Crying In front And Out Of Fear Of Allah
“And they fall upon their faces weeping, and the Qur’an increases them in humble submission.” [17:109]
Weeping is a mercy which Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala puts in the hearts of all of us.
A person weeps because of some reason. At times one cries because of feelings of mercy and kindness; at times because of fear; sometimes because of fondness and often because of love; sometimes due to intense happiness; sometimes due to pain or sorrow; at times due to the oppression of someone.
Besides these there is the weeping of taubah (repentance) which is an outcome of some sin(s) committed; another type of crying is due to nifaaq (hypocrisy), which is done for show, where one cries in salaah (prayer) so that others may feel that the person is crying due to piety, humbleness etc.; also one other type of crying is for a request, for instance where one cries for a dead person without taking any remuneration;
and another type is to cry for a remuneration where for example one is paid to cry at the house of a dead person as is the custom in some areas; one more type of crying is the weeping of acceptance where one sees another crying and after seeing this he also begins to cry in camaradrie, etc. Verily the best of weeping is out of fear of Allah SWT.
The Messenger of Allah use to shed tears listening the words of Allah
Ibn Mas’ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
The Prophet said to me: “Recite the Qur’an to me”. I said, “O Messenger of Allah! Shall I recite the Qur’an to you, when it has been revealed to you?” He replied, “I love to hear it recited by others”. So I recited to him a portion from Surat An-Nisa’. When I reached the Ayah: “How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad as a witness against these people?”. (4:41)
He said, “Enough for now”. When I looked at him I saw his eyes were shedding tears.
[Al- Bukhari and Muslim Riyad As Salihin Book 1, Hadith 446, Tirmidhi Vol. 1, Book 44, Hadith 3024 Graded as Sahih]
Allah will bless him, he who cried out of fear of Allah by providing him His shade at Judgement Day, when there will be no other shade
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said Allah will give shade to seven (types of people) under His Shade (on the Day of Resurrection). (one of them will be) a person who remembers Allah and his eyes are then flooded with tears. [Sahih al-Bukhari 6479 In-book reference : Book 81, Hadith 68]
Even the companions of Prophet Muhammad SAW used to weep out of fear of Allah, when Quran was recited.Narrated Hamza bin `Abdullah:
My father said, “When Allah’s Messenger became seriously ill, he was told about the prayer. He said, ‘Tell Abu Bakr to lead the people in the prayer.’ `Aisha said, ‘Abu Bakr is a softhearted man and he would be overpowered by his weeping if he recited the Qur’an.’ He said to them, ‘Tell him (Abu Bakr) to lead the prayer. The same reply was given to him. He said again, ‘Tell him to lead the prayer. You (women) are the companions of Joseph.”
[ Sahih al-Bukhari Book 10, Hadith 76]
The Messenger of Allah said
Abu Umamah Sudaiy bin ‘Ajlan Al-Bahili (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
The Prophet said: “Nothing is dearer to Allah than two drops and two marks: A drop of tears shed out of fear of Allah and a drop of blood shed in Allah’s way. Regarding the two marks, they are: Marks left in the Cause of Allah and a mark left in observing one of the obligatory act of worship of Allah, the Exalted”.
[Riyah As Salihin, Book of Misceallny from At-Tirmidhi Book 1, Hadith 455]
The Prophets and their companions cried before Allah. Pious predecessors, likewise, used to weep so profusely, especially in their night prayers, that the hot tears would leave marks on their faces and wet their generous beards.
Abdullah Bin Al-Shikhkhir (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “I came to Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) when he was performing prayers. He was sobbing and his chest sounded like a boiling kettle.” (Abu Dawood and Al-Tirmidhi)
The reward for weeping alone is immense
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) 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 al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasaa’i.
“Until the milk goes back into the udder” is a metaphor for it being impossible, as in the verse where Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “and they will not enter Paradise until the camel goes through the eye of the needle” [7:40]
The fear of Allah (SWT) brings many benefits which include:
- It is something which we have been ordered to do
- It is a conditions to achieve Eeman
- It is something that our prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did
- It is from the characteristics of the righteous and knowledgeable
- It helps someone achieve stability and comfort on Earth
- It pushes someone to do good
- It is one of the reasons of forgiveness from Allah (SWT)
- It leads a person to enter paradise
- It helps someone achieve tranquillity and safety on the day of judgement
- It is a reason to be rescued from every evil
- It makes someone to be from the ones which Allah (SWT) has spoken well of in the Qur’an.
To achieve this great attribute of fearing Allah (SWT), we can do the following:
- Remembering the previous sins we have fallen in
- Being wary of not fulfilling the obligations
- Thinking of what will happen on the day of judgement
- Pondering upon Allah’s (SWT) greatness and ability
- Looking at how Allah (SWT) speaks about the successful ones and their attributes
- Pondering upon Allah’s (SWT) words and those of His messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم)
- Pondering upon death and about its inevitability
- Pondering upon what comes after death in our graves
- Pondering upon what will happen when we are resurrected
- Remembering what Allah (SWT) said about hellfire
- Pondering upon how we have forgotten our sins but Allah (SWT) has not and will not forget them
- Knowing that death can approach us suddenly before we have time to repent
- Remembering the stories of those who have died before us and have had a bad death.
If we really think about what will happen to us and how much we have transgressed, as well as us not knowing if our righteous deeds were accepted or not, we should always be crying from the fear of Allah.
It was narrated that al-‘Irbad ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), who was one of those who used to weep, said: “The Messenger of Allah delivered a deeply moving speech at which our eyes began to overflow and our hearts melted.”
[ Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood and Ibn Maajah.]
The most telling example of a man who few people would think that he might cry out of fear of Allah is `Umar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). `Umar was known for being strong, fearless, and uncompromising when it came to matters of faith. Despite that, it was related by `Abdullah ibn `Isa that he had two black streaks on his face as a result of constant weeping.
`Umar’s awe and fear of Almighty Allah was so intense that he once said, “If someone announces from the heavens that everybody will enter Paradise except for one person, I would fear that I would be that person.” Thus, the strong `Umar was fearful of his Lord and His punishment to the point of weeping.
Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was also a great example of this. He was simply known for crying out of fear of Almighty Allah. These people were keen on serving fellow human beings during the day and invoke Almighty Allah at night in order to save them as well as all humanity from His Punishment. Let us contemplate the reality of the hereafter and let us invoke Almighty Allah to forgive our sins and soften our hearts.
We have more need and urgency to contemplate and weep than `Umar and Abu Bakr ever had. Human beings are in turmoil. Only connecting with Allah wholeheartedly and begging for His mercy and forgiveness can bring us closer to Him and instill a sense of tranquility and softness in our hearts.
May Allah help us and you to do that which our Lord loves and is pleased with him.
