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Imam Ahmad (ra) wept
A man once came to Imam Ahlus-Sunnah, Ahmad bin Hanbal and asked him, “O Imam, what is your opinion on poetry?”
He replied, “Which poetry is this?” to which the man responded by reciting the following couplets:
إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني
If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me?
وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي وبالعصيان تأتيني
You conceal your sins from my creation – and with sins you come to me.”
Imām Ahmad took these lines and repeated them over and over again, and wept profusely to such an extent that one his students said that he almost perished due to him crying so much.
If my Lord asks me…
إذا ما قال لي ربي اما استحييت تعصيني
If my Lord asks me, “Have you shyness in disobeying me?
وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي وبالعصيان تأتيني
You conceal your sins from my creation – and with sins you come to me.”
فكيف أجيبُ يا ويحي ومن ذا سوف يحميني؟
So how will I answer? O woe to me – and who shall protect me?
أسُلي النفس بالآمالِ من حينٍ الى حيني
I keep averting my soul with thoughts of hope – from time to time.
وأنسى ما وراءُ الموت ماذا بعد تكفيني
And I forget what is to come after death – and what is to come after I am shrouded.
كأني قد ضّمنتُ العيش ليس الموت يأتيني
As if I am guaranteed life (eternally) – and that death will not come to me.
وجائت سكرة الموتُ الشديدة من سيحميني
And when the severe stupor of death overtakes me – who will protect me?
نظرتُ الى الوُجوهِ أليـس منُهم من سيفدينـــي
I looked at the faces; is there not from amongst them who will ransom me?
سأسأل ما الذي قدمت في دنياي ينجيني
I will be asked regarding what I have prepared in my life to save me (on the Day of Judgement).
فكيف إجابتي من بعد ما فرطت في ديني
Then how will I answer – after I have neglected my religion.
ويا ويحي ألــــم أسمع كلام الله يدعوني
Woe to me! Did I not hear the Speech of Allāh inviting me?
ألــــم أسمع لما قد جاء في قاف ويسِ
Did I not hear what came in (the chapters of) Qāf and Yā-Sīn?
ألـــم أسمع بيوم الحشر يوم الجمع و الديني
Did I not hear about the Day of Gathering, the Day of Assemble and the Day of Judgement?
ألـــم أسمع مُنادي الموت يدعوني يناديني
Did I not hear the crier of death inviting me, calling me?
فيا ربــــاه عبدُ تــائبُ من ذا سيؤويني
So O my Lord, a slave (turning to you) I have repented – so who then shall shelter me?
سوى رب غفور واسعُ للحقِ يهديني
Except a Lord extensive in forgiveness – to the truth He will guide me.
أتيتُ إليكَ فارحمني وثقــّـل في موازيني
I have come to you (in repentance) – so have mercy on me, and make heavy my scales (with good deeds).
وخفَفَ في جزائي أنتَ أرجـى من يجازيني
And lighten my account – You are the best of who will bring me to account.
Source: P205 Manaqib Imām Ahmad by Ibn al-Jawzi
Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi salam. Tasliman kathiran kathira. Fama baadu. My brothers and sisters. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, right in the beginning of His kalam, in Surah Al-Baqarah, after the huyuf al-muqatta’at, alif, la, mim, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned the Qur’an.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ This is the book in which there is no doubt.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said a very interesting, a very important thing. He said, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ This kitab is hidayah, is guidance. This book is a guidance for people of taqwa. خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ And you might say, if Allah had said, خُدَلِّ الْمُشْيْكِينَ خُدَلِّ الْكَافِرِينَ خُدَلِّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ These are the people who need that. They are not even, some are not in Islam, some are in Islam, they are making shaytan, shirkas, and so on, so on. These are the people who are misguided. They are the people who need hidayah. But Allah is not saying that.
Allah is saying, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ It is a book of guidance for people who have taqwa.
You might say, well, I already have taqwa, what guidance do I need?
But obviously, if Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is saying, خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ It means that there is a need.
So what is this need? And what is this guidance? And why is taqwa being made a shart, a condition of being guided? خُدَلِّ الْمُتَّقِينَ So it is not guidance for those who have no taqwa.
Now if you look at, in another place in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, the Arabs, the Bedouins, they come to you, Ya Rasulullah s.a.w., and they claim to have Iman.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, say to them, لَمْ يَدْقُلِ الْإِيمَانَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ Iman has not entered their hearts. They have accepted Islam, they are Muslims. But Allah said, Iman has not entered their hearts. And He put a condition, He said, for Iman to enter their hearts, let them obey Allah and His Rasul s.a.w. and establish Salah and give Zakat.
These are the signs that you have Iman. Obey Allah and obey His Rasul s.a.w. and establish Salah and give Zakat. Or a number of a number of a number and that is Allah.
