"If my slave comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him..." How should we understand this sacred hadith?

"If my slave comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running." (Bukhari)
- How should we understand this sacred hadith?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

"Allah says, ’I am just as My slave thinks I am, (i.e. I am able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him) and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than they; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running’." [Bukhari, Tawhid 50; Muslim, Dhikr 2, (2675); Tirmidhi, Da'awat 142, (3598)]

Hope being superior to fear is encouraged in this hadith. Some scholars interpret “thinking” in the hadith as "knowledge" while others interpret it as "yaqin (certainty/definite knowledge)". In that case the meaning is as follows:

"I am in accordance with my slave’s certainty about me, his knowledge that he will return to Me and will be called to account by Me, his thought that the decree I will give about him will not be rejected whether it is good or bad for him, for or against him and that there is nobody that can give him what I prohibit and that can prevent what I give him."

Qurtubi states the following in al-Mufhim: The meaning of the statement "I am just as My slave thinks" is as follows: He thinks that his prayer will be answered when he prays based on the Messenger of Allah, who keeps His promise, his repentance will be accepted when he repents, he will be forgiven when he asks for forgiveness, and he will rewarded when he worships based on its conditions. Another hadith confirms it:  

اُدْعُوا اللَّهَ وَاَنْتُمْ مُوقِنُونَ بِاِجَابَةِ  "Pray to Allah feeling sure that your prayer will be answered."

Qurtubi continues as follows:

"Therefore, a person should fulfil his religious obligations by thinking that Allah will accept his prayers and forgive his sins because He promised to do so. He will not break His promise. If he believes or thinks that his worship will not be accepted by Allah and that his efforts will not be of any use to him, it means despair of the mercy of Allah and it is among the major sins. If a person dies like that, he will be referred to his thought as it is stated in some versions of the hadith. In that case, My slave can think however he wishes about Me."

Qurtubi ends his statement as follows: "If a person insistently thinks that he will be forgiven, it means pure ignorance and deception. This faith will lead a person to Murji’a madhhab."

 "If he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running."

This hadith is among metaphorical hadiths. It is not possible to understand it with its lexical meaning. Otherwise, states that are contrary to Islam’s creed of oneness and deity will occur.

Ibn Battal states the following:

"In the hadith, Allah Almighty describes Himself approaching His slave and His slave approaching Him; He also uses the words 'go/come' and 'run'. If those words are considered in their lexical meanings, it means covering distances and things approaching each other. That is impossible for Allah. As it is known in the Arab literature, when the lexical meaning of an expression is impossible, it becomes clear that what is meant is metaphorical."

"In that case, the slave’s approaching Allah one span and one cubit, his walking and going mean his approaching Allah through his obedience and fulfilling fard and nafilah deeds. Allah’s approaching his slave, walking and going mean giving His slaves rewards in return for his worshipping and making His mercy close to him. Thus, the meaning of the sentence 'I go to him running' is 'My thawab will reach My slave fast'." 

Ibn Battal quotes the following interpretation from Tabari: "Allah Almighty likens a little worship of His slave to "a span" and His grant and thawab in return to his worship to a "cubit". He makes it an evidence in showing the abundance of his grant to His slaves who turn toward Him and worship."

Ibnut-Tin states the following:

"The closeness mentioned in the hadith is similar to the closeness mentioned in the verse فََكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أوْ أدْنى  (And was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer). For, what is meant by closeness here is the closeness of level and the abundance of grants; running is a metaphor; it means Allah is pleased with the slave and the grant given to the slave is abundant..."

What is meant by the simile in the hadith is also explained as follows by some scholars: "Allah accepts the repentance of His slave very fast, makes obedience easy for him, strengthens him to obey Him and makes His slave successful by completing his guidance."

Raghib introduces another dimension to understand the hadith:

"A slave’s nearing Allah means using some attributes that are appropriate to use to describe Allah for the slave and to describe him with those attributes – though not in the same level as Allah is described with them. For instance, wisdom, knowledge, lenience, mercy, etc. are like that. The slave’s obtaining those attributes is possible when he is purified from spiritual impurities like ignorance, frivolity and wrath as much as he can. That is a spiritual closeness, not a bodily one. That is meant by the hadith ‘If my slave comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him'."

(see Prof. Dr. İbrahim Canan, Kütüb-ü Sitte Translation and Explanation)

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