Nawawi Hadith 19: The Pens Are Lifted

Part One: Words for a Young Man, Words for Every Believer

Brothers,

Today’s khutbah is based on the 19th hadith in Imam Nawawi’s 40 Hadith:

On the authority of Abu al-Abbas Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: I was riding behind the Prophet ﷺ one day when he said, 'O young man, I will teach you some words. Be mindful of Allah and He will protect you. Be mindful of Allah and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of Allah. If you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know that if the nation were to gather together to benefit you with something, they would not benefit you with anything except that which Allah had already written for you, and if they were to gather together to harm you with something, they would not harm you with anything except that which Allah had already written against you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.' (Tirmidhi)

Ibn Abbas was a young man himself when he received this advice, riding behind the Prophet ﷺ on the same mount. Allah had answered the Prophet’s own du’a for him, “O Allah, grant him understanding of the religion,” and Ibn Abbas became one of the greatest scholars among the companions. This hadith was part of the foundation of that understanding, delivered to him personally, privately, mount to mount, by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself.

Notice the setting. Not a sermon to a crowd. Not a lengthy lecture. A private moment between a teacher and a young student, words meant to be carried for a lifetime.

Part 1: Guard Allah, and He Will Guard You

The first instruction is ihfaz Allah, guard Allah, meaning guard His commands, His limits, His rights over you. In return, He guards you.

For each one there are angels succeeding one another, before him and behind him, guarding him by the command of Allah. (Ar-Ra'd, 13:11)

Guarding Allah’s commands means guarding your prayer, your honesty, your chastity, your tongue, everything He has placed a boundary around. When you guard these boundaries for His sake, Allah promises to guard you in return, your body, your family, your religion, your heart in moments of trial.

And whoever fears Allah, He will make a way out for them, and provide for them from where they least expect. And whoever puts their trust in Allah, then He alone is sufficient for them. Surely Allah achieves His purpose. Allah has already set a destiny for everything. (At-Talaaq, 65:2-3)

This ayah is almost a direct commentary on the hadith. Fear Allah, and He opens a way out of your difficulty. Trust Allah, and He becomes sufficient for you. And notice the final phrase: Allah has already set a destiny for everything, tying directly into the last portion of the hadith about the pens being lifted.

Part 2: You Will Find Him in Front of You

The second instruction deepens the first: guard Allah and you will find Him in front of you, meaning you will find His help, His guidance, His nearness precisely where you need it, precisely when you turn to Him.

Know Allah in times of ease, and He will know you in times of hardship. (Ahmad)

This addition, recorded by Imam Ahmad as part of a longer version of this same hadith, explains what it means to find Allah in front of you. The relationship you build with Allah when things are calm, your prayer, your gratitude, your obedience, is exactly what carries you when things become difficult. A man who ignores Allah in ease should not be surprised to feel distant from Him in hardship. A man who remembers Allah in ease finds Allah remembering him when he is in need.

Whoever accustoms himself to turning to Allah in comfort will find the door already open when calamity strikes, while the one who never approached that door in ease may struggle to find it in distress. (Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali)

Part 3: Ask Only Allah

The third instruction is direct and uncompromising: if you ask, ask of Allah alone. Not because seeking help from people is forbidden in every form, but because ultimate reliance, the request that carries your deepest hope, belongs to Allah and Allah only.

You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help. (Al-Faatiha, 1:5)

We recite this verse at least seventeen times a day in our obligatory prayers, and yet how easily we forget it the moment a real difficulty arrives, running first to every possible human solution before we even raise our hands in du’a. This hadith corrects that order. Allah first. Always first.

If the entire creation gathered to benefit you with something, they could not benefit you except with what Allah has already written for you. (Tirmidhi)

This is not a command to abandon lawful means, seeking work, seeking medical treatment, seeking help from people through proper channels. It is a command over the heart: place your hope in Allah even as you pursue permissible means, because the means themselves are only means, not the true source of benefit or harm.

Part 4: The Pens Have Been Lifted

The hadith closes with one of the most profound statements on qadar in the entire Islamic tradition: the pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.

No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but is inscribed in the Register before We bring it into being. Surely that is easy for Allah. (Al-Hadid, 57:22)

Indeed, We have created everything according to a perfect design. (Al-Qamar, 54:49)

Everything that will happen to you, every trial, every relief, every provision, every hardship, was already written before the world existed. This is not a call to passivity. It is a call to peace. Once you understand that what has reached you could not have missed you, and what has missed you could not have reached you, anxiety over the past and fear of the future both begin to lose their grip on your heart.

Part Two: Living This Trust Every Day

Brothers,

Part 5: What This Hadith Frees You From

This hadith frees the believer from two heavy burdens: excessive dependence on people, and excessive anxiety over outcomes. If you understand that no created being can benefit or harm you outside what Allah has already decreed, you stop chasing the approval of people who cannot control your fate, and you stop dreading the disapproval of people who cannot harm you beyond what Allah permits.

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ 'Nothing will ever befall us except what Allah has destined for us. He is our Protector.' So in Allah let the believers put their trust. (At-Tawba, 9:51)

This does not mean you stop working, stop trying, stop making effort. It means you make every lawful effort while placing your true reliance in Allah, so that success does not inflate your ego and failure does not crush your spirit, because both were already decreed before you began.

Part 6: The Prison Context, Trust When Control Is Taken Away

Brothers, few environments test this hadith as directly as this one. You have lost control over so much: when you wake, what you eat, who you live beside, how long you remain here, decisions made by people you may never even meet. It would be easy to spend your days in anxiety over things entirely outside your hands.

This hadith is a mercy for exactly this situation. Guard Allah here, in the small things you still control: your prayer, your honesty, your patience, your speech, and He will guard you, your heart, your sanity, your hope, in the much larger things you cannot control. Ask Allah first for release, for reunion with your family, for relief, before you place your hope in appeals, paperwork, or other people, because ultimately none of those can grant you anything except what Allah has already decreed.

And remember, the pens have already been lifted regarding your case, your sentence, your release date, your future after these walls. This does not mean give up seeking lawful means to improve your situation. It means face those processes with a calm heart rather than a tormented one, because worry changes nothing that Allah has already written, while patience and trust in Him bring peace regardless of the outcome.

Ibn Abbas received these words as a young man riding on the back of an animal, uncertain of his future like every young man is. He carried this trust for the rest of his life and became one of the greatest scholars of this ummah. Let these same words carry you through whatever remains of your time here, and beyond it.

Consider also how this hadith reshapes your relationships with other men in this place. Some may make promises they cannot keep, offer protection they cannot guarantee, or threaten harm they may not be able to carry out. This hadith teaches you not to build your sense of security on any of them, not out of suspicion or coldness, but because true security was never in their hands to begin with. Deal with people justly and kindly, but anchor your heart in the One who alone decrees benefit and harm.

Part 7: A Heart at Rest

The believer who truly absorbs this hadith develops a particular kind of heart, alert and diligent in guarding Allah’s commands, yet calm and unshaken about outcomes, because he has handed the outcomes to the One who already wrote them before the pens were lifted.

O Allah, guard us as we strive to guard Your commands.

O Allah, let us find You near whenever we turn to You in need.

O Allah, make our hearts ask of You alone, and rely on You alone.

O Allah, grant us peace with what You have already decreed for us.

O Allah, do not let fear of people replace our fear of You.

O Allah, ease what remains of our trial, and grant us patience until it passes.

O Allah, let us remember You in times of ease so that You remember us in times of hardship.

O Allah, write for us relief, reunion with those we love, and a return to a life of obedience to You.