Book 9: Supplications

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “God who is great and glorious will raise a righteous servant’s degree in paradise, and when he asks his Lord how this has been granted him, He will reply that it is because his son has asked pardon for him.” Ahmad transmitted it.

‘Abdallah b. ‘Abbas reported God’s messenger as saying, “A dead man in his grave is just like a drowning man calling for help, for he hopes that a supplication from a father, a mother, a brother, or a friend may reach him, and when it does it is dearer to him than the world and what it contains. God most high brings to those who are in the graves blessings several times as great as the size of the mountains because of the supplication of those who are on the earth. The gift of the living to the dead is to ask pardon for them.” Baihaqi transmitted it in Shu'ab al-iman.

‘Abdallah b. Busr reported God's messenger as saying, “Blessed is he who finds a great amount of asking for pardon in his record.” Ibn Majah transmitted it, and Nasa'i transmitted in 'Amal yaum walaila. 1 1. Mirqat, iii, 78 gives this as the title of a book by Nasa’i. The only reference to this tradition in the Concordance is Ibn Majah, Adab, 57.

‘A’isha said that the Prophet (ﷺ) used to say, “O God, put me among those who, when they do good are glad, and when they do evil ask pardon.” Ibn Majah and Baihaqi, in [Kitab] ad-Da'awat al-kabir, transmitted it.

Al-Harith b. Suwaid said that ‘Abdallah b. Mas'ud told him two traditions, one of them from God’s messenger and the other from him­ self. He said, “The believer sees in his sins as though he were sitting under a mountain which he fears may fall on him, but the profligate sees his sins like a fly which has passed over his nose and which he has brushed away with his hand.” Then he said that he heard God’s mes­ senger say, “God rejoices more over the repentance of a believer than a man who goes down to a desert and dangerous district with his riding- beast which carries his food and drink, who lays down his head and sleeps for a time, then awakening and finding that his riding-beast has gone, looks for it, and when distressed by heat and thirst or what God wills, says he will return to the place where he was and sleep till he dies, lays his head on his arm to die, then awakens and sees his riding-beast beside him with his food and drink on it. God rejoices more intensely over the repentance of a believing servant than this man does over his riding-beast and his provisions.” Muslim transmitted only the tradition which is traced back to God’s messenger from him, but Bukhari transmitted also the one which goes no farther back than Ibn Mas'ud.

‘Ali reported God’s messenger as saying, “God loves the believing servant who is severely tried and is penitent.”

Thauban said that he heard God’s messenger say, "I would not give this verse for the whole world, 'My servants who have transgressed against their souls, do not despair . . .’ ”1 A man asked whether that included those who had associated partners with God, and after remaining silent for a time the Prophet (ﷺ) said three times, “Yes, it includes even those who have associated partners with God.” 1 . Qur'an, xxxix, 53

Abu Dharr reported God’s messenger as saying, “God most high forgives His servant as long as the veil has not fallen.” He was asked what the veil meant and replied, “That a soul should die while associating partners with God.” Ahmad transmitted the three traditions and Baihaqi transmitted the last in Kitab al-ba'th wan-nushur.

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “If anyone meets God, not having treated anything as equal to Him in the world, and has committed sins equal in quantity to the mountains, God will forgive him.” Baihaqi transmitted it in Kitab al-ba'th wan-nushur.

‘Abdallah b. Mas'ud reported God’s messenger as saying, “He who repents of a sin is like him who has committed no sin.” In Majah and Baihaqi, in Shu'ab al-iman, transmitted it, the latter saying its only transmitter was an-Nahrani who is unknown. In Sharh as-sunna a tradition traced no farther back than him is transmitted in which he said, “Nadam is repentance, and he who repents is like him who has committed no sin.”