Don’t stop

 

Imaam Ibn Qayyim:

The one who calls to Allah and to Daar as-Salaam motivates the reluctant souls and (calls them to) the highest endeavours and the one who calls to Eemaan makes to hear those with attentive ears; and Allah makes to hear anyone (whose heart is) alive, and his hearing it elevates him to the rank of Al-Abrar and it encourages him on his journey and he does not stop until he reaches Dar al-Qaraar.

Ibn Qayyim|| Mukhtasar Zaad al Ma’aad Eng.Trans pg 303-304

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You will not be established until…

Imaam ash-Shafi’ee Rahimahullaah was asked:

“What is better for a man, to be established (in the earth) or to be tried by afflication?” He replied: “He will not be established until he has been tried by afflication. Allaah, the All-mighty, the All-Powerful tried Ulul-‘Azm [1] from among his Messengers; and when they were patient, He established them (in the earth).”

So no one should imagine that he will completely escape pain.

~Imaam Ibn Qayyim|| Zaad al Ma’ad Eng trans. p.254

Footnote:

[1] Ulul-‘Azm: The possessors of Firm Will: Nuh, Ibraheem, Musa, ‘Esa and Muhammad (‘Alayhimus-salaatu wa salaam)

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His ﷺ guidance in Voluntary charity…

 Regarding his ﷺ Guidance
 in voluntary charity (Sadaqah at-Tatawwu’)

He (ﷺ) was the greatest of the people in giving charity with whatever was in his hands and he did not overestimate the value of anything which Allah gave him, nor did he underestimate it (i.e. nothing in his possession was considered too much or too little by him to be given in charity). If someone asked him for something, he would give him, whether it was little or much and his happiness and joy in giving were greater than that of the receiver! And when a person in need submitted his case to him (ﷺ), he would give preference to his needs over his own, sometimes with his food and sometimes with his clothes.

His (ﷺ) giving and charity were different types: Sometimes, it took the form of a gift, sometimes charity and sometimes a grant; and sometimes he would buy something and give it to the seller along with its price. At other times, he would borrow something and then return more than he had borrowed. He would accept a gift and in return, he (ﷺ) would give something of greater value, [1] out of kindness and in order to express all diverse forms of charitable deeds to the utmost of his ability. His benevolence was expressed with his property, his actions and his words. He (ﷺ) would give whatever he had, he would order the giving of charity and he would encourage it, so that if a miserly person saw him (ﷺ), his behaviour would call upon him to be giving.

Anyone who associated with him could not help but be kind and generous. For this reason, he was the most open-hearted of people and the finest soul among them; for charity and righteous deeds have an amazing ability to open the heart – and this was in addition to the things by which Allah had distinguished him, such as His opening his heart by the Message, its special characteristics and its consequences and the opening of his heart to compassion and the removal of Satan’s portion (i.e. influence) from it.

And the greatest cause of open-heartedness is Monotheism, Tawheed; and in accordance with its completeness, its strength and its increase, a person’s heart will be opened; Allaah Most High says:

أَفَمَن شَرَحَ ٱللَّهُ صَدۡرَهُ ۥ لِلۡإِسۡلَـٰمِ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ۬ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦ‌ۚ
فَوَيۡلٌ۬ لِّلۡقَـٰسِيَةِ قُلُوبُہُم مِّن ذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۚ أُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ فِى ضَلَـٰلٍ۬ مُّبِينٍ

‘Is he whose heart Allah has opened to Islam,  so that he is in light from his Lord (as he who is a non-Muslim)?’

az-Zumar:22

فَمَن يُرِدِ ٱللَّهُ أَن يَهۡدِيَهُ ۥ يَشۡرَحۡ صَدۡرَهُ ۥ لِلۡإِسۡلَـٰمِ‌ۖ
وَمَن يُرِدۡ أَن يُضِلَّهُ ۥ يَجۡعَلۡ صَدۡرَهُ ۥ ضَيِّقًا حَرَجً۬ا

‘And whomsoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islam and  whomsoever He wills to send astray, He makes his breast closed and constricted’

al-An’aam:125

Another cause is the Light which Allah places in the heart, and that is the light of Faith (Iman).

It is reported in ‘Sunan at-Tirmidhi‘ in a Marfu’ form:

          ‘ إذا دخل النّورالقلب انفسح وانشرح ‘

‘When the Light enters the heart, it is expanded and opened’ [2]

Another cause is knowledge, for it opens the heart and expands it; but this is not true for all knowledge – only for that which we have inherited from the Prophet (ﷺ).

Still another cause is turning in repentance to Allah and loving Him with all one’s heart. And love has an amazing effect in opening the heart and bringing about goodness of the soul. And the more love for Him grows stronger, the more the heart is opened and it is not straitened except by the idle ones.

And another cause is being constant in the remembrance of Allah, for Dhikr has an amazing effect in opening the heart.

Also among them is acting righteously (Ihsan) towards all created beings and benefitting them to the best of one’s ability, through ones wealth and status and by physically helping them with all sorts of righteous deeds.

As for spiritual happiness and bliss, it is forbidden to every coward, as it is forbidden to every miser and every person who turns away from Allah, unmindful of remembrance of Him and ignorant of Him and His religion and whose heart is attracted to other than Him; and no heed should be paid to the opening of the heart of such a person due to something which befalls him, nor to the anguish of his heart caused by some mishap befalling him for verily, the things which affect the heart are removed by removing their causes (i.e. if happiness depends on some material thing, then the removal of that material thing will cause unhappiness); what is relied upon is the quality of the heart that makes it open or straitened for it is the measure of the heart.

