The Faithful ask for and abide by Guidance
If someone asks, "Why does the believer ask Allah for guidance during every
prayer and at other times, while he is already properly guided Has he not
already acquired guidance''
The answer to these questions is that if it were not a fact that the believer
needs to keep asking for guidance day and night, Allah would not have directed
him to invoke Him to acquire the guidance. The servant needs Allah the Exalted
every hour of his life to help him remain firm on the path of guidance and to
make him even more firm and persistent on it. The servant does not have the
power to benefit or harm himself, except by Allah's permission. Therefore, Allah
directed the servant to invoke Him constantly, so that He provides him with His
aid and with firmness and success. Indeed, the happy person is he whom Allah
guides to ask of Him. This is especially the case if a person urgently needs
Allah's help day or night. Allah said,
[يَـأَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ءَامِنُواْ بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَـبِ الَّذِى
نَزَّلَ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَـبِ الَّذِى أَنَزلَ مِن قَبْلُ]
(O you who believe! Believe in Allah, and His Messenger (Muhammad ), and the
Book (the Qur'an) which He has sent down to His Messenger, and the Scripture
which He sent down to those before (him)) (4:16).
Therefore, in this Ayah Allah commanded the believers to believe, and this
command is not redundant since what is sought here is firmness and continuity of
performing the deeds that help one remain on the path of faith. Also, Allah
commanded His believing servants to proclaim,
[رَبَّنَا لاَ تُزِغْ
قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ
أَنتَ الْوَهَّابُ ]
(Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided
us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower.) (3:8). Hence,
[اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ
الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ]
(Guide us to the straight way) means, "Make us firm on the path of guidance
and do not allow us to deviate from it.''
[صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ
أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّآلِّينَ ]
(7. The way of those upon whom You have bestowed Your grace, not (that) of
those who earned Your anger, nor of those who went astray).
We mentioned the Hadith in which the servant proclaims,
[اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ
الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ]
(Guide us to the straight way) and Allah says, "This is for My servant, and
My servant shall acquire what he asks for.'' Allah's statement.
[صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ
أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ]
(The way of those upon whom You have bestowed Your grace) defines the path.
`Those upon whom Allah has bestowed His grace' are those mentioned in Surat
An-Nisa' (chapter 4), when Allah said,
[وَمَن يُطِعِ
اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِم
مِّنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَآءِ وَالصَّـلِحِينَ وَحَسُنَ
أُولَـئِكَ رَفِيقاً - ذلِكَ الْفَضْلُ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ عَلِيماً
]
(And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger (Muhammad ), then they will be in
the company of those on whom Allah has bestowed His grace, the Prophets, the
Siddiqin (the truly faithful), the martyrs, and the righteous. And how excellent
these companions are! Such is the bounty from Allah, and Allah is sufficient to
know) (4:69-70).
Allah's statement,
[غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ
عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّآلِّينَ]
(Not (the way) of those who earned Your anger, nor of those who went astray)
meaning guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom you have
bestowed Your grace, that is, the people of guidance, sincerity and obedience to
Allah and His Messengers. They are the people who adhere to Allah's commandments
and refrain from committing what He has prohibited. But, help us to avoid the
path of those whom Allah is angry with, whose intentions are corrupt, who know
the truth, yet deviate from it. Also, help us avoid the path of those who were
led astray, who lost the true knowledge and, as a result, are wandering in
misguidance, unable to find the correct path. Allah asserted that the two paths
He described here are both misguided when He repeated the negation `not'. These
two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer
should beware of so that he avoids them. The path of the believers is knowledge
of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the
religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why `anger'
descended upon the Jews, while being described as `led astray' is more
appropriate of the Christians. Those who know, but avoid implementing the truth,
deserve the anger, unlike those who are ignorant. The Christians want to seek
the true knowledge, but are unable to find it because they did not seek it from
its proper resources.
This is why they were led astray. We should also mention that both the
Christians and the Jews have earned the anger and are led astray, but the anger
is one of the attributes more particular of the Jews. Allah said about the Jews,
[مَن لَّعَنَهُ
اللَّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ]
(Those (Jews) who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath) (5:60).
The attribute that the Christians deserve most is that of being led astray,
just as Allah said about them,
[قَدْ ضَلُّواْ مِن
قَبْلُ وَأَضَلُّواْ كَثِيراً وَضَلُّواْ عَن سَوَآءِ السَّبِيلِ]
(Who went astray before and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from
the right path) (5:77).
There are several Hadiths and reports from the Salaf on this subject. Imam
Ahmad recorded that `Adi bin Hatim said, "The horsemen of the Messenger of Allah
seized my paternal aunt and some other people. When they brought them to the
Messenger of Allah , they were made to stand in line before him. My aunt said,
`O Messenger of Allah! The supporter is far away, the offspring have stopped
coming and I am an old woman, unable to serve. Grant me your favor, may Allah
grant you His favor.' He said, `Who is your supporter' She said, `Adi bin
Hatim.' He said, `The one who ran away from Allah and His Messenger' She said,
`So, the Prophet freed me.' When the Prophet came back, there was a man next to
him, I think that he was `Ali, who said to her, `Ask him for a means of
transportation.' She asked the Prophet , and he ordered that she be given an
animal.
'' `Adi then said, "Later on, she came to me and said, `He (Muhammad ) has
done a favor that your father (who was a generous man) would never have done. So
and-so person came to him and he granted him his favor, and so-and-so came to
him and he granted him his favor.' So I went to the Prophet and found that some
women and children were gathering with him, so close that I knew that he was not
a king like Kisra (King of Persia) or Caesar. He said, `O `Adi! What made you
run away, so that La ilaha illallah is not proclaimed Is there a deity worthy of
worship except Allah What made you run away, so that Allahu Akbar (Allah is the
Greater) is not proclaimed Is there anything Greater than Allah' I proclaimed my
Islam and I saw his face radiate with pleasure and he said:
«إِنَّ الْمَغْضُوبَ
عَلَيْهِمُ الْيَهُودُ وَ إِنَّ الضَّالِينَ النَّصَارَى»
(Those who have earned the anger are the Jews and those who are led astray
are the Christians.)''
This Hadith was also collected by At-Tirmidhi who said that it is Hasan
Gharib.
Also, when Zayd bin `Amr bin Nufayl went with some of his friends - before
Islam - to Ash-Sham seeking the true religion, the Jews said to him, "You will
not become a Jew unless you carry a share of the anger of Allah that we have
earned.'' He said, "I am seeking to escape Allah's anger.'' Also, the Christians
said to him, "If you become one of us you will carry a share in Allah's
discontent.'' He said, "I cannot bear it.'' So he remained in his pure nature
and avoided worshipping the idols and the polytheistic practices. He became
neither a Jew, nor Christian. As for his companions, they became Christians
because they found it more pure than Judaism. Waraqah bin Nawfal was among these
people until Allah guided him by the hand of His Prophet, when he was sent as
Prophet, and Waraqah believed in the revelation that was sent to the Prophet may
Allah be pleased with him.
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