You fear to displease Allah. In what? In everything. You fear to displease Allah in the way you think. You fear to displease Allah in the way you speak. You fear to displease Allah in how you earn your living, in what you eat and don’t eat, drink and don’t drink. You fear to displease Allah in your actions, in your behaviour, in your ma’milat, in your maashara, in your makhlaq, in everything.
And you will do only that which pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. That is the, it’s like a gateway, right? For every action, everything. And only when it fulfills that condition, the door, gate will open. Does it please Allah?
And, and if the answer is yes, then the door, gate will open.
This is safety for the believer. To have this condition in the heart and mind to say that I will do only that which pleases Allah is safety for the believer.
A man came to Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal rahmatullahi alaih and he recited one qasida. It’s all written in there. The qasida is also there. إِذَا مَا قَالَ لِي رَبِّي أَمَا اسْتَحْيَيْتَ تَعْصِينِي وَتُخْفِلْ ذَنْبَ أَنْ خَلْقِي وَبِالْعِسِيَانِ تَأْتِينِي If my Rabb asks me, have you no shyness in disobeying me? You concede your sins from my creation, but with sins you come to me.
And the first first share, the first couplet of their qasida was, where the man said, which means, you, Allah is making khitaab, Allah is speaking to the slave.
And Allah said that you were ashamed to do certain things before the people. You tried to hide some of your behavior from the people. But you were not ashamed that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala was seeing it.
Right? And he said, Imam Ahmad wept and wept and wept to the point where his students and his people around them, they thought he will die.
Not because Imam Ahmad was doing something haram. He’s talking, this is the level of taqwa.
Allah is saying that you were ashamed of your actions to the extent that you were hiding it from people.
Right? Today pornography is a big, big, big fitna. And may Allah protect us. The Muslims are equally involved in it.
But imagine you’re sitting there watching this pornography. Or you have it on your phone and you’re watching that. And you know, anyone gets your phone, there’s nothing which goes away. Everything is there. There’s only a way of getting it back. Right?
And imagine you’re watching that and your mother comes back. Comes and sees you watching it. Or your father. Or your… Whoever you have, you respect. Worst of all, your own children. If you have children, imagine you’re sitting there watching pornography. And your son or your grandson or your daughter walks in and sees you. What will happen? What will happen?
What should happen? Even if you have an iota of Izzah left in your heart, I mean, if you have gone completely shameless, it’s a different thing. Then maybe you would call your son and tell him, come sit here, watch this, watch what’s happening. How nice. Who knows? Maybe you’ll do that.
But if you have any, even an iota of Izzah left in your heart, what will you do?
Yet, you’re doing that knowing that Allah is watching. Inna lillahi wa inna ilajah. May Allah have mercy on us. And that is the couplet. That is what the man, he recited this couplet before Imam Ahmad, Muhammad al-Ali. Allah is saying to the slave, you did things which you were ashamed to do before the maqlook. And you had no shame that the Khaliq was watching.
This is a sign of no taqwa. Because if you have taqwa, then it should have stopped you long before you came to that.
So taqwa is gone. Or at least it is very, very sick. It’s in the ICU on a ventilator. So go and rescue it. Taqwa is the condition. Taqwa is the condition of guidance.
Let us remember that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is not in need of guiding us. Hidayat dena Allah ka ihtiyaj nahi hai. Allah ko koi zarurat nahi aap ko hidayat de. Hidayat hamari zarurat hai. It’s not Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has no need to give you or me hidayat. It is our need, our need, dire need to get hidayat.
The need which is superior to any need. The need which is superior to any need. Every other need. There are only two things in the zaruriyat. There are only two things that a human being needs. Only two. The first one is hidayat in this life. Hidayat in this life.
And the second one is maghfira when we die. Guidance in this life and forgiveness when we die. Everything else is optional. Health is optional. Wealth is optional. You name it. Your spouses, your children, your friends, everything is optional. You can do without every of, any one of them.
May Allah give all of us good health and Izzah and wealth and everything else. But my point is that even if you did not have, even if you are sick, even if you are completely sick and you are, you know, in a hospital in a terrible condition, as long as you had iman and as long as you had taqwa, this condition will end. And then what begins? Abbi Sunnah now. Sadawatul Insan.
You just heard May Allah bless the Sheikh for his registration. Wasaqahum Rabbuhum Sharaban Tahua. Sharaban Tahua. In the sense of alcohol, it is not alcohol. Mushroom, a drink. Wasaqahum Rabbuhum Sharaban Tahua. After all the bayan of all the things that will happen in Jannah and all the ni’mat of Jannah, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says the ultimate of it.
Their Rabb will give them Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is associated His relationship with us as our Rabb. Wasaqahum and Allah will give them to drink. Rabbuhum. Rabbuhum. Not even Rabbul Alameen. Rabbuhum. Unka Rabb. Sharaban Tahua. Issa. You go into like this. You go into a big wedding party or whatever party, right? And you are sitting there and there is food. There is good food and so on and so on and everybody is sitting there. Then suddenly the host spots you.
