The Hadith of Jibreel, Shaykh Ahmed Bermejo

Almost all Muslims have heard the so-called “Jabill Hadith” in which, according to the version of Imam Muslim, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah one day when a man came to us in white clothes and black hair; and there were no signs of travel in it and none of us knew it; he sat down in front of the Messenger of Allah, with his knees touching his, and putting his hands on his thighs he said: “O Muhammad, tell me about Islam.”
The Messenger of Allah said to him: “Islam is that you bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, that you establish prayer, that you pay zakat, that you fast Ramadan and that you do Hajjj if you are able to do so.”
He said, “You have told the truth.”
‘Umar said: “We are surprised that he asked and at the same time ratified the veracity of the answer.”
Then he said, “Tell me about the Imam.”
He said: “May you believe in Allah, in His Angels, in His Books, in His Messengers and in the Last Day; and that you believe in the Decree, both the good of it and the bad.”
He said, “You have spoken the truth; tell me about Ihsan (excellence).”
He said: “Worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him (let you know) that He does see you.”
He said, “Tell me about the Hour.”
He said: “The one who is questioned knows no more about it than the one who asks.”
He said, “Tell me about its signs.”
He said, “When the slave girl gives birth to her mistress, and when you see shepherds of sheep, barefoot and forsaken, competing in the construction of great buildings.”
Then the man went away and I stayed there for a while; After this the Messenger said: “O ‘Umar, do you know who it was that asked?”
I said: “Allah and His Messenger know best.”
He said: “Verily it was Jibrile, who has come to you to teach you your Deen.”
This noble hadith has numerous lessons; Perhaps the most important are that in it, the Messenger of Allah, salla allaahu alahi wa sallam, on the basis of the questions put to him by the angel Jabir, alayhi salam, lays down the basis of our Deen.
That is to say, thanks to it we get a complete picture of the edifice of Islam.
He begins with Islam by enumerating its five pillars, which are: The first is the shahada, that is, that you bear witness, that you give faith, that you bear witness, believing it with your heart, pronouncing it with your tongue and confirming it with your actions, that there is no God but Allah, that Allah is the only god and the only one who cannot be associated, that he has neither begotten nor been begotten, and that Muhammad is the last of the Messengers and seal of the Prophets, there being no Prophet or Messenger after him.
The second is that you establish the prayer, the salat, the five obligatory prayers throughout the day and night, each in its own time, the first of which is the subh prayer, the dawn prayer, and the last the night prayer, the ‘isha prayer.
The third pillar is that you pay zakat, that you pay 2.5 percent of the accumulated wealth that you have not used for a year, and that is then given to the categories mentioned by Allah in the Qur’an, including travelers, the poor, the needy, and the cause of Allah.
The fourth pillar is to fast in the month of Ramadan, fast in the ninth lunar month, abstaining from eating, drinking, smoking, and having sexual intercourse from dawn to sunset. And the fifth pillar is the Hajj, the pilgrimage to the House of Allah for all who have physical means and possibilities, and it is obligatory to do it at least once in a lifetime.
The next question is what are the pillars of the Imam, of belief, of faith.
And the Messenger of Allah responds by saying: Imam is that you believe in Allah, and whenever we speak of believing the definition we give is to believe with the heart, to pronounce with the tongue and to confirm with the members of the body.
To believe in Allah that he can do everything, that he knows all matters, that if he wants something to happen he tells him to know, and it is. Kun, fayakun.
The next thing is to believe in the angels, who are creatures of Allah who do not disobey Him at any time.
They are creatures that have no sex, they are neither male nor female, created from light, they neither eat nor drink; the angels are the noble servants of Allah.
Believing in His Books, which are the revealed words of Allah, revealed by Allah to some of His slaves; and part of believing in the revealed Books is believing that everything in them is true and true.
To believe in His Messengers, in all of them, being 314 the number of Messengers who brought a message; they are the Messengers whom Allah causes to arise from among men to guide them and to complete and perfect His worship, the first of them being Adam, alaihi salam, and the last Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam.
To believe in the Last Day, the Day of Accountability, the day on which every human being will stand before Allah to count his actions in the balance; if his good deeds weigh heavily, he will enter the Garden by the mercy of Allah; if his evil deeds are heavier, Allah will punish him with Fire; and we ask Allah to deliver us from the punishment of the Fire.
And finally, the sixth of the pillars of the Imam is to believe in the Decree, to believe that Allah has decreed everything that is going to happen to us, everything that we are going to do in our life, whether it is good or bad, whether it is sweet or bitter; it is believing that everything he has decreed cannot fail to happen and what he has not decreed is impossible to happen.
After talking about Islam and the Imam, Jibril goes on to ask him about the third basis of the Deen, which is Ihsan, excellence in its highest degree; and the Messenger of Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam, responds by saying: “May you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him (let you know) that He does see you”; that is, that you be scrupulous in worshipping Allah, in doing any sincere action, for you have to do it as if you were in front of Allah at all times, and this is the highest degree of excellence; but if you are not able to reach this degree, then what you should do is worship Allah being aware that He is watching you at all times, feeling embarrassed and ashamed if you do something wrong and feeling grateful and asking for His acceptance and pleasure if you do something good and praiseworthy.
These three aspects, Islam, Imam and Ihsan, form, as we have said, the complete edifice of our Deen.
Each of these aspects has a science that studies, treats and develops it.
The science that Islam studies is Fiqh, the science that the Imam studies is ‘aqeedah and the science that studies Ihsan is tazkiyah or tasawwuf.
We will discuss each of these sciences in detail later. But what I would like to talk about today, to conclude, is a wonderful detail that often goes unnoticed, that has always impacted me and that demonstrates the greatness of the Messenger Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam.
And it is that an unknown man, someone whom no one had seen, someone whom no one knew, enters the mosque, at a time when they want to end the life of the Prophet, ─this event takes place shortly after the Hijra─, this stranger enters and sits right in front of the Messenger Muhammad, knee to knee, putting his hands on the Prophet’s thighs and then begins to ask.
With respect, with trust, with simplicity, with ease.
No one prevents them, no one forbids them, why, because they were surrounded by the best of creation.
This was the Messenger of Allah, a man who was close, open to everyone, who always welcomed his visitors with a smile, who always had time for them, who served them in the best possible way.
An approachable man, easy to deal with, with whom you could talk, with whom you could deal with all matters.
And this is really the example and the model that we, as Muslims, should take in our lives.
Since this is what makes people accept Islam, this pattern of conduct is what makes hearts light up.
Harshness, imposition, intransigence, are aspects that have no place in our Deen.
And Allah We ask Him to make us one of those who follow the example of the best of creation, the Messenger Muhammad, salla allaahu alayhi wa sallam. www.ahmedbermejo.com