Episode 17 - Thank Him Who Covers Your Flaws!

We speak in this station about Allah's covering of His servants.. It is narrated from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that he said: ((Verily, Allah is Shy and Covering)).

You may be tested, so people will sympathize with you, defend you, mention your best qualities, and praise you with fragrant praise.. At that moment, do not be deceived by yourself! Rather, remember that all of this is from the favor of Allah who showed the good and covered the ugly. If He had revealed the ugliest thing in you, they might have left you and said about you: (He was tested with his bad deeds).. And imagine how painful it would be to hear this word and how it would increase your distress!

This speech is not only for the disobedient, for there is no one among us whose heart is alive except that he knows things about himself that he would love for Allah to cover. So, ((All children of Adam are sinners)). Search within yourself:

- If you are not sinning now, you have certainly disobeyed Allah in your past, and it was possible for the servants of Allah to know about it, causing your image in their eyes to shake after they loved you, but Allah covered it for you. - Or perhaps you have been lenient in spreading fabricated defects attributed to your Muslim brother, saying: The responsibility is on the narrator! Thus, you caused what is not in him to spread, while Allah covered what is in you!

- If it is not a sin, it is a shortcoming in obedience, especially if people see you as a role model.

- Or a point of weakness in your character that your enemies would rejoice in, but Allah covers it for you.

- And how many situations where there is no sin, but they can be misinterpreted, causing people to have a bad opinion of you, but Allah covers it.

- And how many sick hearts and thoughts you have that you do not want people to know about, as they would shake your image with them, but Allah covers it.

- I return to say: Every person with a living heart knows this. If you do not see Allah's covering for you, this is a dangerous sign that your heart has hardened and no longer sees the favor of Allah in covering you.. A sign that disobedience has become light to you because the right of Allah has become light to you.. And what made it light is that Allah did not expose you with it. If people had known about it and seen their aversion to you and your fall from their eyes at that moment, you would have regretted it and it would have become great in your eyes. But no one knew about it except Allah, and the right of Allah became light to you, so your disobedience became light to you!

The Messenger of Allah warned us about the covering that may be revealed from where we do not expect, saying: ((O assembly of those who have submitted with their tongues but have not let faith reach their hearts! Do not harm the Muslims, and do not follow their weaknesses; for whoever follows the weakness of his Muslim brother, Allah will follow his weakness, and whoever follows Allah's weakness, He will expose him, even in the depths of his journey)) (authenticated by Al-Albani).

Think, remember, and ponder.. How many times has Allah covered you? Love your Lord, the Coverer, be He glorified.

When you are at a funeral and hear people praising the deceased, imagine how many times a person disobeys his Lord during his lifetime.. sixty or seventy years, then at death, people remember him with good, and Allah covers him.

Look at Allah's continuous covering of His believing servants on the Day of Judgment.. In the hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: ((Verily, Allah brings the believer close (on the Day of Judgment), places His veil over him, and covers him, saying: Do you know such a sin? Do you know such a sin? He says: Yes, my Lord. Until He confirms him with his sins, and he sees in himself that he is doomed, He says: I covered it for you in the world, and I forgive you today, and he is given the book of his good deeds...)). Imagine!.. Sins that Allah covered in the world, so only Allah, its owner, and the preserving angels knew about them, then Allah covered it after the death of its owner, then covered it on the Day of Judgment, so it was buried as if it never was, and Allah shows only the good deeds of its owner, so he is given the book of his good deeds and departs saying: {Hāumuqra'u Kitābīyah 19} [Al-Hāqqa: 19].. How, O servant, if Allah had not covered it? Would you say to the worlds: Hāumuqra'u Kitābīyah?

Or you may do a deed for Allah, the Exalted, that you conceal so that hypocrisy does not enter your heart.. Your Lord accepts it, then He reveals this deed through your enemies, increasing your love in the hearts of people and raising your status with them that you concealed it, and your enemy returns defeated and humiliated.

And if Allah wants to spread a virtue Had it not been for the fire's burning in what I approached I would have folded the tongue of the envious Who did not know the good when he knew the incense

So thank Allah who did this with your good deeds and did not do it with your sins and evil deeds! And if the praisers praise you.. And they praise your patience with your trials.. Remember immediately to thank Allah who covered you, and imagine if sins, small and large, had a smell or a sign that appears on your forehead, how would it be?!

And remember the words of Abu Muhammad Al-Andalusi Al-Qahatani addressing the Lord of Might, the Exalted:

You are the One who shaped me and created me You are the One who sheltered me and protected me You planted for me love among the hearts And spread for me virtues in the worlds And if they had known the ugliness of my secrets They would have turned away from me and hated my company But You covered my flaws and defects So all the praises and eulogies are for You And You guided me to the laws of faith And You guided me from the confusion of abandonment And the affection from You with mercy and kindness And You covered my disobedience from their eyes So no peace be upon me from those who meet me And the lips after honor with humiliation And You dreamed of my fall and my tyranny With my thoughts, my entrails, and my tongue

In conclusion, recognizing the favor of Allah, the Exalted, that He covered you, and so that His covering continues for you.. Cover the servants of Allah.. For the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ((And whoever covers a Muslim, Allah will cover him in this world and the Hereafter)) (narrated by Muslim), and he said: ((Whoever washes a deceased and conceals his faults, Allah will forgive him forty times)) (authenticated by Al-Albani and Ibn Hajar said: Good and strange). Meaning, you may see something in the deceased that would displease him if he were alive that people know about it.. Marks of a bad end, illness, tattoos before commitment, even on the level of neglecting cleanliness of his clothes or body.. Allah covers you, so cover the servants of Allah. And whenever your self calls you to speak about the faults of people, remember Allah's covering for you.

The summary of this station:

Contemplate Allah's covering for you in your trials And how if He revealed what He covered, many would gloat over you And some of those who sympathize with you would leave you. And if people praise you or your patience, Direct the praise to your Lord, the Coverer.