Hadith Qurb al-Nawafil: Difference between revisions

According to one part of the hadith: "the faithful servant obtains nearness to God by doing supererogatory worships, and God becomes his ears and eyes." Muslim [[mystic]]s take the phrase literally, and cite it as evidence for their theory of the [[Unity of Existence]] and an expression of the stage of annihilation in God's attributes or annihilation in God's essence. In the view of [[Muslim]] [[jurist]]s and scholars of hadiths, nevertheless, the phrase is taken metaphorically or figuratively and as a reference to divine aids to the believer, and the like.

The Hadith of Qurb al-Nawafil is cited in [[Shiite]] and [[Sunni]] sources with slight differences as transmitted from the [[Prophet (s)]].

The Hadith of Qurb al-Nawafil is a Qudsi hadith addressed by [[God]] to the Prophet (s) in the night of Mi'raj. The hadith is indeed an answer to a question asked by the Prophet (s) about the place of the [[believer]] before God. The hadith came to be known as "Qurb al-Nawafil" (nearness to God via supererogatory worships) because its last part suggests that if a believer does supererogatory worships, then he will obtain a particular sort of nearness to God. Inspired by this part and in reference thereto, Muslim mystics have used the term, "qurb al-nawafil." "Nafawil" is a plural form of "nafila," which refers to extra, endowed, or additional things or actions.

==Content of the Hadith==

According to the Hadith of Qurb al-Nawafil, any insult to God's Guardian is tantamount to fighting with God. More than anything else, God talks about hasting to help His Guardian, saying: "I never doubt anything as much as I doubt about the death of a believer. For he hates to die, and I hate to make him sad." Moreover, according to this hadith, some believers are corrected only by poverty, and others are corrected only by wealth, and both groups would be destroyed otherwise.

According to the Hadith of Qurb al-Nawafil, the most favored act by God is to do [[obligatory]] [[worship]]s, which is a means of obtaining nearness to God. Nawafil or [[supererogatory]] worships are also means of obtaining nearness to God. The hadith says, "if one seeks nearness to Me via a supererogatory worship, I will love him and I will become his ears, his eyes, his tongue, and his hand by means of which he can hear and see, and if he calls to me, I will answer him and fulfill his wishes."

==Interpretation of the Hadith==

===The Mystical View===

===The View of Jurists and Muhaddiths===

Some [[Muslim]] [[jurist]]s and scholars of hadiths (or muhaddiths) take words in this hadith metaphorically or figuratively, maintaining that they should be interpreted in ways that do not come down to the Unity of Existence, immanence, and annihilation. They have offered a variety of interpretations for the hadith. For example, [[al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili]] mentions the following as plausible interpretations of the hadith:

==Chains of Transmitters of the Hadith==