Gifts of Knowledge

Shaikh ʿAbdur-Razzāq al-Badr, may Allaah protect him, said: “Ibn Mājah reported in his Sunan from al-Agharr Abu Muslim that he bears witness that Abū Hurairah and Abū Saʿīd bore witness that Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ said: 

‘When a servant says:
لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ
Lā ilāha illallāh, wallāhu Akbar
There is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and Allaah is the Greatest.

Allaah عز وجل says:
صَدَقَ عَبْدِي، لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنَا، وَأَنَا اللهُ أَكْبَرُ
‘My servant has spoken the truth—there is none worthy of worship except Me. And I am Allaah the Greatest.’

And when the servant says:
لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ
Lā ilāha illallāh waḥdahu
There is none worthy of worship except Allaah Alone.

Allaah عز وجل says:
صَدَقَ عَبْدِي، لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنَا وَحْدِي
“My servant has spoken the truth—there is none worthy of worship except Me Alone.”

And when he says:
 لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ
Lā ilāha illallāh lā sharīka lahu
There is none worthy of worship except Allaah, He has no partner.

Allaah عز وجل says:
صَدَقَ عَبْدِي، لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنَا وَلاَ شَرِيكَ لِي
“My servant has spoken the truth—there is none worthy of worship except Me and I have no partner.”

And when he says:
لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ
Lā ilāha illallāh lahul-Mulk wa lahul-Ḥamd
There is none worthy of worship except Allaah, to Him belongs the Kingdom and for Him is all praise.

Allaah عز وجل says:
صَدَقَ عَبْدِي، لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنَا، لِيَ الْمُلْكُ، وَلِيَ الْحَمْدُ
“My servant has spoken the truth—there is none worthy of worship except Me, to Me belongs the kingdom and for Me is all Praise.”

And when he says:
لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِاللَّه
Lā ilāha illallāh, wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh
There is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and there is no might nor power except with Allaah”

Allaah عز وجل says:
صَدَقَ عَبْدِي، لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنَا، وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِي
“My servant has spoken the truth—there is none worthy of worship except Me, and there is no might nor power except by Me.”

Abū Isḥāq said that al-Agharr then said something I didn’t understand so I asked Abū Jaʿfar what he said. So he said [that he said], “Whoever is blessed with [the ability to say] them at the time of his death, the Fire will not touch him.” 

And at-Tirmidhī reported it in the chapter on, “What a Servant is to Say when Ill,” and in that narration the wording is, “He used to say: whoever says it when ill and then dies, the Fire will not consume him.”

When enumerating the benefits of dhikr [in general], Ibn al-Qayyim said, “Dhikr is a cause for the Lord to confirm/endorse what His servant is saying, because he is talking about Allaah the Most High describing His Perfection and His Majestic Attributes, so when the servant talks about them His Lord confirms and verifies it, and whoever’s speech Allaah the Most High endorses/verifies will not be raised among the liars, and it is hoped that he will be raised along with the truthful,” and then Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned this ḥadīth.

He also said, “And due to His love for being praised He endorsed the person who is praising Him with descriptions of His Perfection.” And this is the title that Ibn Ḥibbān gave the chapter which has this ḥadīth, saying, “A Mention of the Statements which if Said by A Muslim the Lord عز وجل Attests to the Truthfulness Thereof.”

Regarding his ﷺ saying, “Whoever is blessed with [the ability to say] them at the time of his death, the Fire will not touch him,” when explaining this in his commentary on Ibn Mājah, as-Sindhī said, “I.e., whoever Allaah the Most High gives these words to at the time of his death and grants Him the ability [tawfīq] to say them then the Fire will not touch him, in fact, he will enter Paradise from the very onset along with the Virtuous [al-Abrār]. O Allaah! Make us from those people who You give the ability to say them!”

And ash-Shawkānī, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in Tuḥfatudh-Dhākirīn, “The reason for this is that these statements include Tawḥīd five times. And it has been established in authentic ḥadīths that whoever dies not associating any partners with Allaah will enter Paradise, and later [in the book] there will be mention of the ḥadīth that says, “Whoever’s last words are, ‘Lā ilāha illallāh,’ will enter Paradise,” and numerous ḥadīths with this meaning have been reported from a group of the Companions in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere.”

In Al-Marʿāh, al-Mubārakfūrī, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “And in this ḥadīth is proof that if a servant says these words in his illness and then dies during it upon these words—i.e., that they were the last thing he said while conscious and of his own free will, then the Fire will not touch him, and his previous sins will not harm him, and that these words atone for all sins.”

And Shaikh ʿUthaimīn, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in his explanation of Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn, “So a person should memorise this dhikr, and say it abundantly when ill so that he may be granted a good end, inshā Allaah, and Allaah is the One who grants success.”

And my father, Shaikh ʿAbdul-Muḥsin al-Badr, may Allaah protect him, dictated the following to me, “This great dhikr has been mentioned in a ḥadīth reported by some of the authors of the Sunan alongside others, and a group of the people of knowledge authenticated it. It contains five declarations of the Oneness of Allaah in addition to praise of Him as He deserves. And Imām al-Bukhārī, may Allaah have mercy on him, concluded his Ṣaḥīḥ with the ḥadīth of Abū Hurairah, Allaah be pleased with him, in which he said that the Prophet ﷺ said, “There are two expressions which are very easy for the tongue to say yet very heavy in the balance and very dear to The Beneficent: SubḥānallāhilʿAdhīm, Subḥānallāha wa biḥamdīhī,” and it is right that those five declarations of the Oneness of Allaah [mentioned in the first ḥadīth in this article also be] described with these three characteristics that have been mentioned in this ḥadīth [i.e., that they are light on the tongue, heavy on the scales, beloved to Allaah].

And my son ʿAbdur-Razzāq, may Allaah protect him, has done well in reminding people of this ḥadīth and spreading it—and reminders benefit the believers. So it is proper that a Muslim should pay heed to this dhikr, especially when ill, and Allaah is the One who grants success.”

And Shaikh Aḥmad Abū ʿUbaidah al-Mihrazī al-Marākishī, may Allaah have mercy on him, used to recommend it abundantly and called it, “The Recital of the Dying.” And he used to say, “Neglect not the Recital of the Dying, and keep it, always, in mind.” And when explaining the difference between this dhikr and the ḥadīth which says, “Whoever’s last words are Lā ilāha illallāh will enter Paradise,” he said, “In this ḥadīth [‘Whoever’s last words are Lā ilāha illallāh will enter Paradise,’] maybe he will get to Jannah after going through punishment, but there [in the ḥadīth with the five declarations of Tawḥīd] there is no punishment which precedes it because it says, ‘… the Fire will not touch him.’” And he said, “These five statements at the time of death are the greatest provision [rizq], the most sublime provision.” 

And Allaah honoured Shaikh Aḥmad al-Marākishī by making them the last words that he said in this world—in fact, there was a person on his deathbed next to him too and the Shaikh reminded and exhorted him to say them and he did and so that person ended his life having said them, thus the Shaikh so happened to be a person going through the pangs of death telling another person also going through the same to recite this dhikr, may Allaah forgive them both and all the Muslims who have passed away.

So this is a great, blessed dhikr, a Muslim should pay heed to it and repeat it abundantly, and make it his goal and purpose, hoping that Allaah عز وجل will enable him to utter it at the time of his death, so that he may attain a good ending through which he can enter Paradise immediately with the Virtuous without the Fire touching him [at all].

And Allaah is the only One who can grant success, He has no partners.”

.لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ
.لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ
.لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ
.لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ
.لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلاَّ بِاللَّه

Source.