Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām - Abd Allah al-Bassam - (7/366)

Tawḍīḥ al-AḥkāmAbd Allah al-Bassam

Al-Nawawī said: “Safeguard His commands by carrying them out, refrain from His prohibitions, and He will safeguard you in all your comings and goings—in this world and the Hereafter.”

Every tribulation and calamity that strikes a servant does so because he has neglected Allah’s commands. The Exalted says: “Whatever misfortune befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned” (42:30).

Ibn Rajab said: His words, “Safeguard Allah,” mean: safeguard His limits, His rights, His commands, and His prohibitions. Safeguarding them is to stand at His commands with obedience, to stand at His prohibitions with avoidance, and to stand at His limits by not overstepping what He has ordered and permitted into what He has forbidden. Whoever does that is among those who safeguard the limits set by Allah.

As for the phrase, “He will safeguard you,” it means that whoever safeguards Allah’s limits and attends to His rights, Allah will safeguard him; for recompense corresponds to the deed. The Exalted says: “Fulfil My covenant and I shall fulfil yours” (2:40) and, “Remember Me and I shall remember you” (2:152).

Allah’s safeguarding of His servant is of two kinds:

His safeguarding of the servant’s worldly interests—protecting his body, his children, his family, and his wealth. The Exalted says: “For each one there are successive angels before him and behind him who guard him by Allah’s command” (13:11). Ibn ʿAbbās said: They are angels who guard him by Allah’s command; but when the decreed destiny arrives, they withdraw.
The nobler of the two: His safeguarding of the servant’s religion and faith. He protects him during his life from misleading doubts and forbidden desires, and He causes him to die upon faith. In short, Allah preserves for the believer the boundaries of his religion and shields him from whatever would corrupt it, through various forms of protection, some of which the servant may not even perceive.

Second: “Safeguard Allah and you will find Him before you”:

Its meaning is that whoever safeguards Allah’s limits will find Allah with him in every circumstance, where

قال النووي: احفظ أوامره وامتثلها، وانته عن نواهيه، يحفظك في تقلباتك، وفي دنياك، وآخرتك. فكل ما يحصل للعبد من النبلاء والمصائب، فهو بسبب تضييع أوامر الله تعالى؛ قال تعالى: ﴿وَمَا أَصَابَكُمْ مِنْ مُصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ﴾ [الشورى: ٣٠]. وقال ابن رجب: قوله: "احفظ الله" يعني: احفظ حدوده، وحقوقه، وأوامره، ونواهيه، وحفظ ذلك هو الوقوف عند أوامره بالامتثال، وعند نواهيه بالاجتناب، وعند حدوده بأنْ لا يتجاوز ما أمر به وأذن فيه، إلى ما نهى عنه؛ فمن فعل ذلك، فهو من الحافظين لحدود الله. وقوله: "يحفظك" يعني: أنَّ من حفظ حدود الله، وراعى حقوقه، حفظه الله فإنَّ الجزاء من جنس العمل؛ كما قال تعالى: ﴿وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِي أُوفِ بِعَهْدِكُمْ﴾ [البقرة: ٤٠]، ﴿فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ﴾ [البقرة: ١٥٢]. وحفظ الله لعبده نوعان: أحدهما: حفظه له في مصالح دنياه؛ كحفظه في بدنه، وولده، وأهله، وماله، قال تعالي: ﴿لَهُ مُعَقِّبَاتٌ مِنْ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ يَحْفَظُونَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ﴾ [الرعد: ١١]. قال ابن عباس: هم الملائكة يحفظونه بأمر الله، فإذا جاء القدر، تخلوا عنه. الثاني، وهو أشرف النوعين: حفظ العبد في دينه وإيمانه، فيحفظه في حياته من الشبهات المضللة، ومن الشهوات المحرَّمة؛ فيتوفَّاه على الإيمان, وفي الجملة: فإنَّ الله ﷿ يحفظ على المؤمن حدود دينه، ويحول بينه وبين ما يفسد عليه دينه، بأنواعٍ من الحفظ، وقد لا يشعر العبد ببعضها. الثانية: "احفظ الله؛ تجده تجاهك": معناه: أنَّ من حفظ حدود الله، وجد الله معه في كلِّ أحواله؛ حيث