Feeling secure from the Plan of Allaah.

Allah,Exalted be He, says:

"Then,did they feel secure from the plan of Allah? But no one feels secure from the plan of Allah except the loosing people." Al-A' raf:99

And He Says:

"He said, 'And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?'" Al-Hijr:55

Lesson drawn from the two Qur'anic verses

• The first verse implies an admonition against feeling secure from the plan of Allah and,further,deems it a major sin.
  
• The second verse implies and admonition against despairing of the mercy of Allah and,further,deems it a major sin
• The two verses point out that a believer is duty bound to equally combine fear and hope in worshipping Allah.Thus,one should not depend only on hope so as not to feel secure from the plan of Allah,nor should he only fear Allah till he despairs of his mercy.
• Fear and hope are two devotional acts of the heart which a believer must purely dedicate to Allah,who has no partner.

Ibn 'Abbas(may Allah be pleased with him) said:

"The Messenger Of Allah (PBUH) was asked about the major sins so he said, '(They are) Associating others in worship with Allah,Despairing of relief from Allah,and feeling secure from the plan of Allah.'

Al-Haythami said in majmi ' Az-Zawa 'id (1/104), "This Hadith is related by Al-Bazzar and At-Tabarani,and its transmitters are judged trustworthy.

General Meaning of the Hadith

• Firstly,to associate others in worship with Allah in His rububiyyah (Lordship) or His 'uluhiyyiah (Divinty).This sin is mentioned first as it is the most deadly sin.
• Secondly,to despair of the mercy and relief of Allah,as it is an act of mistrust in Allah and ignorance of His great mercy that embraces all things
• Thirdly,to feel secure from the plan of Allah;in this case the person is bestowed Allah's favours,then Allah suddenly overtakes him by pronouncing a decree of eternal damnation on him

Lesson Drawn from the Hadith

• It is prohibited to feel secure from Allah's plan and despair of His Mercy.These two sins are of the most deadly ones,the first of which is committed by the Al-Murji'ah1wheras the latter is committed by the Kharijites2.
• Ascribing partners to Allah is the most deadly sin.
• A Muslim is to be in a moderate state between fearing Allah and hoping for His mercy.He,thus,should fear Allah without despair of His Mercy,and hope in His Mercy without feeling secure from Allah's Plan.

1 Al-Murji'ah is an islamic sect which holds the belief that sins do not harm believers and good deeds do not benefit disbelievers.The refer the case of those who commit major sins to Allah in the Hearafter.

2 The kharijites (Al-Khawarij,ie the seceders):An islamic radical sect that broke away from the reign of 'Ali Ibn Abu Talib,the Muslim Caliph then,and murdered him.Their followers believe that the Muslim who commits a major sin is a disbeliever.They also curse and revile the Phrophet's Companions and deem the blood of Muslims violable.

Taken from Concise Commentary on the Book of Tawhid (Dr.Salih Al-Fawzan) Chapter 34 p279