40 Hadith #59: The Awliyāʾ of Allāh

With our brother Abu Arwa Ali

Summary 

• Who are the awlia of Allah?
• What about those who show enmity towards the scholars?
• Virtues of Obligatory and optional deeds 
• 6 ways by which you can attain the love of Allah

Hadith 38 (The Awliyāʾ of Allāh)

• From Abū Hurayrah (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) who said: “The Prophet (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wasallam) said: Allāh, the Exalted, says, “Whoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, I shall be at war with him. My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have obligated upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory deeds until I love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it.” [Related by Al-Bukhārī]
• The explanation to this hadith is split into 4 parts

Part 1: Concerning the statement of Allah “Whoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, I shall be at war with him”

• This hadith is from among the Hadith Qudsi, what does this mean?
• Imam Ash-Shawkaani has a whole book dedicated to explaining this hadith
• What does it mean to be “a wali of Allah”? Is it correct when Sufi people claim to perform miracles (e.g. walking on coals) and then claim to be a wali of Allah? Who truly are the allies of Allah?
• What does Allah say about those who are his awlia? How does He define them?
• When Allah declares He will be at war with those who show enmity towards his awlia, what does this mean?
• What about those who show enmity towards the scholars?

Part 2: Concerning the statement of Allah “My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have obligated upon him”

• What does this indicate?
• What does a person need to do in order to obtain the allegiance of Allah?
• We learn from this that Allah loves the obligatory deeds the most, then followed by those that are optional
• Question: If a person likes to pray the optional night prayer, but he or she finds that this makes them miss the obligatory fajr prayer, then what should he or she do?
• The one who performs just the mandatory deeds, then what does this mean for his or her worship?

Part 3: Concerning the statement  of Allah “and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory deeds until I love him…”

• The importance of continuously performing the supererogatory deeds
• The great virtue of having the love of Allah
• How Allah honours a person who does this, and how He answers their dua
• The greatest status you can reach in this life is to be loved by Allah!
• What about the one who is deprived of this?
• What is the foundation of happiness of success?

Key Part: How do you attain the love of Allah?

• How do you attain the love of Allah?
  1. Follow the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
  2. Ponder over the Book of Allah
  3. Giving priority to what Allah loves over what you love
  4. Knowing Allah via His Names, Attributes and Actions
  5. Reflecting upon the Blessings and Favours of Allah upon you
  6. Sitting with and benefitting from the pious and righteous people
• What are the signs that Allah loves you?
• Word of caution: we should not become self-satisfied and complacent and assume that we are righteous