And he himself comes. And he brings the food for you. And he gives it to you. And he serves you. He is standing there. And the waiter comes. He takes the plate from the waiter. There is no difference. Everybody is eating. He is not giving you some gold. It is the same food. But this food he is himself giving it to you. This is what Allah is saying. Allah is saying obey me in this life. This is what you will get in Jannah. This is what you will get in Jannah. Or a drink.
For the sake of temporary, momentary pleasure, do not commit a sin. Because the pleasure will go, the sin will remain. And the sin will go with you into your khabar. And the sin will go with you, will be with you on the day of judgment. And that sin will take you to Jahannam. For the sake of momentary pleasure. Whatever the pleasure might be. For the sake of momentary pleasure. For the sake of momentary pleasure. Do not commit a sin. Because the pleasure will go, the sin will remain. And the sin will go with you into your khabar.
Or a little hard work. is difficult. Allah SWT himself said, He is the most difficult. Allah SWT is the most difficult. But that difficulty, that little difficulty, when you wake up with tahajjud, it is difficult. But if you accept that difficulty and you pray tahajjud, the difficulty will go. You know, even if you, once you awake, you awake. It’s just a matter of trying to get up, which is difficult. Once you get up and you make wudu, you are awake. The difficulty is gone. Even before you start your salah, the difficulty is gone. But that salah, that tahajjud, that dua, stays with you. It will go in your cover. It will be with you on the day of Hashar and it will take you to Jannah, inshaAllah.
Because Allah SWT himself mentioned specifically, تَتَجَافَ جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِيُّ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ قَوْفًا وَتَمْعًا وَمِمَّا لَتَعَالَىٰ رَضَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَّا أُخْفِيَ لَهُمْ مِنْ قُرَّةِ عَيُّنْ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ Allah SWT says, these are the people who wake up and get up from their sides. They get up from their beds and stand before Allah SWT بَيْنَ الْخَوْفِ وَتَمْعَ between fear and hope for Allah’s forgiveness.
That is the condition of the believer. That’s the meaning of taqwa. To be بَيْنَ الْخَوْفِ وَتَمْعَ between the fear of Allah’s punishment and the hope for His forgiveness. And they spend from what we have given them and Allah SWT said, if they knew what I have kept for them hidden, it would be the coolness of their eyes. قُرَّةِ عَيُّنْ It would be the coolness of their eyes. They would be so happy if they knew. And Allah is keeping secret. I will not tell you. I will show you. I will surprise you. Allah SWT.
Then we will know that little bit of getting up half an hour before the Salatul Fajr time starts and praying that two rakahs. This was the thing. At that time we thought we should have talked all night. Okay, we didn’t do it. We did two rakahs. We did study. A small difficulty little bit of difficulty. But the ajar of that, the reward of that, forever and ever.
Similarly, the sin. No matter what it is. And Allah SWT showed us in the Quran, gave us examples of people who are tempted with this and tempted with that. With Rasulullah himself. They came to him and they said to him, just stop this thing you are doing. This work of dawah. Stop it. And if you are doing this because you are looking for power, we will make you the king. Don’t worry. All of us will do baya on your hand. You are the king.
If you are doing it for wealth, we will bring wealth and pile it up before you. Give it to you free. Take it. If you are doing it for women, we will bring the most beautiful women of this place. Line them up. Take whoever you want. Take as many as you want. What will happen now? Whatever you like.
What did he say? He said, if you bring the sun and put it in one hand and you bring the moon and put it in the other hand, I will not leave you. I will not leave this world. Even if you bring that. Yusuf a.s. is tempted by this woman. Obviously, she must have been good looking and beautiful and so on. After all, she was the wife of the governor, of the Aziz. She is tempted by him. What does he say? He says, O Allah, the prison, the jail is better for me, is preferable to me than accepting what she wants me to do.
The first Syrian and the ulama have said that Yusuf a.s. should not have said the jail is preferable. He should have said, just save me. Allah would have saved him. He said, jail is preferable. So he went to jail. But the point is, that’s not the lesson from this. The lesson from this, is that he is saying, even to go to jail is preferable than doing zina.
Why? He was a slave. Think about that. In his situation, he was a slave. So he could have said, she is forcing me. What can I do? She owns me. I am her property. I am like a horse or something. I belong to her. I belong to her. So he could have, you know, given in and he would have said, Allah forgive me because, you know, what can I do? It’s not my fault. I am Muslim.
No. No. He said, no slave, no nothing. I will not disobey Allah, no matter what. I will not look for an excuse to disobey Allah. Even though excuse might be valid in that situation, but I will not look for the excuse. I will say, Allah, if the choice is between going to prison and doing zina, I prefer the prison. I will not do zina.
