Azami 377

Imam Ahmad narrated it (16187), as did Abu Dawud Tayalisi (1092), Ajurri in Sharia (638, 639), Ibn Abu Asim in Sunnah (554), and Bayhaqi in Asma wa Sifat (987), all of them through routes from Hammad bin Salama, from Yaala bin Ata, from Waki bin Hudus, from his uncle Abu Razeen, who narrated it. Sheikh Islam bin Taymiya graded its chain hasan in Aqeeda Wasitiyya (p. 109, with Sheikh Fawzan's commentary).I say, its chain is hasan because of Waki bin Hudus, who is "acceptable," meaning where he is corroborated, and he has indeed been corroborated on the wording. Abu Razeen is Laqeet bin Sabra, though it was also said he is Ibn Amir, Aqeeli. His hadith will come in full in the chapter on the believers seeing their Lord on the Day of Resurrection.Something similar to this was narrated from Ayesha. Ibn Khuzayma narrated it in Tawheed (461) through the route of Salm bin Salim Balkhi, from Kharija bin Musab, from Zayd bin Aslam, from Ata bin Yasar, from Ayesha, who narrated the same. Salm bin Salim Balkhi and his teacher Kharija bin Musab are both daif.Regarding his saying, "from the despair of His servants," Sindi said, qunut means despair, and perhaps what is meant here is need and poverty, meaning He becomes pleased with them and turns to them with kindness when He looks upon their poverty, their need, and their humility. Otherwise, despair of the mercy of Allah Almighty necessitates anger, not pleasure. Allah Almighty said, "Do not despair of the mercy of Allah" [Zumar 39:53].As for his saying, "and the nearness of his end," with the consonant vowelled with a kasra and the ya with a fatha, it means a change of state. It is a noun derived from the expression "I changed the thing, and it changed." Its pronoun refers to the human species, and what is meant is the change of his state from strength to weakness, from life to death. These conditions inevitably draw mercy from an observer, so how could they not be ordinary causes for drawing mercy from the Most Merciful of the merciful?As for his saying, "we shall never lack," it comes from "adimahu, yaadimuhu," meaning when he loses it. He means that if laughter is among the attributes of the Lord Almighty, then we shall not lack His goodness. Rather, whenever we need His goodness, we find it, for when we display our need before Him, He laughs and then He gives.