It was reported in Sahih Imam Muslim, that Jabir Ibn Abdullah (May Allah be pleased with him) Amir’s Father, Narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said:
“None of you should die but believing well in Allah, but believing positively in Allah (AZ)”.
The Hadith on the surface is an instruction and order from the prophet (SAW) not to die. But it is not as it appears, and you have to read the whole thing. So the prophet is telling you do not die, except in a state of thinking positively, and thinking well of Allah (AZ)…and to die in a state, in a particular state is not in our hands. Allah (AZ) only knows how we will die, whether we will die doing well, or whether we will die on sin, may Allah (AZ) protect us all from that. That is why the prophet is telling us, to do your level best, that when death comes, you think positively of Allah (AZ) you think well of Allah (AZ), and if you do your best Allah (AZ) will fulfill what you hope and wish for.
And that is why the scholars say that you have to think well of Allah, especially at the time of death or when you are on your death bed. And they use to love- they use to recommend that when someone is on his death bed, he is reminded of his good deeds, of his beautiful virtues so that he will face Allah thinking well of him. And this is done by reminding him of the hadiths about Allah’s forgiveness, his mercy and his kindness. So while he is on his death bed, he is thinking positively of Allah (AZ).
Anas Ibn Malik (May Allah be pleased with him), narrates that the prophet (SAW) visited a young man on his death bed. And he said to that dying man, “How are you, how do you feel?” the Arabic translation of the word “How do you find yourself?” and the man says, “Oh prophet of Allah, I am hopeful and wishful in Allah (AZ) but I feel my sins.”
Look at this beautiful balance that we must have in our lives, if we would like to gain Allah’s pleasure. The prophet said (SAW), “By Allah they are not joined in a position such as yours, accept that Allah (AZ) would give you what you wish for and Allah would protect you from what you fear.”
This balance of being hopeful and wishful but at the same time feeling your sins and thinking well of Allah is not only limited to your death bed, it is a concept that must be with us 24/7, this is how we should think of Allah; all the time. So, for a believer his conviction is that if you seek Allah’s forgiveness he will forgive you, if supplicate to him he would answer you and if you need him he will suffice you. This is what the conviction of a believer should be, unlike most of the Muslims now-a-days.
I have people coming to me saying “Sheikh, if I wish for something I know Allah is not going to make it, I know that Allah is not going to do it. That is why I don’t think of this. I don’t plan for the future, because I know Allah will not do this for me.”
This is definitely not what Allah (AZ) instructed us to do. And that is why the prophet says (SAW) “Allah the almighty says in Hadith Qudsi; “I am, as my servant or as my slave thinks of me.” So if you think Allah (AZ) will forgive you, Allah will forgive you, but if you think Allah (AZ) will not fulfill your wishes Allah (AZ) will not fulfill your wishes and you will also be sinful beside that. And that is why part of thinking positively of Allah (AZ) is to have your full trust and dependence on him.
This is what we call ‘Atawaqul’, and Ibwal Qayyib says, “that it is unimaginable that a person thinks well of Allah (AZ) and then he does not trust him, and he does not depend on him, and he does not rely entirely on him because this is a byproduct of thinking well of Allah (AZ) that you trust Allah(SWT).
Muslims are on two extremes and a middle path, as usual, in everything. And this also applies on trusting Allah (AZ). So, on one extreme you have a lot of them claiming to believe well in Allah, but if you look at their actions you will find that they are indulged in sins, up to their necks. And they are neglectful and ignorant, and they seem to forget that Allah (AZ) punishes those who sin and Allah (AZ) has created and prepared great torment for those who go out of the straight path.
On the second extreme, you find people working hard, trying to follow all the necessary means in this Dunya, however, they think negatively of Allah (AZ), they think badly of Allah and the majority of Mankind they think that they are being treated unjustly, astaghfirllah! may Allah forgive us all. They think that they are being treated unjustly, and you heard this so many times; ‘life is unfair’ Subhanallah! Life does not give or take away, it is Allah that gives and takes it away Subhana Wa Ta’ala, (~QURAN RECITED~) ‘Oh Allah (AZ) lord of all dominion, you give dominion to whomever you please and you take it from whomever you please. And you exalt and you honor whomever you please and you humiliate whomever you please.’ Subhana wa Ta’ala,
So, it is Allah that gives and takes away, it’s not life. Yet people always have this negative concept. Allah (AZ) they don’t say, they dare not say, but they say life is unfair, everyone sees that he’s not getting what he deserves. When he looks at others he feels unfortunate, everyone gets what they want and look at me! And if you search a little bit deeper you will find among the Muslims a lot of them who blame their destiny, who blame their faith and they say, ‘it shouldn’t have been like this, this is wrong. I shouldn’t have lost my job, I shouldn’t have lost my wealth…this should not have happened to me.’
So, they are blaming Allah’s destiny, and this leads us to the second point which is part and a great sign of you thinking well of Allah (AZ); that you submit your will to Allah (AZ), that you submit to Allah’s destiny, and you accept whatever Allah (AZ) decrees upon you because if you don’t, if you reject, if you object than there is something wrong in your Emaan. And the worse of those who think badly and negatively of Allah (AZ) are those who commit sin. Because look at that person who earns his income from haram, ‘Akhi why are you doing this?’ he said, ‘this is the only way to live in this country or in another country.’ ‘Akhi! why are you giving bribes?’ he said, ‘without the bribing people I cannot make a successful deal, and I need to make an income.’
So, do you think that your income comes from Haraam, or your income comes from Allah (AZ)? Who is your provider, who is your giver, who is the one that puts the bread on the table, is it you, is it your own work? Who gives you the paycheck at the end of the month, is it your boss or is it Allah (AZ) who provides for you? So, they think and believe negatively and badly about Allah (AZ).
