In the Name of God, Merciful and Compassionate
On the Paths to Happiness
by Ibn
al-Qayyimal-Jawziyyah
[This is a treatise written by our teacher, the learned Imam Shams
al-Din Abu ‘Abd Allah, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Ayyub ibn Sa’id,
better known as Ibn al-Qayyim (may God sanctify his soul, illumine his
grave and unite us in the Abode of God’s Generosity). He said:]
There is neither strength nor power save in God Almighty. It is God
we implore—and whose answer we await—to watch over you in this world
and the next, to shower you with His graces, outwardly and inwardly, and
to make you among those who, when blessed, give thanks; when tried,
persevere; and when sinful, seek forgiveness. For these three conditions
are tokens of the servant’s happiness [sa’adat al-abd], and
the signs of his success in this world and the next. No servant is
without them, but is always shifting from one to the other.
The first condition is the blessings which come to the servant from
God (Most High), one after another. What secures them is gratitude [shukr],
based on three supports: inward recognition of the blessing; outward
mention and thanks for it; and its use in a way that pleases the One to
whom it truly belongs and who truly bestows it. Acting thus, the servant
shows his gratitude for the blessing—however brief.
The second is the trials from God (Most High) which test the Servant,
whose duty therein is patience [sabr] and forbearance: to
restrain himself from anger with what is decreed; to restrain his tongue
from complaint; to restrain his limbs from offences, such as striking
one’s face in grief, rending one’s clothes, tearing one’s hair and
like acts. Patience, then, rests on these three supports, and if the
servant maintains them as he should, affliction will become benefaction,
trial will change to bounty and what he disliked will become what he
loves. For God (Exalted and Sublime) does not try the servant in order
to destroy him. Rather, He tries him to put his patience and devotion [al-ubudiyyato
the test. For the servant owes devotion to God in affliction as in ease.
He must have as much devotion in what he hates as in what he loves. And
while most people offer devotion in what they love, it is important to
do so in the things they hate. It is by this that servants’ ranks are
distinguished and their stations determined.
Ablution with cold water in searing heat is devotion. Sexual
relations with one’s beautiful and beloved spouse is devotion.
Spending money for her, for one’s children and for oneself is
devotion. It is devotion no less than ablution with cold water in the
bitter cold; giving up vice to which one’s soul is driven without fear
of people; and giving charity in hardship. But there is a great
difference between the [two kinds] of devotion.
He who is God’s servant in both states, maintaining his duty in
both comfort and adversity, is the one to whom His words refer, ‘Is
not God sufficient for His servant?’ With complete devotion comes
complete sufficiency, and with less comes what is less. Let him who
discerns some good give praise to God, but let whoever finds something
other than this blame no one but himself.
These are the servants over whom God’s Foe has no control. God said
[to the Devil], ‘Lo! As for My servants, you have no power
over them.” And when His Foe Iblis learned that He would not let
His devoted servants yield to him or give him control over them, he
proclaimed, ‘Then by Your Might, I will surely beguile them all
save for Your sincere servants among them. And God (Most High) said,
‘And Iblis found his calculation true, for they [all] followed him
save a group of true believers. And he had no warrant whatsoever over
[any of] them save that We might know the ones who believe in the
hereafter from those who doubt it.’ God will not yield to His Foe
control over His faithful servants. They are in His protection and His
care. If the Devil robs any of them, as the thief robs the heedless man,
this cannot be avoided, because by heedlessness, passion and anger is
the servant tried. It is by these same three doors that the Devil comes
to him. Try as he may to protect himself, the servant is bound to be
heedless and given to passion and anger.
Adam, the father of all humanity, was the most discerning of
creatures, their superior in wisdom, and the most steadfast. Yet the Foe
kept after him until he made him fall into that which he fell. What then
of someone with the reason of a moth, whose intelligence compared to
that of his father [Adam] is like a spittle in the ocean? Still, the Foe
of God obtains nothing from a faithful person except by robbing him in
[a moment on inattention and carelessness. And when he causes him to
fall, the servant may think that he can never again face his Lord, that
this fall has carried him away and destroyed him. Yet behind it all is
God’s grace, mercy, clemency and forgiveness.
For if God intends what is good for His servant, He will then open
for him the doors of repentance [al-tawba] and remorse,
abasement and humility, dependence and need; the doors of the request
for God’s help and protection; the doors of perpetual humility,
supplication and the approach towards Him by means of whatever good
works he can manage—so that his wrong may become a means to God’s
mercy. For the Foe says, ‘Alas, I left him without causing him to
fall!’
