13.2, Weeping out of fear and yearning for Allah

Allah, the Most Glorified and Exalted, says in the Qur’an, “Do you then wonder at this recitation (the Qur’an)? And you laugh at it and weep not, wasting your (precious) lifetime in pastime and amusements.” (53:59-61)

From the first part of the article, insha-Allah, we now understand the importance of weeping out of fear and yearning for Allah. In this part I hope to provide two examples from the Prophet (SAWS) himself - examples from which we can draw inspiration insha-Allah.

The first example: Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:

The Prophet (SAWS) said to me, “Recite the Qur'an to me.”

I said, “O Messenger of Allah! Shall I recite the Qur'an to you, when it has been revealed to you?”

He (SAWS) replied, “I love to hear it recited by others.”

So I recited to him a portion from Surat-an-Nisaa'. When I reached the Aayah (verse): “How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad (SAWS)) as a witness against these people?” (4:41)

He (SAWS) said, “Enough for now.”

When I looked at him I saw his eyes were shedding tears.

(Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

This Hadith tells us that besides reciting the Noble Qur’an alone, we should also recite it with others and listen to it being recited by others so that we can contemplate further on it.

A second lesson we take from this Hadith is that reciting the Qur’an and listening to the Qur’an being recited should penetrate our hearts, so much so that it causes our eyes to shed tears.

The second example: Abdullah bin ash-shikhkheeri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I came to the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) when he was performing prayers. He was sobbing and his chest sounded like a boiling kettle.

(Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi)

This Hadith tells us how the Prophet (SAWS) sometimes wept in prayer out of fear of Allah, and as discussed in the first part, to weep in the course of supplication and at the thought of our appearance before Allah reflects piety.

We ask Allah to unite our hearts, to fill our hearts with the light of the Qur’an, and to beautify our character with understanding of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the final Messenger (SAWS).