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English translation
63. It was narrated that 'Umar said: "We were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ when a man came to him whose clothes were intensely white and whose hair was intensely black; no signs of travel could be seen upon him, and none of us recognized him. He sat down facing the Prophet ﷺ, with his knees touching his, and he put his hands on his thighs, and said: 'O Muhammad, what is Islam?' He said: 'To testify that none has the right to be worshiped but Allāh, and that I am the
Messenger of Allāh; to establish regular prayer; to pay Zakāt; to fast in Ramadān; and to perform Hajj to the House (the Ka'bah).’ He said: ‘You have spoken the truth.’ We were amazed by him: He asked a question, then told him that he had spoken the truth. Then he said: ‘O Muhammad, what is Imān faith?’ He said: ‘To believe in Allāh, His Angels, His Messengers, His Books, the Last Day, and the Divine Decree (Qadar), both the good of it and the bad of it.’ He said: ‘You have spoken the truth.’ We were amazed by him: He asked a question, then told him that he had spoken the truth. Then he said: ‘O Muhammad, what is Ihsān (right action, goodness, sincerity)? He said: ‘To worship Allāh as if you see Him, for even though you do not see Him, He sees you.’ He asked: ‘When will the Hour be?’ He said: ‘The one who is being asked about it does not know more than the one who is asking.’ He asked: ‘Then what are its signs?’ He said: ‘When the slave woman gives birth to her mistress’ (Waki’ said: “This means when non-Arabs will give birth to Arabs”) ‘and when you see the barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds competing in constructing tall buildings.’ The Prophet ﷺ met me three days later and asked me: ‘Do you know who that man was?’ I said: ‘Allāh and His Messenger know best.’ He said: ‘That was Jibril,
who came to you to teach you your religion.”” (Sahih)
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Footnotes
1
[1] The Murji'ah sect has the belief that Imān (faith) concerns with words only, it has no link as far as deeds are concerned. The Qadariyyah sect has the belief that a person is bound to do what has been written for him, he is not free to do anything he wants – as against the Jabariyyah sect whose belief is just the opposite.
Commentary
:
a. The Hadith is known as the Hadith of Jibril. It encompasses important matters of our religion. It deals with acts of worship; with deeds of the heart and of other parts of the body; with acts that are categorized as compulsory or Sunnah, as well as the acts that are classified as desirable, undesirable or forbidden.
b. The term Islām here denotes the apparent acts, whose doing or not doing determines whether the person in question is or is not a Muslim. Imân, however, is the testimony or affirmation of the heart on which depends deliverance in the Hereafter. Ihsân is the highest form of Imân, which bestows beauty to one's acts of devotion.
c. One must worship Allāh as though one is before Allāh, which means that the focusing of one's heart towards Allāh and the extent of one's turning in submissiveness, in fear and in repentance towards Him, must be at their peak. As far as the question of being able to see Allāh within the span of this life on earth, it is an absolute impossibility, for no creature can find itself equal to it. In Paradise, however, the faithful will be able to see Him. The Qur'ân and Hadith bear testimony to this. Al-Bukhârî (H. 7437) and Muslim (H. 1820) expressly mention it.
d. The exact time of the coming of the Hour nobody knows, not even the Prophets and angels. It is Allāh's special preserve, for He alone is the Knower of the unseen.
e. Constructing large, stately buildings just for worldly benefit and comfort or for ostentation and pride is not right.
f. Beliefs and dealings are all part of religion, and as such right belief and right action are both necessary for deliverance in the Hereafter.
g. 'Divine Decree' means the fact that whatever will happen, forever, Allāh knows it all from before. Whatever happens now is absolutely in keeping with what Allāh knows, and what He has already written down. The goodness or badness of the Decree means the things that are good for us, such as good health, economic prosperity, abundance and increase in productivity, or the things that we consider bad for us, such as famine and pain and misery. All this is happening according to Allāh's wise scheme and will. So, the good or bad is only in relation to us, the creatures. Otherwise, all the actions of Allāh are the reflection of His superior prudence and wisdom, and are, therefore, absolutely good.
h. The coming down of Jibril ﷺ with Qur'anic revelations is a proven fact. His coming down for the clarification of the teachings and tenets of Islam is also proved from this Hadith.
i. There are different methodologies for learning religious and Islamic teachings. One of these is to hold question-answer sessions. Lessons are
very well driven home through this method.
j. Etiquette demands that the one who is asking should sit respectfully with folded legs before the one being asked, and the manner of his asking should be polite and reverential.
k. The faithful angel Jibril ﷺ was dressed in white. The Prophet ﷺ also emphasized his preference for white clothes and even chose white raiment for himself. Even for the dead he chose the white shroud. (Tirmidhi: 2810).
