On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (RadhiyAllahu ‘anhu) who said: The Messenger of Allah (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said,
“Verily Allah (Glorified may he be) has said: ‘Whosoever shows enmity to a wali (friend) of Mine, then I have declared war against him. And My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than the religious duties I have obligated upon him. And My servant continues to draw near to me with nafil (supererogatory) deeds until I Love him. When I Love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, and his sight with which he sees, and 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 seek refuge with Me, I would surely grant him refuge.’ ”
[Reported by Bukhari]
Brief Commentary
Scholars said this is the most noble hadith in describing the friends of Allah, so it is a mighty and important hadith This hadith gives us the methodology of becoming from the friends of Allah and the consequences of being from the friends of Allah Due to its importance, scholars authored books on it. Imam Al-Shawkani wrote a 500+ page book on this hadith From Surah Yunus [10:62-64] we can see that to be a friend of Allah, you need to be a believer (excel in faith) and pious (excel in actions) There three levels of the friends of Allah, taken from Surah Fatir [35:32]: {Wronged themselves}: Generally good people, but sometimes miss obligations or fall into sins {Stayed between right and wrong}: Fulfil obligations and don’t sin, but don’t go further than that. May carry out disliked actions {Foremost in doing good deeds}: These are the elite of mankind. They fulfil the obligations and don’t sin, and they also strive and excel in doing recommended actions and avoid disliked actions Due to these levels, Ibn Taymiyyah said you don’t need to be perfect to be from the friends of Allah Because Iman and piety originate from the heart, it is difficult to declare someone a friend of Allah. We say, “By the will of Allah they are righteous” No one can reach a level which there is no more actions required from them, no matter how much of a lofty status they have with Allah The Arabic word used to describe “shows enmity” is from فاعل which is to do something in unison, therefore the enmity is reciprocal. It is from the qualities of the pious to forgive others in worldly matters, so this must be talking about religious matters It is a sign from the people of innovation to defend their innovation more than they defend the Sunnah The enmity is reciprocal because we need to implement الولاء والبراء (allegiance and enmity for the sake of Allah, or love and hate for the sake of Allah) The Arabic word used to describe, “I have declared war” also carries a reciprocal meaning so the war is declared by Allah and by the ones who show animosity to His friends. We may not think we are waging war against Allah, but we may be doing so with our actions Allah mentions two levels of His friends in this hadith: Those who draw closer to Him by fulfilling obligatory action (staying away from haram is implied here). These are the ones who {Stayed between right and wrong} Those who draw closer to Him by also carrying out recommended action. These are the ones who are {Foremost in doing good deeds} The obligatory actions are the most beloved actions to Allah, hence why He made them obligatory By fulfilling the obligations you are establishing the roots (as in a tree) A misconception is when someone’s Iman is weak, they do recommended actions and ignore the obligations, and this wrong Another misconception is leaving out recommended actions until you fix up all of your obligatory actions, and this too is wrong Ibn Rajab said, “Whomsoever Allah loves, will be given love for Allah, being obedient to Him, and busying himself in His remembrance and servitude, and this will draw him closer to Allah” It is due to this love that people differ in the way they approach the obligatory and recommended actions. The {Foremost in doing good deeds} don’t do them just to remove the responsibility off their necks, but they surpass that and want to attain the love of Allah Benefits and Action points:
Increase in purifying your heart and carrying out many righteous actions so that you may be from the friends of Allah Enmity can occur between us and the scholars and amongst ourselves so we should be aware of falling into either Beware of waging war against Allah by harming His believing slaves Know that the most beloved actions to Allah are the obligatory actions Strive to attain the love of Allah by fulfilling the obligations and increasing in the recommended actions Khabab ibn Al-Aratt said, “Know that you will not draw closer to Allah with anything more beloved to Him than his speech (i.e. Qur’an)” Don’t leave out recommended actions just because you are not fulfilling the obligatory ones, rather do the recommended actions that you can for they may push you to then fulfil the obligations as you should
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