The Prophet salAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallaam explained ihsān as being:
“That you worship Allāh as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him, He sees you.” (1)
Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, may Allāh have mercy upon him, said as a part of his commentary to the above Prophetic words:
It indicates that the servant (‘abd) should worship Allāh in this manner; namely, evoking the feeling of His nearness and of His being with him as though he sees Him. This in turn necessitates reverence, fear, awe and glorification [of Allāh]; as occurs in the narration of Abu Hurayrah: “That you revere Allāh as if you see Him.” It also necessitates sincerity in worship, as well as exerting all one’s efforts in improving, completing and perfecting it. (2)
Ibn Rajab further said: “It has been said that it [the second part of the sentence] is the cause for the first part. This is because when the servant is ordered to have vigilance (murāqabah) of Allāh whilst worshipping Him and to feel His closeness, to the point that it is as if he was seeing Him, then this may be difficult. So he seeks aid to attain this through his faith that Allāh sees him, is fully aware of his secret and public [acts], his inner and outer [states], and that nothing of his affairs is ever hidden from Him. When he actualizes this station (maqām), it becomes easier for him to move to the second station, which is where there is a continual realization, upon spiritual perception (basīrah), of Allāh’s closeness to His servant and of His being with him; to the extent that it is as if he actually sees Him.
Confidence is tranquility, and it increases with time and intuition. The heart attaches itself to one whom it trusts, thus it becomes reliant upon him. Similarly, if the heart reaches Allaah, it becomes lovingly subservient to him. Consequently, he will be the only source of aid for this heart.
“We try to keep our body healthy, and while we know we cannot see bacteria and viruses, if we are told that a certain place might contain them which may make us sick and might even kill us, we would avoid that place to protect our body. Doubts are also invisible at first, but we do not worry about protecting our faith the same way as we do the body. We fail to realize that what we hear and read can later affect our faith. That those same things can lodge onto the heart – creating a sick heart, or even a dead one. We think we can spot all dangers. We can’t. So we stay away to protect our deen from the dangers we cannot identify.“
The Messenger of Allāh salAllaahu alayhi wasallam described those who trust in Allāh as having two qualities: they seek means and ways of earning their livelihood and have great trust in He Who has full control of all means and ways of provision. Those who possess only one or none of these qualities will acquire failure and utter loss. In contrast, those who seek the legal and lawful ways of earning their sustenance, trust in Allāh and appreciate His bounties whenever they earn them, all the while observing patience during times of hardship and distress, will acquire success and win what they need and covet.
Al-Hasan al-Basree – rahimahullaah – said:
