Gathering To Remember Allaah
Gathering To Remember Allaah
Gathering To Remember Allaah
What makes you sit here? They said: We are sitting here in order to remember Allaah. He said: I
adjure you by Allaah (to tell me whether you are sitting here for this very purpose)? They said: By
Allaah, we are sitting here for this very purpose. Thereupon, he said: I have not demanded you to
take an oath, because of any allegation against you and none of my rank in the eye of Allaah's
Messenger ( )ﷺis the narrator of so few ahadith as I am. The fact is that Allaah's Messenger ()ﷺ
went out to the circle of his Companions and said: What makes you sit? They said: We are sitting
here in order to remember Allaah and to praise Him for He guided us to the path of Islaam and He
conferred favours upon us. Thereupon he adjured by Allaah and asked if that only was the purpose
of their sitting there. They said: By Allaah, we are not sitting here but for this very purpose,
whereupon he (the Messenger) said: I am not asking you to take an oath because of any
allegation against you but for the fact that Gabriel came to me and he informed me that Allaah,
the Exalted and Glorious, was talking to the angels about your magnificence. [Saheeh Muslim
#2701]
It is important that we recognize these kinds of gatherings to remember Allaah azzawajal and
increase our knowledge.
Fact that Allaah azzawajal, it may seem strange that Allaah would mention people who gather to
remember Allaah and to seek Knowledge amongst the angels, but if you think about the first story
in the Qur’aan Allaah mentions is about creation of Aadam:
َ ُ ُ َ َ ُ َ َ َ ُْٓ َ َ َ َ ٞ َ ِ َ َٰٓ َ َ َ ُّ َ َ َ
ۡسدۡفِيها ِ ۡرضۡخلِيفةۖٗۡقالواۡأَتعلۡفِيهاۡمنۡيف
ۡ ِ ِۡفۡٱۡل
ِ ِإَوذۡۡقالۡربكۡل ِلملئِكةِۡإ ِ ِّنۡجاعِل
َ ُ َ َ َ َ ُ َ َ ِٓ َ َ َ َ ُ ِ َُ َ َ َ ُ ِ َُ ُ َ َ َٓ َ ِ ُ َ َ
٣٠ِۡۡبم ِدكۡونق ِدسۡلكۖٗۡقالۡإ ِ ِّنۡأعلمۡماَۡلۡتعلمونِ ويسفِۡكۡٱلِما ۡءۡوَننۡنسبِح
“And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the
earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption
therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" Allaah said, "Indeed, I
know that which you do not know."” [al-Baqarah 2:30]
ُ ُ ٓ َ ُ َٰٓ َ ٓ َ َ َ َ َ َ َ َ َ َ َ ُ َ َ َّ ُ َ َّ ُ ٓ َ َ َ َ
َ َ َ َ َّ َ َ
ۡۡو يۡأِسسماءِٰۡٓلَلءِۡإِنۡن تمِ ۢنب َٰٓ
ۡ ِ وعل ۡمۡءادمۡٱۡلسما ۡءُۡكهاۡثمۡعرضهمۡلَعۡٱلملئِكةِۡۡفقالۡأ
َ َص َٰ ِدق
ۡ ۡ٣١ِۡني
And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said,
"Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful." [2:31]
2
َ َ َّ ٓ َ َ َّ َ َ َّ ٓ َ َ َ َ ُ ْ ُ َ
ُ
٣٢ِۡيم َ ۡ ِ حَٰ َكَۡلۡعِل َمَۡلَاۡإَِلۡماۡعلمت اۖٗۡإِنكۡأنتۡٱلعل
ُ
ۡ يمۡٱۡلك َ َ واۡسب
ۡ قال
They said, "Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is
You who is the Knowing, the Wise." [2:32]
َ ُ َ َ ٓ ِ ُ َّ ُ َ َ َ َ َ ٓ َ َ ُ َ َ َ ٓ َّ َ َ ٓ َ َ ُ َ ُ َ َ َٰٓ َ َ َ
َۡۡغيب لۡلكمۡإ ِ ِّنۡأعلم
ۡ الۡيـادمۡأۢنبِئهمۡأِسسمائ ِ ِهمۖٗۡفلماۡأۢنبسهمۡأِسسمائ ِ ِهمۡقالۡألمۡأق
ۡ ق
َ ُُ َ ُ ُ ََ َ ُ ُ َ َُ ََ َ َ َ َ َّ
ۡ ۡ٣٣ۡۡرضۡوأعلمۡماۡتبدونۡوماۡن تمۡتكتمون ۡ ِ تۡ ۡوٱۡل ِۡ َٰ ٱلسمَٰو
He said, "O Aadam, inform them of their names." And when he had informed them of their names,
He said, "Did I not tell you that I know the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth? And I
know what you reveal and what you have concealed." [2:33]
It’s a story of creation of Aadam, and Allaah azzawajal is talking to the angels, telling them that He
is going to create a Khaleefah in the earth and they said to Allaah SWT, You are going to create
someone who are going to cause corruption in the land etc.,
َ ُ َ َ َ َ ُ َ َ ِٓ
Allaah said ۡۡون
ۡ إ ِ ِّنۡأعلمۡماَۡلۡتعلم
"Indeed, I know that which you do not know
So Allaah SWT is mentioning His Ilm, so what is the virtue that Allaah SWT gave to Aadam over
the angels?