This is what one of the
early believers [salaf] meant when he said,
‘A person may
commit a sin by which he goes to heaven and a good deed by which he goes to
hell.’ ‘How?’
someone asked. He replied, ‘Having committed the sin, he is ever watchful in
fear, regretful, timorous, lamenting, shamed before his Lord, his head in his
hands and his heart rent. The sin that brings him all that we have mentioned,
wherein lie his happiness and salvation, is more beneficial to him than numerous
devotional acts. Indeed, it becomes the means by which he enters Heaven.
[On the other hand], he
may perform a goodly deed and constantly laud it before his Lord, wax proud,
boast, become vain and haughty with it, as he says, ‘I did this, I
did that.’ His self-importance, pride and arrogance provide him only with the
means to his own ruin. If God intends then what is good for this miserable
person, He will try him through something that breaks [his pride], abases him
and reduces his self-importance. But if He intends otherwise, He will leave him
to his self-importance and pride, and this misfortune is what leads to his
ruin.’
excerpt from:
THE
INVOCATION OF GOD (Al-Wabil al-Sayyib min al-Kalim al Tayyib) by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
Other
Books by Ibn Qayyim © The Islamic Texts Society 2002
THE
HEART’S CAPTIVATION AND IMPRISONMENT BY SIN
By Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim From
Al-Jawab al-Kafi[1]
He (rahimahullaah - may Allah
have mercy upon him) said: And among its effects is that the disobedient
(sinner) is constantly in the shackles of his Shaytaan (Devil) and the prison
of his shahwa (desires) and the chains/fetters of his hawaa (whims). So he is
a captive, one who is imprisoned and who is tied up.
There is no captive in a
worse state than the one who is captivated by his worst enemy and there is no
prison which is tighter than the prison of hawa (desires) and there is no
bond/fetter more strong than the bond of desire.
How, then, will a heart which
is captivated, imprisoned and fettered travel unto Allaah and the Home of the
Hereafter. How will a person take a single step forward when the heart is
bound and harmful things approach it from every direction. The harmful things
approach it to the extent that it is tied up [i.e. imprisoned by its desires
and whims..].
The example of the heart is
like the example of a bird. Every time it ascends it becomes distant from the
harmful things and every time it descends the harmful things hurt it. In a
hadeeth (saying or doing of the Prophet Mohammed) there occurs that Shaytaan
is like a wolf to people. Just as when a sheep has no Protector and is in
between many wolves, they are quick in causing damage and injury; likewise the
servant who does not have guardianship from Allaah, then his wolf [i.e. his
desires, whims etc.] is to him a predatory animal.
[Thus] there is no escape for
the servant from having protection from Allaah. Taqwaa (piety) is a
safeguarding for him and a strong shield between himself and the punishment of
this world and the Hereafter.
Every time the sheep is close
to its shepherd it is more safe from the wolf and every time it becomes
distant from its shepherd it is closer to destruction. So its sanctuary is
when it is close to its shepherd because the wolf takes the lonely one from
the flock and this is the one which is the furthest one of the flock from the
shepherd. The basis of all of this is is that every time the heart is distant
from Allaah the harmful things are quick in approaching it and every time it
is close to Allaah the harmful things become distant from it.
Remoteness from Allaah has
levels/degrees, some of which are more severe than others. Heedlessness
distances the servant from Allaah and some acts of disobedience are greater
than some acts of heedlessness. Some innovations are greater than some acts of
disobedience and some things from Hypocrisy and Shirk (associate partners with
Allah) are greater than all of what has preceded.
It
is essential to know that sins and acts of disobedience are,
necessarily, very harmful. Their harm effects upon the heart are akin
to the harmful effects of poison upon the body, though the effects
vary in their levels and intensities. So is there any evil or harm in
this world, or in the Hereafter, except that it is due to sins and
disobedience?
So
what was it that expelled the two parents [i.e. Adam and Eve] from
Paradise; the home of delight, bliss, splendor and joy; to the home of
pain, sorrow and misfortune?
What
was it that expelled Iblees [i.e. Satan] from the heavenly realms,
causing him to be rejected and cursed; transforming him both inwardly
and outwardly, so that his form became ugly and hideous - his inner
form more hideous than his outer - replacing his nearness with
remoteness, mercy with curse, his beauty with ugliness, from being in
Paradise to being in the blazing Fire, from having faith to being an
unbeliever, from having the patronage and friendship of Allaah, the
Praiseworthy Guardian, to being the greatest enemy and opponent, from
glorifying and praising Him to committing acts of unbelief, shirk,
lies, deception and shamelessness, from being adorned with faith to
being clothed in the garment of unbelief, sinfulness and disobedience,
causing him to reach the deepest depths of despicability, plunging
down in the sight of Allaah as far as it is possible to plunge;
causing the anger of Allaah the Exalted to be upon him, making him an
outcast - despised and humiliated - so that he became a leader for
every sinner and criminal, becoming pleased with leadership for
himself, after having reached the station of worship and nobility?
