10_Restricting Oneself to the Permissible

Hadith

On the authority ofAbuHurayrah (ra): The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Allah the Almighty is Good and accepts only that which is good. And verily Allah has commanded the believers to do that which He has commanded the Messengers. So the Almighty has said: “O (you) Messengers! Eat of the tayyibat [all kinds of halal (legal) foods], and perform righteous deeds.” [23:51] and the Almighty has said: “O you who believe! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you.” [2:172]” Then he (ﷺ) mentioned [the case] of a man who, having journeyed far, is disheveled and dusty, and who spreads out his hands to the sky saying “O Lord! O Lord!,” while his food is haram (unlawful), his drink is haram, his clothing is haram, and he has been nourished with haram, so how can [his supplication] be answered? [Muslim]

Allah is Tayyib (Good) here means Allah is free from deficiency & faults.

Linguistically, there should be a fiil, but it is not written directly. It encompasses 3 things:

1. Belief (Al-Itikad)
2. Speech (Qowul)
3. Actions (Amal)

Allah does not accept any of these three things that are not tayyib طَيِّبًا.

Tayyib here means 2 things :

1. Anything that is done sincerly for the sake of Allah (Ikhlas)
2. In accordance to the sunnah of the Prophet salallahualaihiwassalam (Muthaba’ah)

The prophet then mentioned the surah which started with ‘O (you) Messengers!’ this is to motivate the listener to be like the great people before them. If a messenger, someone who is obviously better than us is told to do so, then shouldn’t we follow suit?

The prophet then told the story of a man, this story is to show that Allah accepts only that which is tayyib. This hadith also shows 4 things that might make it easier for your dua to be accepted, and at the same time shows 4 things that makes your dua to harder to be accepted.

4 Things That Makes Dua Easier to Accept

1. Travelling (Al-Safar)
2. Raising your hands to the sky
3. To say ‘Rabb’
4. To repeat ‘Ya Rabbi, Ya Rabbi’

4 Things That Makes Dua Harder to Accept

1. Haram Food
2. Haram Drinks
3. Unclean Clothing
4. Haram Ghida (nourishment) → anything that nourishes your body like sleep, smoking. It includes food & drink but encompasses much more.

The question in the end is rethorical, it does not mean that the dua will not be accepted, but it’s unlikely.