So Allaah taught Aadam names of everything, and then He showed these things to the angels, that
He taught Aadam the names of, and He told the angels to tell Me, what these things are? If you are
truthful of what you said about Aadam?
The Mufassireen-the scholars of Tafseer have mentioned that the fadhl –virtue that was given to
Aadam over the angels in that particular situation was knowledge Ilm.
And so, when the people come together to get a piece of that knowledge, and to remind
themselves of that knowledge then Allaah azzawajal mentioned them to the angels. It is almost like
a reminder to the angels saying, Look, these were created with that virtue and they came together
for that purpose, so Allaah azzawajal mentions them to the angels.
“No people gather in one of the houses of Allaah, reciting the Book of Allaah and studying it
among themselves, but tranquility descends upon them, mercy overshadows them, the angels
3
gather around them, and Allaah mentions them to those who are with Him.” [Narrated by Imam
Muslim in his Saheeh.]
When we gather in any circles of knowledge in the masaajid, we should believe that angels
surround the whole gathering, because we believe in the unseen.
mercy overshadows them, Allaah azzawajal’s Mercy penetrates the entire gathering. The point
that many of the scholars mentioned in the explanation of this hadith is that just by sitting in the
circles of knowledge, it is a means of sins being forgiven because it is no way that Allaah’s Mercy
penetrate a gathering and leave people without having some of their sins been forgiven.
and Allaah mentions them to those who are with Him. And Allaah SWT mentions them to those
who are close to Him, the angels and consider that, consider what that means because, for
example, if someone does something that is praiseworthy, they didn’t do it for people to praise
them, they did it for Allaah azzawajal but they did something that was good and someone else
goes and post it in a website or may be in a front page of the newspaper and people calling around
saying, MashaAllaah, did you hear about so and so’s accomplishments, for example- or whatever
the situation may be of something that he did, that person feels good, that they are being
mentioned by the people in a good light, people are saying good things about them and they feel
good about that, we all have had this experience whether its for your children, or son etc., but you
know that when people mention you in a good light it feels good.
IF ALLAAH azzawajal mentions YOU in a good light to the angels then is there anything that is
greater than that.
So brothers and sisters in Islaam, let be diligent in seeking the knowledge of Islaam, this is not
something we should take it lightly. And we shouldn’t expect that when you come for a gathering
of knowledge with all of the blessings we talked about like tranquility, mercy of Allaah, Allaah
mentioning you amongst angels
And also Mu’awiya reported: The Messenger of Allaah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If
Allaah intends goodness for someone, he gives him understanding of the religion.” [ Ṣaḥīḥ al-
Bukhārī 71, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1037]
You should not come to these kind of gatherings with all of that rewards expecting to be
entertained or expecting the whole thing to be that light hearted.
Imaam Maalik rahimaullah was asked the question and he said, La yadri-I don’t know, the person
who asked the question said, well, this is mashala kafeefah, ‘It’s a lightweight issue’.
Imaam Maalik said, there is no such thing as knowledge al-Kafeef, i.e. light [there is no such
thing in Islaam as lightweight knowledge]
Allaah says in the Qur’aan
ََ َ َ َ ا َّ
٥ۡإِناۡ َس ُل ِِقۡعليكۡقوَلۡثقِيًل
Verily, We shall send down to you a weighty Word [73:5]
4
There are no light weight issues. So, again, we should come to these type of gatherings not
expecting that we are going to be entertained but expecting to learn something that we can take
and implement in our religion.
Reference: Taken from the lecture TRUST IN ALLAAH by Shaykh Tahir Wyatt