0
Allaah, we seek refuge in You from opposing Your command and falling
into what You have forbidden. What was it that caused the people of
the earth to drown, to the extent that the water rose above even the
mountaintops? What was it that caused the violent winds to overcome
the people of ‘Aad, such that it flung them down dead upon the face
of the earth - as if they were lopped-off palm trunks - and it
destroyed whatever dwellings and crops it came across, thus making
them an example for nations until the Day of Resurrection?
What
was it that caused the piercing shrieks to be set loose upon the
Thamood people, such that their hearts were severed within their very
bodies, by which they all perished? What was it that caused the town
of the homosexuals to be raised up and turned upside down, such that
they were all destroyed? Then stones from the sky pelted down upon
them so that they suffered a combined punishment, the like of which
was not given to any other nation! And for their brothers will be its
like; and it is not far off from the transgressors! What was it that
caused the clouds of punishment to overcome the people of Shu’ayb,
such that when these clouds were above their heads it rained scorching
fire upon them? What was it that caused the Pharaoh and his people to
be drowned in the ocean, and caused their souls to be transported to
the Hellfire, so their bodies drowned and their souls burned?
What
was it that caused Qaaroon, his dwelling, wealth and family to sink
down into the earth? What was it that caused the destruction of those
generations after Noah, and how they were afflicted with various
punishments that caused their annihilation? What was it that caused
the destruction of the companions of Yaa Seen, with the clamorous
shout, which destroyed them?
What
caused there to be sent against the Children of Israa’eel enemies of
great strength and might, plundering their homes, killing their men,
enslaving their women and children, burning their dwellings, seizing
their wealth, and then returning again a second time, destroying what
was rebuilt after the first onslaught? What was it that caused the
various types of punishments to be set loose upon the Children of
Israa’eel?
Killing
them, enslaving them, destroying their land and at times causing them
to be oppressed by kings, whilst at another time causing them to be
transformed into apes and swines - and finally the Lord took an oath
that: “He would certainly keep on sending against them, until the
Day of Resurrection, those who will inflict them with a humiliating
torment.” [Soorah al-A’raaf 7:167]
Imam
Ahmad said: al-Waleed ibn Muslim related to us; that Safwaan ibn
’Amr related to us; that ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr
related; from his father, who said: “When Cyprus was conquered and
its people were dispersed and they started weeping to each other, I
saw Abud-Dardaa sitting alone and weeping. So I said to him: 0
Abud-Dardaa! What makes you weep on this day that Allaah has granted
strength and honor to Islaam and its people?
So
he said: Woe be to you 0 Jubayr! How insignificant the creation
becomes to Allaah when they turn away from His command. In front of us
is a nation who were evidently powerful and who had dominion, yet they
abandoned Allaah’s command, so look what has become of them.” [2]
‘Alee
ibn al-Ja’d said: Shu’bah ibn ‘Amr ibn Murrah informed us; I
heard Abul-Bukhtaree say: I was informed by someone, who heard the
Prophet (sallalalhu alaihi wa-sallam) saying: “The people will
not perish, until they have no excuse left for themselves.”[3]
Imaam
Ahmad reports in his Musnad, from the hadeeth of Umm Salamah, who
said: I heard Allaah’s Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam)
saying: “When acts of disobedience become widespread in my ummah,
then Allaah may send punishment upon them all from Himself” So I
said: 0 Allaah’s Messenger! Even if there are righteous people
amongst them that day? So he replied: “Indeed!” So I said:
How will that be? He replied: “They will be afflicted with what
afflicts the people, then they will move on to the forgiveness of
Allaah and His good pleasure.” [4]
FOOTNOTES
[1]
Ad-Daa’ wad-Dawaa’ (pp.65-67).
[2] Reported by Imaam Ahmad in az-Zuhd (i/86) with an authentic (saheeh)
chain of narration
[3] Reported by Ahmad (4/260) and Abu Daawood (no.4347) with an
authentic chain of narration.
[4] Reported by Ahmad (6/304) and one of its narrators is Layth ibn
Abee Sulaym, who is weak. However the hadeeth is established due to
further supporting narrations. Consult Silsilatul-Ahaadeethus-Saheehah
(no.1372) of Shaykh al-Albaanee
Dua When Afraid of a Group or a
Nation:
Allâhumma
innâ naj’aluka fi nuhürihim wa na’ udhu bikka min shurürihim.
O Allah , we place you before them and seek Your protection against
their Evil (Abu
Dawud) : Reflections
of Pearls
|
