Even the fish in the sea pray for forgiveness?

[Flame of Hope]

Abud-Dardaa (radyAllaahu ‘anhu) reported: “I heard the Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) say: ‘Whoever treads a path due to which he seeks knowledge, Allaah will make him tread one of the paths towards Paradise. And the angels lower their wings out of contentment for the seeker of knowledge. And verily all those in the heavens and in the earth, even the fish in the depths of the sea ask forgiveness for the scholar. And verily, the virtue of the scholar over the worshipper is like the virtue of the moon on the night of Al-Badr over all of the stars. Indeed, the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets, for the prophets do not leave behind a dinar or a dirham for inheritance, but rather, they leave behind knowledge. So whoever takes hold of it, has acquired a large share (i.e. of inheritance).’”

Reported by Abu Dawood, At-Tirmidhee and Ibn Hibbaan, and this is the wording found in his collection, in abridged form. Al-Bukhaaree mentioned in his Saheeh Collection in his Book of Knowledge, Chapter: Knowledge precedes Speech and Action, the part from it: “The scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets.”

I've been trying to understand the part where it says even the fish in the depths of the sea ask forgiveness for the scholar.....

How do the fish know who the scholars are?

And why would the fish in the sea or the ants or other creatures pray for our forgiveness?

I've heard that the angels too ask for forgiveness for us.

Just trying to understand what it all means.....

Anyone has any idea or an explanation?

[Innocent Soul]

I too doubt that. I have also heard that all the creatures of Allah do Zikr and the righteous slaves of Allah can hear it.

[tigerkhan]

i blv eman is something that should we blv these things exactly as decribed whether its come to our mind or not...so dont used ur mind (LOL) that how so huge amount of fishes in sea knows someones name. if Abubakar RA at that time think about the Mirajj by mind, how they accept that.
2ndly (allah swt forgive, just according to my limited understanding) the mian purpose in these hadiths is to show the importance of seeking knowledge. and surely its bcz the knowledge of islam and deen, that this world is going and the day there will be on1 who knows sahada, allah swt end this world. also we can think that if a person go out of home for knowledge of deen, surely this is a cause of bleesing of allah swt on whole creations.so if they pray for him, its not matter beyond understanding.

[maryambintjared]

I think that this passage teaches us that Allah is so mighty and creative that even the "least" of His creatures are endowed with complexity and love. We see in this passage that all Allah's creatures turn to Him in love. That's an amazing thing. The earliest witnesses in the Bible also agree with this theory. According to Job (pbuh) the baby birds cry out to Allah for their food. If I hadn't read in Scriptures that the fish and the birds prayed, I'd never have guessed it. My mind is too limited to understand how great Allah is.

Allah is all merciful and all compassionate, and so it makes sense that all His creatures have love inscribed on their very hearts. The fish pray for us because that is the way Allah, in His great mercy, made them.

Well, that's how I see it, but I've not been a Muslim a week yet, so someone let me know if I'm wrong!

[Alpha Dude]

Wa alaykum salam,

How do the fish know who the scholars are?

And why would the fish in the sea or the ants or other creatures pray for our forgiveness?

It could be that fish and other creatures seek forgiveness in a general manner. E.g. they make dua for the forgiveness of all scholars. So whenever someone walks on the path of seeking knowledge, they automatically become included in this dua. This is just my own understanding and I could be wrong. Allah knows best.

All of creation is subservient to Allah. Allah would have made them in such a way that they seek forgiveness for us.

[Flame of Hope]

I found a hadith that might have the explanation. Here it is:


Allah's Messenger (may peace and blessings be upon him) said:

When Allah loves a servant, He calls Gabriel and says: Verily, I so and so; you should also love him, and then Gabriel begins to love him. Then he makes an announcement in the heaven saying: Allah loves so and so and you also love him, and then the inhabitants of the Heaven (the Angels) also begin to love him and then there is conferred honour upon him in the earth;

and when Allah is angry with any servant He calls Gabriel and says: I am angry with such and such and you also become angry with him, and then Gabriel also becomes angry and then makes an announcement amongst the inhabitants of heaven: Verily Allah is angry with so-and so, so you also become angry with him, and thus they also become angry with him. Then he becomes the object of wrath on the earth also.

(Sahih Muslim)

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So it looks like Allah informs the inhabitants of the earth that He loves so and so and this process is started through Gabriel. And that's how even the fish in the sea make du'aa for his forgiveness because perhaps there is an angel informing every fish in the sea?

And Allah knows best.