Those whom Allaah will shade with His shade

Praise be to Allaah. 

Seven of those whom Allaah will shade with His shade on
the Day when there will be no shade except His were mentioned in the
saheeh ahaadeeth.

 It was reported from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be
pleased with him) that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said:

 “There are seven whom Allaah will shade with
His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His: the just
ruler; a young man who grows up worshipping his Lord; a man whose heart is
attached to the mosque; two men who love one another for the sake of
Allaah and meet and part on that basis; a man who is called by a woman of
rank and beauty and says ‘I fear Allaah’; a man who gives in charity
and conceals it to such an extent that his left hand does not know what
his right hand gives; and a man who remembers Allaah when he is alone, and
his eyes fill up.” (Agreed
upon, narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 620; Muslim, no. 1712; and others).

 This is one of the blessings that Allaah bestows
upon His believing slaves. On the great Day when mankind will be suffering
distress and hardship,the sun will be brought near to mankind, until the
distance between them is equal to the length of the stick used for
applying kohl to the eyes [meel= may also mean a “mile”], and all the
people will sweat according to their deeds, except for some of the
believers, whom Allaah will single out to shade them with His shade, and
He will protect them from the sun and from sweating.

 ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir said: I heard the Messenger
of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say:

 “The sun will be brought near to the earth and
the people will sweat. For some people, the sweat will come up to their
heels; for some it will come halfway up their shins; for some it will come
up to their knees; for some it will come up to their backsides; for some
it will come up to their hips; for some it will come up to their
shoulders; for some it will come up to their necks; for some it will come
up to the middle of their mouths; and some of them will be comepletely
covered with their sweat.” (Narrated
by Imaam Ahmad in his Musnad,
no. 16798)

 There follows the commentary of Ibn Hajar (may
Allaah be pleased with him) on the hadeeth (about the shade of Allaah):

 “with His shade”. The fact that the shade is
connected to Allaah is an expression of honour, for every shade belongs to
Him. It was said that this refers to His honour and protection, just as it
may be said (in Arabic) that a person is in the shade (or shadow) of the
king. And it was said that it refers to the shadow of His Throne, which is
more correct

 “the just ruler” means one who holds the
position of khaleefah, and anyone else who is appointed to a position of
authority over the Muslims’ affairs, and he fulfils his duties justly.

 The best definition of “just” is: one who
obeys the commands of Allaah and puts everything in its proper place
without going to the extreme either of overdoing it or of negligence. The
just ruler is mentioned first because his benefits are so far-reaching.

 “a young man”. Young men are mentioned in
particular because they are more likely to feel desire because of their
strong motives for following their desires. The fact that a young man
adheres to worship despite that is indicative of the strength of his
taqwaa (piety).

 “worshipping his Lord”. In the hadeeth of
Salmaan it says that he “spent his youth and his energy in worshipping
Allaah.”

 “attached to the mosque”. The apparent
meaning is attachment in the sense of hanging, as if his heart is likened
to something that hangs in the mosque – like a lamp, for example –
indicating that his heart is so strongly attached to the mosque that even
when he leaves the mosque, his heart is still there. Or it could mean
attachment in the sense of a deep love.

 “love one another” means, they shared a kind
of love whereby each loved the other in a genuine sense, not just to show
off.

 “and [they] meet and part on that basis”
means, this is an ongoing love based on religion, which they do not cut
off for any worldly reason, whether they meet in reality or not, until
death comes between them.

 “a man who is called by a woman of rank and
beauty”. The meaning of “of rank” is, of high birth or a high
position; this may refer to lineage or to wealth. The woman is described
as having all the qualities which people usually seek, power and wealth,
along with beauty. It is very rare to find all three in a woman. The
apparent meaning is that she called him to commit immoral actions.

 “and says ‘I fear Allaah’”. The apparent
meaning is that he says this out loud, either to rebuke her for her
immorality  or to refuse her call. It may also be that he says it in his
heart.

 “to such an extent that his left hand does not
know what his right hand gives”. What is meant by this is that he
conceals his charitable giving , and goes to such an extreme that his left
hand, even though it is so close to his right hand and is always with it
that even if we imagined that it could understand, it would not know what
the right hand is doing because of this utter secrecy. This is a metaphor.

 “and a man who remembers Allaah” – either
in his heart, or by mentioning Him out loud.

 “when he is alone” – because this is
furthest away from showing off. What is meant here is that there are no
distractions, so he pays attention to nothing except Allaah.

 “his eyes fill up (lit. flood)” means, they
fill with tears; this is another metaphor.

 Although men are mentioned in this hadeeth, women
are also included in what is described here. Although what is meant by a
“just leader” is the position of imaam (khaleefah), women may also be
included in this, if they have children and treat them justly. The idea of
being attached to the mosque does not apply to women, because a woman’s
prayer in her home is better than her prayer in the mosque. Apart from
that, women have a share in all of these things; if a man may be called by
a woman, then it can be imagined that a woman could be called by a
handsome king, for example, and she refuses because she fears Allaah, even
though she may have motives to respond.

 Fath al-Baari,
620.

 There are others whom Allaah will also shade with
His shade – apart from the seven mentioned in the hadeeth quoted above
– who are mentioned in other ahaadeeth. Ibn Hajar listed them in Fath
al-Baari (620) as follows:

 “Those who fight (for the sake of Allaah);
those who help the mujaahideen; those who defer payment of debt for
debtors who are in difficulty, or let them off all or part of the debt;
those who help people who are heavily in debt; those who help slaves who
have drawn up contracts of manumission; those who have a good attitude;
those who walk to the mosque; sincere and honest traders; those who take
what is due to them and no more; those who spend for the sake of Allaah;
those who sponsor orphans.”

 We ask Allaah to shade us with His shade on the
Day when there will be no shade except His.