Recitation of Qur'an and dhikr of Allah Almighty
Al-Bukhari transmits with his isnad from Usayd b. Hudayr who said that once while he was reciting Surat al-Baqara at night, with his horse tethered beside him, it suddenly became very agitated. When he stopped reciting, the horse calmed down. When he start- ed to recite again, the horse once more became agitated. Then he stopped reciting and the horse calmed down again. Then he recited and the horse became agitated so he stopped. His son Yahya was close to the horse and he was afraid that it might trample on him. When he pulled the boy away and looked up to the sky, he could not see it. In the morning, he told the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:
"Recite, Ibn Hudayr! Recite, Ibn Hudayr!" He said, "Messenger of Allah, I was afraid that the horse would trample on Yahya since he was near to it. I looked up and went to him. When I looked at the sky, there was some- thing in it like a cloud containing something like lamps. So I left in order to not see it." He said, "Do you know. what that was?" He said, "No." He said, "That was the angels who came near on account of your voice. If you had continued to recite, in the morning the people could
have looked at it and it would not have disappeared from them."
"The horse became agitated" means it jumped about.
The words, "He pulled the boy away" means he dragged him from the place where he was fearing that the horse would trample on him.
About the words, "He looked up to the sky, and he could not see it," Ibn Hajar says that this transmission is abridged. Abu "Ubayd related it in full, saying, "He looked up to the sky and there was something in it like a cloud containing something like lamps. It rose up into the sky so that he could not see it."
The words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "Recite, Ibn Hudayr!" means that he should have continued reciting. It was not a command to recite at the moment of the con- versation. It is as if the Prophet was visualising the situation and was present with him when he saw what he saw. It is as if he were saying: "Continue your recitation, so that the blessing continues with you by the descent of the angels and their listening to your recitation." So Usayd understood that and he replied giving an excuse for having curtailed his recitation, consisting of his words, "I was afraid it would trample on Yahya," ie. I feared that if I con- tinued reciting, the horse would trample on my son.
His words, "who came near" has, in the variant of Ibrahim b. Sa'd, the additional phrase, "to listen to you," and in the variant of Ibn Ka'b we find, "Usayd had a good voice." This addition indi- cates the reason why the angels were listening to his recitation.
An-Nawawi said, "This hadith shows that it is permissible for individuals of the community to see the angels." Ibn Hajar said, "This interpretation is sound, but it is limited, for instance, to the righteous, and to people with good voices."
He said that the hadith shows the excellence of recitation and the fact that it is a reason for the descent of mercy and the presence of angeis.
Muslim transmits in his Sahih from Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, who said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
"No people gather in any of the houses of Allah to recite the Book of Allah and to study it between them but that the Sakina descends on them and mercy covers them and the angels surround them and Allah remembers them to those in His presence."
In the two Sahih collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Abu Hurayra said that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
"Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has angels who travel the highways seeking out the people of dhikr. When they find people remembering Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, they call out to one another, 'Come to what you hunger for!" and they enfold them with their wings stretching up to the lowest heaven."
Ahmad transmitted in his Musnad as did Abu Ya'la al-Mawsuli and at-Tabarani in al-Awsat that Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
"No people sit to remember Allah but that a caller from heaven calls out to them, 'Arise forgiven.""
Muslim, at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa'i transmit from the hadith of Mu'awiya:
"The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out to a circle of his Companions and said, "What is it that has caused you to sit together?" They said, 'We sat down to remember Allah and praise Him for He has guided us to Islam and been gracious to us. He said, 'By Allah, is that the only thing that made you sit together?" They said, "By Allah, we sat down for that reason alone.' He said, "I did not make you swear out of any suspicion of you, but Jibril came to me and report-
ed to me that Allah Almighty is boasting about you to the angels."
This boasting on the part of Allah Almighty is an indication of the nobility of dhikr in His sight and His love of it and that it has merit over other actions. Dhikr makes it mandatory for Allah Almighty and His angels to pray for those who do it. Whoever has Allah Almighty and His angels pray for him has complete success and total victory. Allah says:
"O you who believe, remember Allah repeatedly. And glorify Him both morning and evening. It is He who call: down blessing on you, as do His angels, to bring you out of darkness into the light and, to the believers, He is most merciful." (33:41-43)
Ibn al-Qayyim said, "This prayer from the Almighty and His angels is the cause of people coming out the darkness to the light. When they receive the prayer from Allah Almighty and His angels and they are brought out of the darkness to the light, what good do they not obtain and what evil is not repelled from them! O alas for those who are heedless of their Lord! What blessing and bounty they are deprived of!