THE FEAR OF THE ANGELS, ALAYHIM ASSALAAM
[The following are from ibn qudaamah's mukhtasar minhajul qaasideen, pages 319-323]
Allah has said describing them,
يَخَافُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ
They fear Allah from above them and they do what they are commanded.
[an-Nahl : 50]
And we have narrated from the Prophet that he said, “Verily, Allah has angels who tremble out of fear of Him.”
[al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu'ab #914, al-Khateeb in Taareekh Baghdad 12/307]
And it has reached us that from the carriers of the Throne are [angels] whose tears flow like rivers, so if [one] raises his head he says, “Glory be to You, You are not feared as You deserve to be feared.” Allah will say, “But those who swear oaths by My Name are liars [and] do not know this.”
And from Jaabir, “Rasul Allah said, ‘When it was the night of my ascension, I saw Jibreel like a worn-out rag from the fear of Allah.’”
[Ahmad in al-Musnad 4/25-26]
And it has reached us that Jibreel came to the Prophet and was crying. So the Prophet asked him, ‘What makes you cry?’ He said, “My eyes have not been dry since Allah created Jahannam, out of fear that I would disobey Him and He would throw me in it.”
[al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu'ab #915]
And from Yazeed al-Ruqaashi, “Allah has angels around the Throne, their eyes cry [tears] like rivers until the Day of Resurrection. They sway as though the wind was shaking them, out of their fear of Allah ta’aala. So Allah, Mighty and Exalted, will say to them, ‘O My angels, what has frightened you when you are with Me?’ They will say, ‘O Lord, if the people of the earth knew of your Honor and Glory the way we know of it, they would not have [been able to] swallow food nor drink, nor would they lie down in their beds. They would go out to the deserts and bellow like the cows bellow.”
And Muhammad bin al-Munkadir said, “When the Fire was created, the hearts of the angels flew from their place, and when Adam was created, they returned.”
And it has been narrated that when Iblees’ affair came to pass, Jibreel and Mika’eel began crying. So Allah said to them, “What is this crying?” They said, “Our Lord, we are not safe from your plotting.” So Allah said to them, “So be it [ i.e. safe].”
THE FEAR OF THE PROPHETS, ALAYHIM ASSALAAM
Wahb said, “Adam cried over Jannah for 300 years, and he did not raise his head to the Heavens after he committed the mistake.”
And Wuhaib ibn al-Ward said, “When Allah rebuked Nuh over his son when he said “I seek refuge with You from asking You that of which I have no knowledge. And unless You forgive me and have Mercy on me, I would indeed be one of the losers” [Hud : 46], Nuh cried 300 years, until there appeared under his eyes the likeness of creeks from [all of his] crying.”
Abud-Dardaa said, “Wheezing could be heard from Ibrahim’s chest whenever he rose to prayer, out of fear of Allah, Mighty and Exalted.”
And Mujaahid said, “When Daawood committed his mistake, he fell down prostrate to Allah for 40 days, until from the tears of his eyes there grew herbs that covered his head. Then he called, ‘O Lord, the forehead has been injured and the eyes have hardened, and nothing has yet to return to Daawood.’ So [a voice] called, ‘Are you hungry for you to eat? Or sick for you to be cured? Or oppressed for you to be aided?’ So he wailed a cry that aroused every growing thing, and upon that, he was forgiven.”
And it was said, ‘The people would visit Daawood thinking he was sick, but there was nothing with him except intense fear of Allah.’”
And Isa- if death was mentioned- his skin would drip blood.
THE FEAR OF THE PROPHET, SALALLAHU ALAYHI WA SALLAM
Narrated ‘Aisha: “I never saw Allah’s Apostle laughing loudly enough to enable me to see his uvula, but he used to smile only. And whenever he saw clouds or winds, signs of deep concern would appear on his face. I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! When people see clouds they usually feel happy, hoping that it would rain, while I see that when you see clouds, one could notice signs of dissatisfaction on your face.” He said, “O ‘Aisha! What is the guarantee for me that there will be no punishment in it, since some people were punished with a wind? Verily, some people saw the punishment, but [while seeing the cloud] they said, ‘This cloud will give us rain.’ “
[Bukhari #4454, Muslim #1497]
And when the Prophet prayed, a sound like the wheezing of a cauldron could be heard because of his weeping.
[an-Nisaa’I #1199, Abu Daawood #769]
THE FEAR OF HIS COMPANIONS, RAADI ALLAHU ANHOM
We have narrated from Abu Bakr that he would hold his tongue and say, “This is what has led me to destruction.”
And he said, “If only I were a tree that is chewed and then eaten.”
And similarly were Talha and Abud-Dardaa and Abu Dharr.
And Umar ibnul Khattab would hear an ayah and become sick and withdraw for days.
And one day, he picked up a piece of straw from the ground and said, “If only I were this piece of straw. If only I was never anything mentioned! If only my mother never gave birth to me!”
And on his face were two black streaks from his great weeping.
And Uthmaan said, “I wish that if I die, that I am not resurrected.”
And Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah said, “I wish that I was a ram for my family to slaughter and eat my meat and drink my broth.”
And Umraan bin Haseen said, “I wish that I were ashes scattered by the wind.”
And Hudhayfah said, “I wish I had a person to take charge of my money so I could close my door upon me and no one would enter upon me until I meet Allah, Mighty and Majestic.”
And a line [down which tears flowed] was on the cheek of Ibn Abbas, like a worn-out lace.
And Aishah said, “I wish that I was a forgotten thing.”
And Ali said, “By Allah, I have seen the Companions of Muhammad. I see no-one that resembles them [today]. By Allah! They used to rise in the morning disheveled, dust-covered, [and] pale, with something between their eyes like goat’s knees, as they had spent the night chanting Allah’s Book, turning from their feet to their foreheads. If they awakened and Allah was mentioned they swayed the way trees sway on a windy day, then their eyes poured out tears until they soaked their clothes. By Allah! It is as if folks today sleep in indifference.”
THE FEAR OF THE TAABI’EEN AND THOSE AFTER THEM
Haram bin Hiyaan said, “I wish, by Allah, that I was a tree that a camel would eat and discharge as droppings, and that I would not endure the reckoning of the Day of Resurrection; verily, I fear the Great Calamity.”
And Ali bin al Hussain would turn yellow when he made wuduu’ and [his appearance would] change. So it would be said to him, “What is it?” He would say, “Do you know before Whom I will stand?”
And Muhammad bin Waasi’ would cry for most of the night and would not let up.
And Umar bin Abdul-Azeez, if death was mentioned, would quiver the way the birds quiver, and cry until his tears wet his beard.
And one night he cried, and those in his house wept [with him]. Faatimah [his wife] said, “What is with you o Ameerul-Mu’mineen? From what are you weeping?” He said, “I remembered the departure of the people before Allah ta’aala, a party in Paradise, and a party in the Blazing Fire.” Then he shrieked and [had to be] covered up.
And when al-Mansoor sought Jerusalem, he stopped at a monastery Umar bin Abdul-Azeez would stay at. So he said, “Inform me about the strangest thing you saw from Umar.” [It was replied], “He spent one night on the roof of this room of mine and it is made of marble. So I found water dripping from the roof [gutter]. I went up and [found him] prostrating, and the tears from his eyes were flowing down the gutter.”
And we narrated about Umar bin Abdul-Azeez and Fat’h al-Mousalee that they would cry [tears of] blood.
And Ibrahim bin Isa al-Yashkaree said, “I entered upon a man in Bahrein who had withdrawn from the people and gave all his time to himself. He remembered something from the affairs of the aakhirah and he remembered death. He began to sob until his soul left him.”
And Masma’ said, “I witnessed Abdul-Waahid bin Zayd when he was exhorting the people, and four people died that day in the gathering.”
And Yazeed bin Murshid would cry often and say, “By Allah, if my Lord promised to imprison me in the bathroom, it would be a right upon me to never cease weeping. So how is it when He has promised to imprison me in the Fire if I disobey Him?”
And Saari as-Saqatee said, “Verily, I look every day at my nose, fearing that my face has become blackened.”
This is the fear of the angels and prophet and ulemaa and awliyaa. And we are more deserving of having fear than they. But fear [does not come] with the plentitude of sins, rather with the clarity of the heart and the perfection of knowledge. And we feel safe due to the dominance of our ignorance and the strength of our hard-heartedness. The purified heart is burned by the slightest knowledge, and the hardened heart will miss all exhortations.
And some of the salaf said, “I said to a monk, ‘Advise me.’ He said, ‘If you are able to reach the rank of a man who [finds himself] surrounded by beasts and vermin and he is fearful and cautious and fears that they will eat him if he is inattentive or bite him if he is unmindful- so he is terrified- then do so.”
And what this monk said about the thinking of a man surrounded by beasts and vermin- this is the reality of the true mu’min- the one who looks into his interior with the light of his insight will find it full of beasts and vermin like anger and hate and envy and pride and conceit and showing off and what is besides that. And all of that bites him and eats him if he is inattentive to them, unless he is screened from seeing them. So if the cover is removed and he is placed in the grave, he will see [these qualities] with his own eyes in the form of snakes and scorpions. They are his characteristics present [in him] now, so whoever desires to vanquish them before death and kill them, let him do it, or else will have to adjust himself wholeheartedly to their sting.
