Attributes of Allah

On the authority of Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari, of the prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) is that
among the sayings he relates from his Lord is that He said:

“O My servants, I have forbidden oppression for Myself and have made it forbidden
amongst you, so do not oppress one another. O My servants, all of you are astray except
for those I have guided, so seek guidance of Me and I shall guide you. O My servants, all of
you are hungry except for those I have fed, so seek food of Me and I shall feed you. O My
servants, all of you are naked except for those I have clothed, so seek clothing of Me and I
shall clothe you. O My servants, you sin by night and by day, and I forgive all sins, so seek
forgiveness of Me and I shall forgive you. O My servants, you will not attain harming Me so
as to harm Me, and you will not attain benefiting Me so as to benefit Me. O my servants,
were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to become as
pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My kingdom
in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and
the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you, that would
not decrease My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of
you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me,
and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any
more than a needle decreases the sea if put into it. O My servants, it is but your deeds that I
reckon up for you and then recompense you for, so let him who finds good praise Allah, and
let him who finds other than that blame no one but himself.”

Reported by Muslim

This hadith is a 'Hadith Qudsee', a Hadith where the Prophet (sas) narrated Allah’s (swt)
words. This hadith stresses on the prohibition of all forms of injustice and oppression in
Islam. It also encourages Muslims to seek guidance from Allah by means of supplication
(du'a) and to rely solely on Allah, while highlighting Allah’s Glory and His inexhaustible
treasures and bounties.

The difference between a hadith qudsi and the Qur’an is:

 The Qur’an was sent down in wording and meaning, but a hadith qudsi was sent down only
in meaning.
 The Qur’an is a miracle whereas a hadith qudsi is not considered as one.
 The Qur’an can be read in salah, but a hadith qudsi cannot.

Unlawful Oppression

When Allah (swt) said, “I have made oppression unlawful for Me”, one might think of all the
suffering, evil, and oppression that exists in the world. One might think, if Allah (swt) is
Merciful, then why do these evil things occur? These things happen because Allah (swt)
gave us free will and a choice to act according to what we think is right. We can deduce that
it is human beings who choose to oppress one another, exercising their own free will.

The forbidden injustices can occur in many forms. The most extreme form of injustice is al-
shirk, or associating partners with Allah. The second form is injustice towards one own self,
by committing sins. The third form is injustice towards others, human beings, and other
creations alike. Muslims should strive to avoid injustice, as it displeases Allah (swt) and
warrants His severe punishment.

Oppression can be:

Allah is the Provider

 The phrases “all of you are astray except for those I have guided” and “all of you are hungry
except for those I have fed” remind us of our need for Allah in this life and the next
 They are linked to each other as one is speaking about spiritual nourishment and the other
about physical nourishment. We need both nourishments (for our soul and body) to survive
 This part of the hadith affirms that man cannot bring good to himself unless if Allah wills
 When Allah speaks about guidance in the Qur’an, He stresses that it lies in His hands
 The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) was fearful for the Iman of the sahabah, so how
fearful for our Iman should we be?
 These phrases do not mean we must then sit down and do nothing and just say it is up to
Allah to guide us and feed us. We must sincerely look for the truth. The reason why
someone is guided is because they are sincerely trying to find the truth
 When searching for guidance, we must prevent ourselves from the things that act as a
barrier, otherwise we are not really sincere in our search for the truth
 Allah is the Provider

When it comes to material goods, Allah (swt) is the One who provides us with what we
need: food, clothing, etc. The hadith shows the generosity of Allah (swt). The more we ask
Him, the more He gives us. He wants us to come closer to Him by expressing our needs
with humility. Allah (swt) said: "Do not seek sustenance from anyone other than Me, for
verily all those others from whom you might seek sustenance have themselves been
provided for by Myself. So seek sustenance from me and I will provide for you".

Allah is always willing to forgive us

Although we are constantly committing sins, Allah is constant in His Mercy and forgiveness.
The door of repentance is always open for all. Allah (swt) acknowledges our weaknesses.
People are always subject to wrongdoings. They may neglect or delay performing
obligations or indulge in sins, but Allah (swt) is Oft-Forgiving and His door is open to all
wrongdoers. If we do something wrong at night, we should come back to Him in the morning
and vice versa.

We are all sinners so we must all seek forgiveness from Allah.‫( استغفار‬forgiveness) is derived
from the word ‫ غفر‬which means to cover up/hide.When asking for forgiveness,
 we ask Allah to:Conceal and cover up the sin in this life and the hereafter
 Remove the effects of the sin
 Protect us from the effects of the sin
The conditions of repentance are:
 Regret
 Stopping the sin
 Intending to never do it again
The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) used to seek forgiveness from Allah at least 70
times a day. He was sinless as his sins were forgiven but he did so to teach us how to seek
forgiveness
 We don’t just seek forgiveness for the sins we committed, but also for our shortcoming as
we haven’t worshipped Allah as He deserves.

Allah’s Treasures and Bounties are Endless

Allah’s treasures are inexhaustible, so do not let anyone think that what is with Allah will
diminish by His giving. The Prophet (sas) has explained in another Hadith: "Allah's Hand is
Full; it is not diminished by His giving all of the day and the night. Have you not seen that
 your Lord has been giving ever since He created the Heavens and the Earth, and all that
has not diminished what is in His Hand by the least” (Bukhari).

 Our good deeds and bad sins have no effect on Allah’s kingdom
 A king who has a kingdom has many subjects in the kingdom who are dependent on him,
and the king may feel that these subjects are dependent on him and he is independent, but
in reality, if all of these people leave the kingdom or refuse to obey the king then he will
cease to have a kingdom and cease to be king, so he is in fact dependent on them
 Allah is telling us that His kingdom is different to the kingdoms that we have in the dunya.
We are all subjects in Allah’s kingdom but if we all stop worshipping Him, or if we all
become obedient, then His kingdom remains as it is as He is not dependent on us
 If Allah gave each one of us their requests, then that does not decrease His kingdom
because us and our requests are part of His kingdom so whatever He gives us will still
ultimately belong to Him. Thus when Allah gives us what we ask for, He is merely moving
His possessions around and not losing anything
 We cannot possess anything in its absolute form because when we die, we cannot take it
with us, and if Allah wanted to take it at any time, then He can
 We should never be attached to anything in this dunya, because whatever we have here
does not belong to us, so just like we should not get attached to things we borrow and know
we have to give back, we should not be attached to things we can never absolutely possess
 Having this feeling will give us comfort and not make us feel at loss when we lose
something we desire because we know we were going to give it back sooner or later
 If we put a needle in the sea and take it out, some water is still left on the needle, however,
this does not mean that Allah’s kingdom has decreased, but because our minds are weak
and can only imagine things that decrease, Allah used this example
 The end of the hadith ties everything together in that if we are dependent on Allah, and He
is the one who provides for us, then we will be held accountable for what we do.

Whoever finds a good record; he should be thankful to Allah and praise Him for that.
Anyone who finds other than that should not blame anyone except himself. This is a clear
statement that shows the personal responsibility we have for our actions.
 Recompensation is of two types:
 Get rewards in the dunya and punishment in the hereafter (disbelievers)
 Get rewards in the hereafter and punishment in the dunya (believers)
 This doesn’t mean that the believers do not get rewards in this dunya, as Allah can give us
blessings and make things easy for us in the dunya too
 The ending establishes that anything good we get is from Allah, and anything bad is due to
our own shortcomings
 Many people blame their surroundings for what is happening to them, and always have
someone to blame except themselves
 We are rewarded for more than we deserve and punished for what we deserve

Conclusion
In many verses of the Qur'an and in the Hadiths of the Prophet (sas), the importance of
expressing our need with humility to Allah (swt) is very clear. We should also constantly
repent to him. Allah (swt) is The All Hearing, He will listen to us and accept our supplication
and repentance. We seek of Him; His mercy, blessings and pleasure. The pleasure of Allah
(swt) is our ultimate goal, without which we will indeed be among the unfortunate of
creations. We ask Allah (swt) to count us among the winners, the ones who have earned
His pleasure (Amin).