by Bint-e-Hamed
If he performs a good deed, he expects Allah to accept his deed and reward him handsomely.
It was narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet Mohammed ﷺ, said: “Allah, The Exalted, Says, ‘I am as My slave expects Me to be, and I am with him whenever he remembers Me. If he remembers Me to Himself, I remember him to Myself, and if he remembers Me in an assembly, I remember him in a better assembly (i.e., the assembly of angels).
Having Good Expectations of Allah
The Hadeeth begins with calling the slave of Allah to have good expectations of his Lord at all times and in all states.
In the Hadeeth, Allah, The Exalted, explained that He is as His Slave expects Him to be, meaning that He treats him in accordance with his own expectation of His Lord and does for him what he expects of Him, be it good or bad.
If a person has good expectations of Allah and hopes for His Reward , Allah will not fail him nor cause his deeds to be lost. Whenever he supplicates Allah, he expects Allah to answer his supplications.
If he commits a sin and repents and seeks forgiveness, he expects Allah to accept his repentance, pardon his fault, and forgive his sin. If he performs a good deed, he expects Allah to accept his deed and reward him handsomely.
These are all examples of having good expectations of Allah, The Exalted. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Supplicate Allah while certain that your supplication will be answered.” [At-Tirmithi]
Thus, a slave of Allah continues to have good expectations of his Lord and aspire to His Reward in all situations, as the Arab poet Ibn Waheeb said (translation of meaning):
I supplicate Allah and, verily, by virtue of having good expectations of Him, it is as if I can see His Answer to my supplications with my own eyes!”
In the Quran, Allah, The Exalted, dispraises a group of people who had bad expectations of Him, and He underlines that their ill expectations were actually one of the key signs of their hypocrisy and covert wickedness. He Says about the hypocrites when they fled (the battlefield) and abandoned the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions during the battle of Uhud (what means): {…while another faction worried about themselves, thinking of Allah other than the truth – the thought of ignorance…} [Quran 3:154]
