If You Are True To Allah, Allah Is True To You

The Bedouin Who Was True to Allah

There is a man in the time of Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم who came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and believed in him. This hadith is reported in Sunan al-Nasa'i. Imam Nasa'i reports from his teacher Suwaid ibn Nasr, who reports from Abdullah ibn Mubarak, who reports from Ibn Juraid, who reports from 'Ikrimah ibn Khalid, who reports from Ibn Abi Ammar, who reports from Shaddad ibn al-Had:

A man from the Bedouins came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and embraced Islam. Then later on, there was a battle that took place. And in the course of the battle, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم received some spoils of war, and he began distributing them to all of the people who had participated in the battle. One of them was naturally this person who had also participated — this person who had become Muslim.

So he sent this man his allotted share. Then this person came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and said, "What is this?" The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم responded by saying, "This is your allotted portion for participating in the battle. This is what you're entitled to."

So then the man responded by saying, "I didn't believe in you and follow you for the sake of this — for getting monetary compensation. But rather I followed you so that I could be struck with an arrow over here." And then he indicated towards his throat.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم simply responded by saying:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Kitab al-Jihad — narrated from Shaddad ibn al-Had)

"If you are true and sincere to Allah in what you are saying, then Allah will fulfill your wish." To put it simply: if you are true to Allah, Allah will be true to you.

So then the battle continued:

Then later on, this person was brought to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — carried — having fallen. There was an arrow that had struck him in his neck, right where he had indicated. So then Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم saw him and said, أَهُوَ هُوَ — "Is this really the same person?" It was confirmed: yes, this is the same person who had said just a little while before, "I am only following you not to receive anything in return, but just so that I could be struck over here."

So then Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم responded:

"This person was true to Allah, so Allah was true to him."

Then Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم shrouded him in his own blessed garment and made du'a:

"O Allah, this person left migrating in Your way, and this person was martyred in battle, and I am a witness to this." And then with his own blessed hands, Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم buried him.

So the key lesson here is the words of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — again, this hadith is in Sunan al-Nasa'i:

"If you are true to Allah, Allah will be true to you."

In the few remaining minutes, I'll share two quick stories about this.

The Story of Ka'b ibn Malik

This is a story that we're probably all familiar with, so it's a very long story and I'll cut it short. There was a Sahabi, رضي الله عنه, by the name of Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه. He says that he participated in every single expedition he could with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, with the exception of Badr. He was there on the day of 'Aqabah when they pledged to Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم and invited him to Madinah — he was there for everything. Then later on, near the end of the life of Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم, the Battle of Tabuk came.

Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم issued the call to battle. And Ka'b said:

He wasn't making excuses. He said: "I was never in a better position to participate in battle than at that time — neither physically nor financially. I had no excuse."

But what happened was that people were getting ready to go, and he kept telling himself, "Yeah, I'll catch up to them — I'll get ready too." A day passed, then another day, then another day. Finally, eventually Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم set out to go.

Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه said:

"I hadn't prepared anything." So the people left. And he told himself, it's okay — they are a very large group of people, and it'll take them a long time. For me, I'm just one person, I'll catch up to them.

That kept on happening — he kept delaying and putting it off — until the whole battle had already passed.

Then fast forward a little bit: Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم is on his way back from Tabuk, almost reaching Madinah. Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه looked around and saw that the only people who had stayed back like him were either hypocrites — the munafiqin — or people who were physically excused because they were disabled. He was among the only able-bodied people left behind.

So he said:

"I asked everybody from my family: what do you think I can possibly say?" Finally, when Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم arrived:

Every time Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم would come back from a trip or a battle, he would start off at the masjid and pray two raka'ats there — a sunnah we can all follow, inshallah.

So he came back, and then the munafiqun — the hypocrites — started coming to Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم and presenting their excuses. Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم would respond to each of them saying, "Okay, may Allah forgive you," and that was about it. Then finally Ka'b came.

When he came:

He smiled at him — but Ka'b noticed it wasn't a normal smile. It was the smile of somebody who was angry. So then Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم said, "What happened, Ka'b? Didn't you pledge? What happened?"

And then Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه said:

"Had I been in front of anyone else in the world, I would have made up a story. I am a very convincing speaker. But I knew that had I said anything false to you today, maybe it would temporarily appease you in the moment — but definitely, Allah would reveal the reality of the situation to you. Had I been in front of anyone else, maybe I could have made something up. So I'll just tell you the truth: in reality, I have no excuse. In fact, I was never better suited to participate than at the very time I stayed back."

Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

You can imagine that silence gripped the room. Everybody was trying to see what was going on. Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم simply responded: "This person has spoken the truth. So they should wait until Allah decides something."

So then Ka'b ibn Malik spent 40 days — and then another 10 days — where no one was allowed to talk to him or interact with him. He says that if he had died in that state, he didn't know what would have happened to him. And then Allah describes the situation:

The situation was such that it was almost as if they were living on a different planet. No one would speak to them, no one would respond to them. At some point, Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه was even instructed that his wife should go and stay somewhere else as well. وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ — they couldn't even live in their own skins anymore.

He said — just to rewind a little bit — that after he had spoken the truth to Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم, some people came to him. They said, "Don't you see that all these people — the munafiqun, the hypocrites — they presented some excuse to Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم and he said, 'Okay, may Allah forgive you.' And don't you know the du'a of the Prophet is accepted? So he could have just forgiven you, and then things would have been okay. But you had to do this to yourself."

