Tears of Repentance
The Prophet -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said, “Nothing is dearer to Allah but two kind of water drops, and two marks [on body]; that is, tears that dropped out because of fear of Allah, and blood that streamed down in fighting in Allah’s Cause. Whereas the two marks are scars resulted from battled in Allah’s Cause, and marks resulted from accomplishing obligation that Allah has ordained [upon His slaves, -ed].” (Narrated by Timidhi (1669), classed valid by Sheikh Al Albani in “Sahih Sunan At Tirmidhi (1363)).
Abdullah Ibn Umar -may Allah be pleased with them both- said, “Indeed, crying due to fearing of Allah is dearer to me than spending a thousand dinar in charity!”.
Ka’b Ibn al Ahbar -may Allah have mercy on him- said, “Verily, the streaming of my tears down till it wet my cheeks because of fear of Allah is dearer to me than my spending of charity with gold as big as my body.”
Ibn Mas’ud -may Allah be pleased with him- said, one day, the Prophet -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- told me, “Read the Qur’an for me.” So I told him, “O Messenger of Allah, I read the Qur’an for you, while it is revealed to you?”. He replied, “Indeed, I love to hear it being read by other than myself.” Then I read for him chapter The Women, until I reached the verse, (which can be translated as) “Consider, then, when We shall bring forward witnesses from every community, and will bring you, (O Muhammad), as a witness against them all.” (QS. an-Nisaa’ : 41).
Then he said, “Enough.” I turned to him and saw tears streamed down from his eyes.” (Narrated by Bukhari [4763] and Muslim [800]).
From Ubaidullah Ibn Umair -may Allah have mercy on him-, one day he asked ‘Aisha -may Allah be pleased with her-, “Please tell me something that you’ve seen from the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- that amazed you most?”. She was silent, then said, “One night, he (the Prophet) said to me, ‘O ‘Aisha, let me alone tonight to pray to my Lord.’ I said, ‘By Allah, indeed, I really like to be close to you. But I’m pleased with what pleases you.’ Then he got up and performed ablution, and prayed.’ ‘Aisha said, ‘He kept weeping until the front of his garment was wet!’. ‘Aisha said, ‘When he sit [inside his prayer] he was still weeping until his beard was wet with tears!’. ‘Aisha continued, ‘Then he continued to weep until the earth [upon which he prayed] was getting wet too [because of his tears]!’. Then Bilal came to announce the calling for [Fajr] prayer. When he saw the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- wept, he said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, you cried? Whereas Allah has forgiven your past and future sins?!’. The Prophet replied, ‘Am I not wish to be a grateful slave?! Indeed, last night, a verse has been revealed to me, woe to those who do not read it nor think about it’s meaning. It is the verse (which can be translated as), “Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are Signs for people of understanding.’ (QS. Ali Imran : 190).”(Narrated by Ibn Hibban [2/386] and others. Classed valid by Sheikh al Albani in “Sahih at-Targhib” [1468] and “ash-Shahihah [68]).
Muadz -may Allah be pleased with him- also ever cried heavily. Then he was asked, “What makes you cry?”. He answered, “Because Allah the Almighty only takes two kind of souls. One will enter the Paradise, while other will enter the Fire. Whereas I don’t know in which of the two kinds I’ll belong?”.
al Hasan al Bashri -may Allah have mercy on him- ever cried too, and it was said to him, “What makes you cry?”. Then he answered, “I am afraid that tomorrow Allah will throw me to the Fire and care of me no more.”
One day, while Abu Musa al Asy’ari -may Allah be pleased with him- was delivering a sermon at Bashra, during his sermon, he talked about the Fire. And he cried until his tears wet the pulpit!. And the people who heard him that day also cried a very profound cry.
Abu Huraira -may Allah be pleased with him- cried when he was sick [before his death]. Then he was asked, “What makes you cry?!.” He answered, “I am not crying because of this world [which I’m going to leave]. But I’m crying because of the very long journey that I’m going to face whereas my provision is very small, while it is possible that this afternoon I shall ascend the road to Paradise or to the Fire, and I don’t know which road I’m going to be dragged into?”.
One night, al Hasan al Bashri -may Allah have mercy on him- awoke from his sleep and cried until it startled and awaken people in his house. Then they asked about his condition, and he answered, “I remember one of my sin, thus I cry.”
Summarized from “al-Buka’ min Khas-yatillah, asbabuhu wa mawani’uhu wa thuruq tahshilihi” (a Word File), pages 4-13, written by Abu Thariq Ihsan Ibn Muhammad Ibn ‘Ayish al-’Utaibi, without publisher.
Author: Ari Wahyudi
Article of www.WhatIsQuran.com