Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon Muhammad, His last messenger, his household, his companions and all those who follow him till the last day. The Quraan mentions the most trustworthy handhold in two places. Allaah says: "There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Taaghoot (false gods etc) and believes in Allaah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allaah is All-Hearer, All-Knower" (Q2[al-Baqarah]: 256) And also He says: "And whosoever submits his face (himself) to Allaah, while he is a Muhsin (good doer, i.e. performs good deeds totally for Allaahs sake and does them in accordance with the Sunnah of Allaahs Messenger), then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold. And to Allaah return all matters for decision" (Q32[Luqmaan]: 22)
Hold On To It Till Death: The most trustworthy handhold is also mentioned in the Sunnah. Qays ibn Abbaad (RA) said: "I was in Madeenah with some people, among whom were some companions of the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wa sallam), when a man came on whose face were signs of the fear of Allaah. Some of the people said: This man is one of the people of Paradise, this man is one of the people of Paradise. He prayed two rakahs,making them short, then he went out. I followed him, and he entered his house, and I entered, and we spoke together. When he was at ease, I said to him: When you came in before, a man said such and such. He said: Subhaan Allah! No one should say what he does not know. He said: shall I tell you what that is? I saw a dream at the time of the messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) and I told him about it. I saw myself in a garden and he mentioned its vastness and lushness, and in the middle of the garden there was a pillar of iron, its base was in the earth and its top was in the sky, and at the top of it there was a handhold it was said to me:climb it,I said :I cannot. Then a helper came and push me up from behind, so I climbed until I was on top of the pillar, and I took hold of the handhold. It was said to me: hold it tightly. I woke up and it was in my hand. I told the prophet (salallahu alayi wa sallam) about it, and He said: that garden is islam, and that pillar is the pillar of islam, and that handhold is the most trustworthy handhold. You will remain a muslim until you die. He said:and the man was Abd-Allah Ibn Salaam. (Bukhari)
Leads you to paradise and goodness: Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (RAH) was asked:what is the most trustworthy handhold?,He replied:The most trustworthy handhold is islam.It is called the most trustworthy handhold because it leads to paradise.You can see that the meaning given by the scholars to the most trustworthy handhold is that which leads the one who holds unto it to paradise. That includes islam, faith, the Qur'aan and the word of tawheed (Laa ilaaha ila Allah). Each of these scholars focused on one of these meanings, which are all close in meaning. Once you have grabbed the most trustworthy handhold, then it should be easy for you to discharge any other trust that is given to you, whether that be trust for keeping something, trust of leading people, trust in general trade and agreement etc.
One key ruling concerning trusts is that the one whom it has been entrusted has to keep it in a place where things of that nature are usually kept, because Allah has commanded that trust should be rendered back, as He says: Verily Allah commands that you should render back trusts to those, to whom they are due. (Q4[An-Nisaa]:58) and they can only be rendered back by taking care of them. How a muslim who has grabbed the most trustworthy handhold should understand and handle trusts in the subject of this edition's cover story. Enjoy it, but act with it, particularly if you have been handed the trusts of leadership at whatever level. Allah knows best.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited