For what benefits people is obedience to Allah and His Messenger. Nothing else benefits them—neither kinship, nor proximity, nor anything else—as is established in the authentic hadith in which he said:

“O Fātimah, daughter of Muhammad, I can be of no avail to you against Allah. O Safiyyah, aunt of Allah’s Messenger, I can be of no avail to you against Allah. O ‘Abbās, uncle of Allah’s Messenger, I can be of no avail to you against Allah.”

He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The family of so-and-so are not my allies. My only allies are Allah and the righteous believers.”

He also said:

“My allies are those who fear Allah, wherever they may be and whoever they may be.”

Allah Most High has said:

“Indeed, Allah defends those who believe.”

He, Blessed and Exalted, therefore defends the believers wherever they may be. Allah is the One who wards off harm, and faith is the means by which this happens.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say in his sermon:

“Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has followed the right path. Whoever disobeys them harms only himself and will not harm Allah at all.”

Allah Most High said:

“Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger will be with those whom Allah has blessed: the prophets, the utterly truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. What excellent companions they are!”

As for the belief held by some people that calamity is averted from the inhabitants of a town or region through the prophets and righteous people buried among them—for example, some believe that calamity is averted from the people of Baghdad because of the graves of three men: Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Bishr al-Hāfī and Mansūr ibn ‘Ammār; others believe that calamity is averted from