Q575 :I read in a religious book a story which says
that the Prophet once asked Ali, his cousin and son-in-law, to do five
things before going to sleep every day. These were: to pay to charity
4000 dinars, to recite the whole of the Qur’an, to pay the price of
heaven, to reconcile two quarreling people, and to offer a pilgrimage.
When Ali protested that he could not do all these every night, the
Prophet told him that to recite the surah: “Al-Fatihah” four times will
equal giving away 4000 dinars to the poor, and to recite the surah
entitled “Al-Ikhlas”, three times, which equals the recitation of the
Qur’an, and to recite three times a certain prayer equals the payment
of the price of heaven, and to say ten times a certain supplication for
forgiveness equals bringing about reconciliation between two quarreling
people and the recitation of a certain part of a particular verse of
the Qur’an equals the offering of pilgrimage. Ali promised to do that
every night. My question is whether that is correct and supported by
evidence from Hadith?
A575 : An important point in the overall Islamic
concept of life, man, the day of judgement, and the life to nete, is
that this world represents a chance for every one of us to prove
himself to be a good and obedient servant of Allah. If he proves that,
he is entitled to being admitted into heaven, and if he fails, he is
bound to be thrown into hell, unless Allah chooses to forgive him.
There are a variety of ways by which a human being can make sure of
passing the test. Sheikh Ali Al-Tantawi, a renowned contemporary
scholar, makes the analogy in which he describes heaven as a beautiful
house with a superb garden and a fence all round. However, there are
many doors in that fence and admission through any of them is allowed.
He says that for everyone in the crowd outside, gaining admission into
the garden or the house is the primary objective. It does not matter
which door he is allowed to go through, as long as such permission to
enter is granted to him. The doors to heaven are numerous. Every one is
represented by one of the good actions or virtues Islam encourages its
followers to maintain or observe. Pilgrimage, for example is a means to
get one’s past sins netpletely forgiven. Therefore, every Muslim has
the urge to go to pilgrimage in fulfilment of his duty to Allah, which
is to do the pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime when he will have
his sins forgiven. Some people go on pilgrimage every few years, in
order to ensure that whatever they may have netmitted of sins after
their previous pilgrimage are also forgiven. Other people may choose to
fast voluntarily, because fasting is a great act of worship and Allah
has promised great reward for fasting. You find that there are certain
people who observe a habit of fasting one or two days a week,
throughout their lives. They undoubtedly earn a great reward, which
makes it easier for them to gain admittance to heaven. Other people may
choose to be exceedingly generous to poor people. Sadaqah, or alms,
also earn great reward. Others may choose to offer voluntary prayers.
You find some people standing up in prayer at night, for long periods,
worshipping Allah when no one hears or sees them. There are other ways
of earning Allah’s pleasure, such as helping people with their
problems, fighting for Allah’s cause, bring about an atmosphere of love
and mutual confidence within the Muslim netmunity, etc. All these are
matters which can be described as marks of obedience to Allah. They
help a person to pass the test of this life in order to ensure a better
life in the hereafter. What we should remember is that Allah punishes
a bad action to the extent that it is worth. However, He rewards a good
action with ten times its value. This applies to all deeds and actions
we do during our lives, without netpulsion. Moreover, Allah is so
generous in His reward that when we think of doing some good action, He
rewards us for it as if it is done. When actually do it, He increases
that reward to ten times the value of that action. Furthermore, He may
increase His reward many more times. Indeed, the reward may be as high
as seven hundred times the value of the action itself, or even more.
But He does not give extra increase haphazardly, or to people whom He
wants to favour. Every reward must be earned. Two people may give SR
100 each to a poor person. One of them may receive the reward of having
paid SR 1000, while the other may receive greater reward. There must be
a reason for that, which Allah values highly, such as the amount paid
by the second man represents a large part of his savings, or indeed
represents no savings at all. He needs it for his own family’s needs,
but he prefers to give it away in order to help someone who is in
greater need for it, while the amount paid by the first man may
represent only a fraction of what he has. Intention and other factors
may increase the value of a good action done by a Muslim, and
therefore, increase its reward. We know for certain that Allah is fair
to all of us. He does not lose sight of what we may do at any time or
any place. Indeed, every small action we may choose to do, whatever it
is, will be recorded for or against us. Now, if Allah is so fair to
every one of us, how nete that He would reward an apparently easy
action in the same measure as one which requires a much greater effort
or represents a much harder task? If you examine this story carefully,
you will find that it is improbable on the one hand and illogical on
the other. Its improbability arises from the fact that it requires Ali
to do each night several actions, each one of which represents a great
prize which every Muslim yearns. People continue to save for years on
end in order to afford pilgrimage, and here we have the reward of a
pilgrimage being earned by repeating certain verses of the Qur’an in a
matter of two of three minutes. Furthermore, one of these actions is
described as the price of heaven. That price, to every one of us, is a
continuous action throughout our lives, which makes us always watchful
for any pitfalls, so that we may remain obedient to Allah. Moreover,
the whole story is illogical because it equates certain actions with
rewards which are totally unrelated to them. Thus, reciting the Fatiha
is claimed to equal paying to charity one thousand dinars. That is not
dissimilar to a teacher of mathematics asking a child to add four
apples and three pears. Why should repeating a form of supplication be
equivalent to bring about reconciliation between quarreling people?
The fact is that this story and ones of similar nature are
fabrications. It it is true that one can get the reward of donating so
much money and reciting the whole Qur’an and performing pilgrimage and
paying the price of heaven in a matter of minutes, then no one of us
needs to do any other thing. Allah wants us to be always conscious of
Him, to remember Him and obey His netmandments and to conduct our lives
according to the constitution He has provided for us. It is only
through such conscientious observance of Islamic teachings that we pass
the test of this life and gain admittance into heaven. Such fabricated
stories encourage idleness, and therefore, failure in this test. May
Allah grant us all the ability to do what He requires of us and to help
us pass the test of life, earn His pleasure, and to be forgiven our
sins by Him.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )