslim:  

"...Seek to find out if My slave has any nafilah deeds to complete his missing parts in fards..." 

Thus, what is meant by "approaching Allah through nafilahs" is to perform fard deeds perfectly first and not to violate and neglect fard deeds. As a matter of fact, some great saints say:

"If a person is engaged with fards instead of nafilahs, he is right; if a person is engaged with nafilahs instead of fards, he has been deceived by Satan."

6. An issue that needs to be explained in the hadith is the issue of Allah’s being a slave’s eye, hand, foot, heart, etc. How can it happen? The issue is explained through different ways:

    a) It is a figurative usage; what is meant is not the apparent meaning. The meaning should be as follows: "In is preference of My command, I became his eye and ear. He likes worshipping me and prefers serving me just like he loves those organs of his."

    b) The meaning is as follows: "That slave is busy with me with everything of his. He does not listen to the things that will not please me; he looks at only the things that I order with his eyes..."

    c) The meaning is as follows: "I prepare aims that he can reach with his eyes and ears for him."

    d) "I am like his eye, ear, hand and foot in helping him against his enemy."

    e) Faqihani states the following: "I think there is a hidden phrase in the hadith. The full statement is as follows: "I become the guard of his ears with which listens; and he does not listen to haram things; I guard his eyes and other organs like that."

    f) According to Faqihani and Ibnu Hubayra, the meaning is as follows: "A meaning that is subtler than the ones before is possible: The phrase "his ear" means "what he hears". In Arabic, the infinitive can also be used as an object. In that case, the meaning of the hadith is as follows:

"He does not hear anything except for My dhikr. He does not take pleasure from anything except reading My book; he does not find consolation in anything except invoking me. He does not meditate on anything except the wonders of My realms. He touches with his hands only the things that I am pleased with; he walks with his feet only toward the things that I am pleased with."

Khattabi states the following: "They are examples. The desired meaning is as follows: "Things are made easy for the slave in the deeds that he does with those organs with Allah’s help; and love of Allah is made easy for him. When Allah protects his material organs, He protects him from listening with his ears to the things with which Allah is not pleased, from looking at the things with that Allah prohibited with his eyes, from touching the things that are haram with his hands and from going to wrong places with his feet; thus, Allah protects him from committing the bad deeds with which Allah is not pleased."

Khattabi also states that when Allah loves a slave, He makes him hate the things that He does not like, preventing him from doing them. 

    g) Khattabi also states the following: "What is meant by that hadith is to state that prayers are answered quickly and demands are accepted. For, man works using those organs. Some scholars state the following: ‘That hadith states that man attains such a level by doing nafilah deeds regularly that all of his organs start to act in the way of Allah and in accordance with His consent.’ Bayhaqi quotes the following interpretation from Abu Uthman al-Jizi in his book called Kitabuz-Zuhd: "God Almighty states the following in the hadith: "I rapidly meet the needs of My slave related to hearing with his ears, seeing with his eyes, holding with his hands and walking with his feet"."

7. The phrase "and if he asks Me, I will give him" in the hadith are regarded contradictory by some scholars. They say, "Many worshippers and dervishes invoked and prayed to Allah and they even insisted in their prayers but their requests were not accepted." This issue is answered as follows:

"Allah's answering a prayer takes places in several ways:

* Sometimes, what is desired takes place exactly.

* Sometimes, what is desired takes place late due to some wisdom.

* Sometimes, what is desired takes place in a different way: What is desired might not be good; what takes place might be good. That is, a person might have asked something that could harm him. With His mercy, Allah gives him something else that will be good for him."

8. The hadith expresses the loftiness of the value of the prayer. For, prayer makes Allah love His slave; it is a place of invocation and closeness; the slave is together with his Lord in prayer without any intermediaries. There is nothing as effective as prayer that will please the slave. Therefore, the following is stated in a hadith: "The apple of my eye (what I love the most) is in prayer." This depends on showing patience in prayer. Patience and continuity are particularly advised regrading prayer because a dervish is exposed to some misfortunes and problems; Satan pesters him. Therefore, it is necessary to overcome it with patience and continuity.

In a narration from Hudhayfa about the result of prayer, the following addition exists: "...My slave becomes one of my saints and pure slaves. He becomes my neighbor in Paradise with prophets, veracious people and martyrs."

9. Sulayman at-Tufi states the following: "This hadith is an important principle in terms of approaching Allah and reaching Allah’s knowledge, love and way because belief, which includes inner fards, and Islam, which includes outer fards, and ihsan, which originates from both of them – as it is stated in the hadith of Jibril – are included in this hadith. Ihsan includes all levels of the dervish like zuhd (asceticism), ikhlas (sincerity) and muraqabah (observation)."

10. The hadith states that if a person performs the deeds that are wajib for him and approaches Allah with nafilahs, his prayer is not rejected – due to the promise strengthened by a vow in the hadith. The objections about the issue have been mentioned above. 

12. The hadith also states that even if a slave attains the highest levels and the honor of being a person that Allah loves, he cannot leave the state of requesting because awe and showing one’s slavery exist in the state of requesting.

13. The last issue to deal with in the hadith is the issue of Allah's hesitation. After stating that " Allah’s taraddud is not possible", Khattabi presents two interpretations:

    a) "A slave contracts any illness and approaches death or becomes very poor. Thereupon, he prays Allah. Allah cures him and eliminates his poverty. It is Allah’s deed that is hesitant just like a person who wants something giving it up afterwards. However, when his predestined time of death comes, he is bound to die. For, God Almighty determined everlastingness for Himself and mortality for His slaves."

    b) "The meaning is as follows: "I did not return my messengers in anything except about the soul of the believer. As a matter of fact, the same thing happened in the story of Hz. Musa. He slapped the angel of death on the eye and the angel came to him a few times." The meaning of this hesitation is explained as follows: ‘It is Allah's compassion, mercy, grace and treat toward His slave’."

(Prof. Dr. İbrahim Canan, Kütüb-i Sitte Şerhi)

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