on ribāt, as determined by his leaders. He is
a murābit even if his turn for hirāsah hasn’t
come yet, won’t come for a very long time, or
never comes at all, as long as he is sincerely
committed to it if it comes. He is a murābit
even if the frontier post he defends is quiet,
although the reward for defending a dangerous
front is greater. And hirāsah is a loftier level of
jihād granted to him by Allah (ta’ālā) while he
performs his ribāt and it becomes obligatory on
him if his leaders order him with it. Rasūlullāh
(sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “Two eyes
will never be touched by Hellfire: an eye that
wept out of fear of Allah, and an eye that
stayed up guarding for Allah’s cause” [Hasan:
Reported by at-Tirmidhī from Ibn ‘Abbās].
What an honor it is to exhaust one’s eyes while
guarding the Muslims!
The Virtue of a Single Day of Ribāt
Allah’s Messenger (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam)
said, “A day of ribāt for Allah’s cause is better
than the world and everything it contains. A
place in Jannah as small as the whip of one of
you is better than the world and everything it
contains” [Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim
from Sahl Ibn Sa’d].
Allah’s Messenger (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam)
said, “Ribāt for a day and night is better than
fasting and performing night-prayer for a
month. And if he dies during ribāt, he will go on
receiving his reward for his deeds perpetually, he
will receive his provision, and he will be saved
from the tribulation (of the grave)” [Reported
by Muslim from Salmān].
Allah’s Messenger (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam)
said, “A day of ribāt for Allah’s cause is better
than a thousand days spent elsewhere” [Hasan:
Reported by at-Tirmidhī and an-Nasā’ī from
‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān].
10 ARTICLE
Abū Hurayrah (radiyallāhu ‘anhu) said, “A day of
ribāt for Allah’s cause is more beloved to me than to
be (in prayer) on Laylatul-Qadr in one of the two
masājid: al-Masjid al-Harām and the masjid of
Rasūlullāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam)” [Sunan
Sa’īd Ibn Mansūr].
What helps one understand the great reward in
ribāt is to contemplate that the worshippers of
Allah – including the scholars – would not be
able to perform their acts of worship if not for
the murābitīn defending the frontier posts. If the
murābitīn abandoned their positions, leaving them
defenseless, all Muslim cities, towns, and villages
would be under the threat of being attacked and
ransacked. Accordingly, scholars have said that
the murābit achieves reward for all Muslims
worshipping Allah behind him, as his ribāt
enabled them to focus on their worship of Allah
similar to how a Muslim who cares for a mujāhid’s
family during his absence achieves reward for the
mujāhid’s jihād. Rasūlullāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa
sallam) said, “Whoever takes good care of the
family of a fighter fighting for Allah’s cause during