“And they fall down on their faces weeping” [17:109]
- It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (ra) said: The Messenger of Allah said: “A man who weeps for fear of Allah will not enter Hell until the milk goes back into the udder, and dust produced (when fighting) for the sake of Allah and the smoke of Hell will never coexist.” Narrated by Tirmidhi and Nasaa’i.
- The Messenger of Allah (saw) is reported to have said: “There are seven whom Allah will shade with His shade on the day when there will be no shade but His: a just ruler; a young man who grows up worshipping Allah; a man whose heart is attached to the mosque; two people who love one another for the sake of Allah, meeting and parting on that basis; a man who is called (to commit sin) by a woman of high status and great beauty and he says, ‘I fear Allah’; a man who gives in charity so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand is doing; and a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes flow with tears.” Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.
One of the righteous people used to weep night and day, and something was said to him about that. He said: “I am afraid that Allah will see me committing sin and will say: ‘Go away from Me for I am angry with you.’” Hence Sufyan used to weep and say: “I am afraid that my faith will be taken away at the moment of death.”
Isma’il ibn Zakariya described Habeeb ibn Muhammad, who was a neighbour of his. He said: “Every evening I heard him weeping and every morning I heard him weeping, so I went to his wife and said: ‘What is the matter with him? He weeps in the evening and he weeps in the morning!’ She said to me: ‘By Allah, when evening comes he fears that he will not live till morning and when morning comes he fears that he will not live till evening.’”
The salaf (righteous predecessors) used to weep and grieve a great deal. When Yazeed al-Raqaashi was criticized for weeping a great deal and it was said to him, “If the Fire had been created exclusively for you, you would not weep more than this,” he said: “Has the Fire been created for anyone other than me and my companions and brothers among the jinn and mankind?”
When ‘Ata’ al-Sulaymi was asked: “What is this grief?” he said: “Woe to you! Death is close at hand, the grave is my house, on the Day of Resurrection I will stand and my path is over a bridge across Hell, and I do not know what will become of me.”
Faddalah ibn Sayfi used to weep a great deal. A man entered upon him when he was weeping and said to his wife: “What is the matter with him?” She said: “He says that he wants to undertake a long journey and he does not have proper provision for it.”
One night al-Hasan woke up weeping, and he disturbed the other people in the house with his weeping. They asked him what was the matter and he said: “I remembered a sin that I committed and I wept.”
It was narrated that Tameem al-Daari (may Allah be pleased with him) recited this verse (interpretation of the meaning): “Or do those who earn evil deeds think that We shall hold them equal with those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah- Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds” [45:21] and he started repeating it and weeping until morning came.
Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to weep intensely, and it was said to him: “Why are you weeping?” He said: “I do not know what is ahead of me – Divine pleasure or divine wrath.”
Sa’d ibn al-Akhram said: I was walking with Ibn Mas’ood and he passed by the blacksmiths, who had brought a piece of iron out of the fire. He stood and looked at the molten iron and wept.