They kept on saying it until the thought even came to his mind: "Wait a minute, maybe I should just go back and say — forget about everything I just said." But he realized: I'm talking to the Prophet of Allah, how can I possibly do that? He said, "I'm just going to stick with the truth."

So anyway — 40 days, then another 10 days — 50 days had passed. And Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه was living in agony. Then finally, Allah revealed the verses announcing his forgiveness:

Allah has forgiven those three people whose matter was deferred. So people rushed to go and congratulate Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه. And he says that when the person got to him first with the news, he just gave him his shirt as a token of gratitude — he didn't have anything else to give.

Then he went to Nabi ﷺ:

People were greeting him in big groups, in these crowds, saying congratulations — that Allah has forgiven you. And then finally he got to Nabi ﷺ. He said:

Whenever Nabi ﷺ became happy, his face would light up as if it were a piece of the moon. Then he said:

"Rejoice — because today is the best day that has ever come upon you since your mother gave you birth."

So Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه later on reflected, saying that Allah forgave him due to the fact that he had told the truth. Had he not done so and just made up a story, he would have fallen under the ambit of what Allah says about the munafiqun:

"They will make excuses to you when you return to them. Say: do not make excuses — we will never believe you. Allah has already informed us about you. And Allah will see your deeds, and His Messenger." He would have fallen under that — which is perhaps one of the harshest things Allah has said to anyone. Instead, he spoke the truth when it was very difficult to do so. And Allah made him the standard bearer of truth until the end of time.

Right after his story, Allah says:

"O those who believe, fear Allah and be with those who are truthful." Allah made Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه the standard of truth until the end of time.

The Story of the Necklace

So back to the initial hadith that I mentioned — there is this person who came to Nabi ﷺ. Nabi ﷺ offered him some of the spoils of war. He said:

"I didn't follow you for this. Rather, I followed you so that I would be struck with an arrow over here." And that's exactly what happened to him. Nabi ﷺ said:

"If you are true to Allah, Allah will be true to you." We saw how this person was true in his sincerity to Allah — and Allah fulfilled his ambition. Ka'b ibn Malik was true to Allah. He did what he had to do even though it was hard — and Allah fulfilled his ambition, Allah forgave him, and Allah made him the standard bearer of truth until the end of time.

I'll just end with this one last story. This one almost sounds too crazy to be true. Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali mentioned this in Zayl Tabaqat al-Hanabilah. There is a person by the name of Muhammad Abu Bakr ibn Abd al-Baqi, known as Qadhi Maristan.

At one point, he was basically starving. He went out of the house to look for some food. He didn't find any food, but he did find a beautiful package — a beautiful bag. He opened it. Inside, there was a necklace the like of which he had never seen before. A beautiful necklace.

Shortly thereafter, he heard a person calling out saying, "I'm looking for my necklace — I lost it." So he called the person over. The person described the necklace and the bag, and he gave it back to him. Then the man said, "I have reserved a reward of 500 dirhams for whoever finds this necklace. Here — this is yours."

So this person said, "How can I accept money for something that is yours? It's not that it's mine and I'm selling it to you — it's yours, so I can't take anything." The man said, "No, I reserved it for whoever finds it — it's a reward, so you can take it." He said, "No, I'm not going to take it." So he didn't take it.

Fast forward a little bit. This person eventually looks for work. He gets on a boat. The boat capsizes and everybody drowns. He grabs onto a little plank of wood, holding on for dear life. Eventually, he washes up on an island. Again, it sounds incredible — but it is verified by this very prominent scholar of hadith, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali.

He washes up on this island. On this island, he starts reciting Qur'an. People notice that he is literate and that he knows how to recite Qur'an. So they ask him to teach them and their children how to read and write. They also ask him to teach them Qur'an and he does so. He starts earning a little bit through that.

Then eventually what happens is that they say to him, "You know, there's this girl — an orphan — who is living here with us and she needs someone to marry. Can we marry her to you?" So eventually he says yes. And then he goes in — and his jaw drops. Because on her neck, he sees that very same necklace. He can't take his eyes off of it.

People ask him, "What's going on?" He says, "This is actually — there's a story behind this." And they start making takbir. Because they told him: the girl's father had passed away, and he had said, "I have never met anyone as truthful as this one person that I met. So I make du'a that Allah marries my daughter to him, and that I somehow meet him again someday." And here he was — he had ended up on this very island, and now he was marrying her.

Then later on, the story takes a sad turn — she passes away. He inherits the necklace. Then later on, he sells that necklace for a hundred thousand dirhams. So initially, he was being offered 500. Eventually, he sold it for a hundred thousand.

Conclusion: Be True to Allah

The moral of the story over here is that if we are true to Allah — just as this person was — Allah will be true to us. We can apply this in our lives in an innumerable amount of ways. If there is a transaction that we see many people going into, but we know that it's a bit shady — we know that it's impermissible — it seems like an easy thing to do. If we are true to Allah and we stay away for the sake of Allah, Allah will definitely fulfill our ambition. Allah will bring barakah in our lives in ways that we could never imagine.

Somebody is applying for school and has to take out loans that have riba. A person is entering into a shady business practice — whatever it is. Keep in mind that if we are true to Allah:

Allah will be true to us.

We ask Allah to give all of us tawfiq.