And this is a young man who is not married, nothing. Nothing. Obviously, his strength, his desire for women, his desire for sex and everything else is at the peak, right? He is not some guy who is already married and what. He is this man. He does not even know. Even in that state, he is saying, no, I will not do it. I will not do what Allah has made haram, no matter what. Even if I have to go to jail, I will go to jail.
Why is Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala telling us this whole story? And Allah called it, He said, the best of stories. The Surah Yusuf begins with this. Ahsan ul khasas. The Quran al-Kareem is a document which is relevant, which is current, which is modern, which is for today. Whether today is 2026 or whether today is 5026, makes no difference. It is relevant for that day.
Because the human conditions do not change. It does not change. Whether you are living today or a thousand years before or a thousand years ahead, you still have the same desires and the same, you know, hungers and the same needs. And Allah is giving us examples and showing us, this is what He wants to do. Follow Yusuf alayhi salam’s example. Don’t follow the example of shaitan.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, in His jalal wa kamal, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentioned in Surah Al-A’ram, an ayah which literally, I tell you when you read this ayah, literally it sort of makes you shake. Allah is talking about those people who know what is wrong. They still do it.
I mean for a Muslim to know that lying is wrong, you need a fatwa from some Sheikh ul Haram for this? To know that cheating is haram? To know that, to know that, to know that zina is haram? To know that drinking alcohol is haram? To know that gambling is haram? To know that dealing with interest is haram? You don’t know this? Yet people do. Muslims do. Muslims are involved in gambling. Muslims are involved in interest-based dealing. Muslims are involved in zina. Muslims are involved in alcohol, in drugs, in you name it.
So for such people who know, yet they will still do, as we say in Urdu, we call it hathdharmi, you have to know. So there is no escape to say, you know, I’m sorry I didn’t know. You know. Knowingly you do it. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَابَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَتَّى إِذَا فَرِحُوا بِمَا أُوتُوا أَخَذْنَاهُمْ بَغْتَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ مُبْلِسُونَ It is such a harsh verse.
It is such a hard verse. So, that it must shake us completely so that we come back on, to the straight path. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, and for those when they have, who have been warned and who insist on rebellion, who insist on committing sin, and they have been told, they have been reminded, مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ What happens to them? Allah is saying, telling us, what will I do to them?
Allah says, فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَابَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ عجيب. Allah is not saying, I will catch them, I will punish them. No, Allah said, then I will open on them the doors of everything. Huh? Imagine. You want to do zina? Okay. He warned you, it’s haram, don’t do it, don’t do it. You want, you still want to do zina? You are still doing zina? Okay. Epstein files. Do zina. Not one woman. 10,000 women. Do zina. It’s open door. فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَابَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ You want money in a haram way? You will get so much money, you will not know what to do with it. You want power in a haram way by oppressing people? You will get power in so much power and so much opportunity to oppress, you can’t believe it.
Right? You want to take money on interest? Allah will open the doors. Bankers will come and line up before you. Please take from me. Please take from me. Whatever strength you want to do, whatever disobedience of Allah you want to do, Allah will open the door for that. Do more. And then, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says, imagine, see this ayat of Quran, subhanAllah, may Allah have mercy on us and protect us. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, until the time when they are reveling in what we have given them.
Absolutely in everything, in zina, in whatever you are doing. When you are absolutely reveling, you are at the peak of this enjoyment. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, akhadnahum. Akhadnahum. Akhadnahum means to grab. Hearts. Akhadnahum. Baghtatat. Immediately. Fat kar ke marga. Faizahum mublisoon. And then they will be broken in spirit. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is saying, these are people who we will catch them at a time when they are not because of the time. Allah said, then they will not even have time to make istighfar and tawbah. They will be caught in the act. You will be caught in the act.
And Rasulullah s.a.w. said, if you die in a state, you will be resurrected in that state. Imagine, if somebody is committing zina and Allah takes you in that state, you will be resurrected before the whole world. Committing zina. Eh? If Allah wants and takes that person in that state, you will be resurrected in that state. Fear Allah. Fear Allah. Momentary enjoyment. And the result of that is not momentary. Allah said, you want to disobey me, I will give you ample opportunity. Do as much as you want. Indulge every fantasy.
And after that, I will catch you in the act. And you will be broken in spirit because you will not even get a chance to make tawbah, to make istighfar. We ask Allah to protect us from this. We ask Allah to enable us to be people of taqwa and to stay on the right path and to have some shame before Allah. And we ask Allah not to humiliate us before the people in this world and not to humiliate us before the people on the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah to protect us and to shield us and to protect us from the evil of the world. And to keep us on the right path with istighfahmah, with steadfastness.
Allah says in the Quran, Arabic Arabic