The Prophet, , said: “Allah The Exalted Says, 'I will declare war against him who shows hostility to an ally of Mine. The dearest thing to Me with which My slave comes nearer to Me is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing voluntary acts of worship until I love him. If I love him I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his leg with which he walks; and if he asks (something) of Me, I shall give him, and if he asks for My protection, I shall protect him.’” [Al-Bukhari] 

Dear brothers and sisters, it is common knowledge that whoever wants to win the admiration of his teacher should do his homework and study hard. 


However, this student will never be like the one who prepares and studies what the teacher will explain in advance and makes related research and reads additional material to widen his horizons. There is no doubt that such a person will be closer to his teacher and favored by hi 


This stands true even for the relationship between Allah The Almighty and His slaves, and for Allah is the highest attribute. 


You will not obtain the satisfaction of Allah The Almighty unless you perform your duties first, but if you want to ascend the stairs of servitude to Allah The Almighty and move from being a slave who loves his Lord to a slave who is loved by his Lord and who is considered His ally, then you must perform voluntary acts of worship as much as you can. 


Dear brother, can you imagine your condition if you become an ally of Allah The Almighty?


What will be your condition if Allah The Almighty pledges to fight your enemies? 


What will be your condition when all your limbs become obedient to Allah The Almighty?


What will be your condition when you hear nothing but what pleases Allah The Almighty, see nothing but what pleases Allah The Almighty, and walk to no place but a place that is loved by Allah The Almighty? 


This is the true companionship of Allah The Exalted that is granted to His close friends in this world and the Hereafter. 


That is why Allah The Almighty Says: {…and if he asks (something) of Me, I shall give him, and if he asks ‎for My protection (refuge), I shall protect him…} 


This strong relationship between you and your Lord makes your supplication eligible to be answered immediately, just as was the case with the righteous predecessors including Sa‘eed ibn Zayd . Once a woman falsely accused him of seizing a piece of land belonging to her. At this, he raised his hands and supplicated Allah The Almighty saying, “O Allah, if she is lying, then blind her and kill her in her land.” Indeed, the woman became blind, and she fell into a well while she was walking one day in her land and died. 


Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqaas  was one of the righteous people whose supplication was immediately answered. Once, he heard a man defaming ‘Ali  so he supplicated against him. Soon, a furious camel came and kept kicking that man until he died even before he had left his place. 


A man from the Khawarij used to come to the gatherings of Al-Hasan Al-Basri  to hurt the attendees with his words. When he went beyond the limit of extreme behavior, Al-Hasan  supplicated against him saying, “O Allah! You know how this man harms us, so protect us from his harm in any way You choose.” On saying so, the man immediately fell dead. 


The examples are numerous and we cannot mention all of them here, but the point is that Allah The Almighty loved those men, as they were His allies (this is our opinion about them but Allah The Almighty alone knows the truth, and we do not confirm anybody's good conduct before Allah The Almighty). 


Before ending this article, let me remind you of the voluntary prayers that the Muslim is recommended to perform every day and night to be included in the aforementioned Hadeeth (narration): 


1-   Performing twelve Rak’ahs (units of prayer): Scholars call these Rak’ahs as the stressed Sunnah (Prophetic tradition) prayers. They are distributed as follows: 


Four Rak’ahs before the Thuhr (afternoon) Prayer and two after it


-      Two Rak’ahs after the Maghrib (sunset) Prayer


-Two Rak’ahs after ‘Ishaa' (night) Prayer


-Two Rak’ahs before the Fajr (morning) Prayer. 


If you observe these twelve Rak’ahs, you will have a house in Paradise by the permission of Allah The Almighty. The Prophet, , said: “Whoever performs twelve Rak‘ahs every day will have a house built for him in Paradise.” 


2-   Adh-Dhuha (mid-morning) Prayer: The Prophet, , said: “When you get up in the morning, charity is due on every one of your joints. There is charity in every ascription of glory to Allah; there is charity in every declaration of His Greatness; there is charity in every utterance of praise of Him; there is charity in every declaration that He is The only true God (worthy of worship); there is charity in enjoining good; and there is charity in forbidding evil. Offering two Rak`ahs of Dhuha (Forenoon prayer) is equal to all this (in reward).” 


3-   Witr Prayer: The Prophet, , said: “Allah is Witr (single, one) and loves what is Witr.” 


He also said: “Make Witr prayer the last of your prayer at night.” 


These are some voluntary prayers that can make you a close friend of Allah The Almighty if you observe them. So, be keen on doing your best to observe them as much as you can, because their reward is great and the best outcome is for the righteous.