Look at that sister, who is not abiding by the hijab, who is not going in accordance to what the Quran and the Sunnah state, why are you doing this? She says, ‘If I do not do this my husband will divorce me. My in-laws will not accept me. I live in a joint family and I cannot live with my brother in-law or brothers in-law wearing the hijab wearing the niqab, so if I don’t do this my husband might hate me, he might divorce me.’ So who do you want to please? DO you want to please Allah (AZ) or do you want to please your husband?
Look at that person who thinks negatively about Allah (AZ) by not paying Zakat on its time. Brothers come to me and say, ‘I postpone paying Zakat for two or three years.’ Why? Said, ‘Well I was investing my money and I thought that I might need this it would increase my profit.’ So I said ‘Allah is Kareem, Allah is generous, Allah is most forgiving’. Two, three years and they don’t pay zakat. Brother why don’t you give Sadaqa?
We need money to help our brothers in Syria, in Burma and everywhere, we need money to expand the Masjid, we need money to feed a poor family, we need this and that, why aren’t you giving Sadaqa? He says, ‘Well I’m afraid, if I give Sadaqa this would affect my financial status.’ Subhan Allah, who is the provider? It is Allah the almighty and that is why those who thought negatively of Allah (AZ) Allah made them on their own and he did not support them and he did not give them proper Tawaqul on Allah Subhana wa Ta’ala –
~Second Half~
There’s a very thin line between thinking well of Allah (AZ) and deception and being deceived. And to, imagine how can a person be deceived or not and to understand thoroughly the meaning of thinking well of Allah (AZ), there is no one to explain this better than the Prophet (SAW) and his companions (May Allah be pleased with them). This is the balance that we miss in our lives. So many aspects of our lives are not governed by balance in general and by balance in thinking well of Allah (AZ) in particular.
The prophet (SAW) and his companions they were the best of humanity, they were the cream of society, they did a lot of good deeds, they prayed night prayer, they fasted voluntary fasting, they did Jihad, they gave all their wealth for the cause of Allah (AZ) and they did not sin. And they avoided sin as much as possible to the extent that we sometimes think are they angels or humans? They kept away from sin to the extent that even if some of them sinned, it would not be point 001% of what we do. So, they did a lot of good deeds but at the same time they did not sin or it was negligible. Yet they thought well of Allah (AZ) and their fear of their sins did not go against thinking well of Allah (SWT).
So, how can we compare us, ourselves to them? Al Hassan Al Basri, may Allah (AZ) have mercy on his soul, said that “the believer thought well of Allah (AZ) and this was interpreted in his actions, so he did well as well. While the hypocrite thought negatively about Allah (AZ) and this was portrayed in this way in his actions and that is why he did bad actions and he sinned.” And that is why Abu Sulaiman Ad Darani, may Allah (AZ)have mercy on his soul, says that, “whoever claims to believe well in Allah yet at the same time he does not fear Allah, then he is delusional, he is deceived.”
Whenever you think well of Allah yet you don’t feel your sins then let it be known that you are being deceived and shaytaan is deceiving you.
The majority of Muslims are like this, they are so high up in their sins, up to their necks, they are so into disobeying Allah (AZ), yet they grab on to evidences from the Quran and Sunnah about Allah’s mercy, about Allah’s forgiveness, and about Allah’s kindness, this is good (in a way) and they claim that we think well of Allah. But at the same time if you doing sins and you are depending on Allah’s forgiveness without offering anything, without showing repentance or deep remorse to Allah and asking for forgiveness, then you are deceived.
And if you add to that, that they do not submit their will to Allah’s decrees, they do not accept and they are not satisfied by whatever Allah decrees upon them, though they know theoretically that whatever Allah decrees is GOOD, they know this theoretically but when it comes to practice rarely you’ll find people accepting this fact if you look at all of this and you ask them,
“How are you?” they start to give you a long list of complaints. “I can’t pay the rent, I have so much debt on me, the misses ran away, the kids are using drugs, my landlord is this and that, the neighbors are this and that.” but at the end of the day, Alhamdulillah! What kind of hamdulillah are you giving, after all this long list of complaints?
These people did not give Allah’s worth; they do not estimate Allah (AZ) as he supposed to be Subhana wa Ta’ala.
They only look at Allah’s forgiveness, kindness and mercy and they neglect that Allah (AZ) has ordered us to cut off the hand of a robber, to flog someone who consumes intoxicants, to stone an adulterer. Who decreed this? They forget that with all the sins they have, Allah (AZ) would definitely forgive our sins, even if we do not repent, even if we do not ask Allah for forgiveness. Didn’t you read in the Sahih, that the prophet told us (SAW) that Allah (AZ) admitted a woman to hell because she kept a kitten a cat in her house until it died; she neither fed nor let it out to eat.
Allah (AZ) admitted a woman to hell because of a cat, what about your wife that you abuse, what about your children that you do not care about, what about the income of haram money and the deception and the lies you give and say, so that you keep your job or you get benefits from here or from there. So, how sure are you in thinking that Allah will forgive your sins if you are like this?
Therefore, we should think well of Allah (AZ) and feel our sins, and we should be like the prophet (SAW) whom Allah has forgiven all of his previous sins and coming sins as well. Yet he kept on praying until his feet were swollen and when he was asked he said, “Shouldn’t I be thankful and obedient servant of Allah.” Therefore let us fear Allah (AZ), let us think well of him and lets start regretting and fearing our sins and by that we would be fulfilling the instructions of the Prophet (SAW), “None of you should die accept thinking well of Allah.”
Abbreviation meanings:
AZ = Azza wa Jall
SWT = Subhana Wa Ta’Ala.