Praise be to Allah.
The soundness of this hadith is agreed upon.
It was narrated from Anas ibn Maalik, from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he said: “[People] will continue to be thrown into Hell, and it will say, ‘Are there any more to come?’ until the Lord of Glory places His foot in it, then its parts will be integrated with one another and it will say: Enough, enough, by Your glory and Your honour. And there will be extra space in Paradise until Allah creates another creation to live in the extra space of Paradise.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (7384) and Muslim (2848).
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, did not explain to us in His Book, and His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not tell us in his Sunnah, what the nature of this creation will be.
And there is nothing to be gained from knowing that in terms of increasing knowledge or doing righteous deeds; not knowing it will not make us lose out on any obligatory or supererogatory deeds.
The proper etiquette before Allah, regarding this and similar matters, is that we should not concern ourselves with that of which we have no knowledge, and no method is prescribed for us to attain that knowledge.
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Say, [O Muhammad], I do not ask you for the Qur'an any payment, neither am I of those who take things upon themselves”
[Saad 38:86].
Al-Bukhaari (7293) narrated that Anas said: We were with ‘Umar and he said: We were forbidden to concern ourselves with matters that are not of great benefit.
It was narrated from Abu Tha‘labah al-Khushani (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah has enjoined some obligatory duties, so do not neglect them; He has set limits, so do not transgress them; He has forbidden some things, so do not violate those prohibitions; and He has kept quiet about some things out of mercy towards you, not out of forgetfulness, so do not concern yourself with them.”
An-Nawawi said: It is a hasan hadith; it was narrated by ad-Daaraqutni and others.
Imam Abu Bakr ibn ash-Sam‘aani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
This hadith is one of the major principles of Islam.
He said: And it was narrated from one of them that he said: There is no hadith from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that contains on its own more of the basic principles and minor issues of knowledge than the hadith of Abu Tha‘labah.
He said: It was narrated from Abu Waathilah al-Muzani that he said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) summed up the religion in four phrases, then he quoted the hadith of Abu Tha‘labah.
Ibn as-Sam‘aani said: Whoever acts in accordance with this hadith will attain reward and be safe from punishment, because whoever does the obligatory duties, avoids haraam things, adheres to the limits and does not inquire into matters that have not been explained has attained virtue in all respects and has fulfilled his religious commitment, because religious matters do not go beyond the categories mentioned in this hadith.
End quote from Jaami‘ al-‘Uloom wa’l-Hikam (2/819).
Summary:
The true nature of this (new) creation is one of the matters of the unseen that Allah has not explained to us. Hence we do not find any of the scholars who took the trouble to research this matter. It is enough for us to follow the proper etiquette and not inquire into this matter. Our focus should be on learning what Allah has prescribed for us and striving hard to adhere to that.
And Allah knows best.
Comment