It was narrated on the authority of Salman  that the Messenger of Allah  said: "Allah is Bashful and Most Generous, He is too Bashful to let someone go empty-handed after raising his hands in supplication." [Abu Dawood]

It was narrated on the authority of Ya‘la ibn Umayyah  that the Messenger of Allah  said: "Allah is Bashful and conceals (faults), He likes bashfulness and concealment (of faults). So, when one of you performs Ghusl (ritual bath), he should conceal himself." [Abu Dawood]

Ibn Al-Qayyim  said, "As for the bashfulness of Allah The Almighty toward His slave, it is another kind of bashfulness which is unperceivable and in a manner which cannot be formulated by minds. It is a form of bashfulness that features generosity, kindness, giving and magnificence. Allah The Almighty is Bashful and Most Generous, and is too Bashful to let someone go empty-handed after he raises his hands in supplication. Likewise, He is too Bashful to torture an old man after he becomes old in Islam." [Madarij As-Salikeen]

Al-Mubarakfoori  said, "(Allah The Almighty is Bashful): bashful in Arabic is “Hayiyy” and it signifies that He is extremely bashful. To describe Allah The Almighty as Bashful is interpreted in a way that befits Him, like His other divine attributes, we believe in them without formulating a manner for any of them." [Tuhfat Al-Ahwathi]

Although Allah The Almighty is perfectly free of need of all creatures, being the Most Generous, He is too bashful to expose the disobedient person, expose him to scandal or punish him. Rather, Allah The Almighty shields that person through providing him with the means that maintain his being unexposed, pardons him, forgives him, endears Himself to him by bestowing favors upon him and does not let someone go empty-handed after humbly raising his hands.

In Faydh Al-Qadeer, Al-Munawi  said, "At-Toorbishti said, 'Allah likes bashfulness and concealment because they are two attributes that urge the slave to adopt the morals of Allah The Almighty."

Ibn Al-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah  said. "Whoever has a similarity with Allah The Almighty in one of His attributes, that attribute will lead him to Allah The Enter, enter him upon [the presence of] his Lord, bring him closer to His mercy and make him beloved to Allah The Almighty. Allah The Almighty is Merciful and He likes those who are merciful, Generous and likes those who are generous, Knowledgeable and likes those who are knowledgeable, Strong and likes those who are strong believers who are more beloved to Him than weak believers, Bashful and likes those who are bashful, Beautiful and likes those who are beautiful, is One and likes what is odd (in number)."

‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar  said, "No slave (of Allah The Almighty) will have perfect faith until he realizes that Allah The Almighty sees him and hence he will not do anything in secret which will expose him on the Day of Resurrection."

Al-Junayd  said, "Bashfulness is to realize the favors (of Allah The Almighty) and simultaneously realize one's negligence. This would result in a state called bashfulness, which is in essence a moral that urges abandoning evils and prevents showing negligence towards the rights of Allah The Almighty."

Hadeeths on bashfulness

Due to the importance of bashfulness in Islam and the encouragement to people to acquire this characteristic, there are many Hadeeths (narrations) about bashfulness:


It was narrated that the Prophet  said:

• "Among what has reached the people from the words of the first prophethood: If you are not bashful, then do as you wish." [Saheeh Al-Jami‘]

• "Each religion has a (distinctive) moral call, and the (distinctive) moral call of Islam is bashfulness." [Ibn Majah]

• "Bashfulness is all goodness." [Muslim]

• "Bashfulness brings only good." [Al-Bukhari]

• "Bashfulness is a part of faith." [Muslim]

• ”Bashfulness and faith are inseparable; when one of them is missing, the other is also missing." [Al-Hakim]

• "Faith consists of more than sixty branches, and bashfulness is a branch of faith." [Al-Bukhari]

• "Bashfulness is a part of faith, and faith is in Paradise.Obscenity is a part of harshness, and harshness is in Hell." [At-Tirmithi]

• "Bashfulness and talking less are two branches of faith, and obscenity and loquaciousness are two branches of hypocrisy." [Ahmad]

• Indecency disfigures everything and bashfulness enhances the beauty of everything." [Ahmad]

It was narrated on the authority of Salman Al-Farisi  that he said, "When Allah The Almighty wants to destroy a slave, He takes bashfulness away from him, and when bashfulness is taken away from him, you will not find him but hateful and hated by others. When he is hateful and hated by others, He (Allah The Almighty) takes trustworthiness away from him and you will not find him but traitorous and looked upon as a betrayer. When he is traitorous and looked upon as a betrayer, He takes mercy away from him and you will not find him but harsh and rude. When he is harsh and rude, He takes the essence of faith away from him; and when He takes the essence of faith away from him, you will not find him but a cursed devil." [Jami' Al-‘Uloom wal-Hikam]

Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah  said, "Yahya ibn Ja’dah said, 'When you see a man who lacks bashfulness, know that his lineage is not pure." [Rawdhat Al-‘Uqalaa’]