Another cause – indeed, the greatest of them – is the removal of corruption in the heart caused by reprehensible characteristics.

And also amongst them is abandoning looking into undesirable things, vain speech, listening to undesirable things, mixing with undesirable people, eating bad things and sleeping excessively.

~Transcription: Mukhtasar Zaad al Ma’ad Eng trans.pg 113-115|| Ibn Qayyim

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Footnotes:

[1] Narrated by al-Bukhari
[2] According to Shu’aib and ‘Abdul-Qadir Al-Arna’ut who checked the ahadeeth of the full version of ‘Zaad al-Ma’ad’, it was not narrated by at-Tirmidhee, as Ibn Qayyim states, but by at-Tabari, on the authority of Ibn Mas’ood (رضي الله عنه) and it was mention by as-Suyuti in ‘ad-Darr al-Manthur’ and by Ibn Katheer, who related it from Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Jareer (at-Tabari). Some f its chains of narrators are connected (Muttasil) and some of them are broken (Mursal) and they all strengthen each other.

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Recitation of the Qur’an

His ﷺ Guidance in reciting the Qur’an

He ﷺ would not fail to recite his regular Hizb[1] and his recitation was slow and pleasant, letter by letter; and he would cut off his recitation at the end of each verse and he would prolong it when he recited the Madd letters [2], so he would prolong the recitation of the words: ar-Rahmaan and ar-Raheem. He would seek refuge with Allah at the start of his recitation, saying:

أعوذ با الله من الشيطان الرّجيم
‘A’udhu Billahi Minash-Shaitanir-Rajeem’

‘I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan’


and sometimes, he might say:

اللّهم إنِّي أعوذ بك من الشيطان الرّجيم من همزه ونفخه ونفثه

‘Allahumma, Innee A’udthu Bika Minash-Shaitanir-Rajeem, Min Hamzihi wa Nafkhihi wa Nafthihi’
Oh, Allah! I seek refuge with you from the accursed Satan, from his prompting [his madness], from his blowing [his prise] and from his spittle [his poetry] [3]

And he used to seek refuge before the recitation. He used to love to listen to the Qur’an recited by someone else and he commanded Ibn Mas’ud to recite and he did so while the prophet (ﷺ) listened and he was so humbled by listening to his recitation, that his eyes filled with tears. He would recite while standing, while sitting, while lying down, while in a state of ritual purity, having performed ablution and in a state of ritual impurity, but not whilst he was Junub[4]. He would recite in a clear, pleasant tone and sometimes, he would cause his voice to reverberate three times, thus: ‘Aa-aa-aa’- this was reported by al-Bukhari. When this is combined with the words of the Prophet (ﷺ) : ‘Beautify the Qur’an with your voices,’ [5]– and his words: ‘Allah does not listen to a prophet as He listens to a Prophet who recites the Qur’an in a pleasant tone,’[6] one can see that this reverberation was deliberate on his, not due to the shaking of his she-camel. If it were not the case, Ibn al-Mughaffal would not have reported that it was voluntary, in order that he be emulated, for he said: ‘He used to cause his voice to reverberate during his recitation.’ And reciting pleasantly and slowly (Taghanni) is of two types:

The first: That which is entailed by reciting naturally, without effort; this is permissable, even though he embellished his natural voice by making it beautiful, as Abu Musa al-Ash’ari (رضي الله عنه) said to the Prophet (ﷺ): ‘If I had known that you were listening, I would have beautified my recitation for you.’ [7] This is what the Salaf  used to do and all of the evidences prove it.

The second: That which is artifical and is the product of learning, as one learns to sing using all types of invented airs and meters, which were disliked by the Salaf and the evidences of its being disliked are concerning this.

~Transcription: Mukhtasar Zaad al Ma’ad Eng trans.pg 90-92|| Ibn Qayyim

Footnotes

[1] Hizb: One sixtieth part of the Qur’an
[2] Madd letters: Long vowels (Alif, Wauw and Ya’) whose pronouncation is drawn out when recited in the Qur’an.
[3] Narrated by Ahmed, Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah and declared authentic by Ibn Hibban and al-Hakam and adh-Dhahabi confirmed this.
[4] Junub: In a state of major ritual impurity, following sexual intercourse or nocturnal emission; in such a state, a person is required to perform Ghusl (washing the whole body).
[5] Narrated by al-Bukhari, an-Nas’i, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, Ahmad and ad-Darimi.
[6] Narrated by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud and an-Nas’i
[7] This was mentioned by al-Haithami in al-Majma on the authory of Abu Musa رضي الله عنه and he said:’ Narrated by Abu Ya’la; and in it (i.e its sanad) is Khalid ibn Nafi’ al-Ash’ari  and he is weak. Ibn Hajar mentions something similar on the authority of Anas رضي الله عنه with a chain of narrators which conforms to the conditions laid down by Imaam Muslim.

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Sins….

Imaam Ibn Qayyim al Jawziyyah said:

Glorified be Allaah!
Your outward self is adorned with the raiment of righteousness while your inward self submits to vain desires, so wherever your raiments is scented, the impact of vain desires emerge, from which the sincere believers divert themselves,and to which the wrong-doers are inclined.

~Ibn Qayyim: al Fawaaid (Eng trans. pg108)

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Patience is…

Patience is the noose of the believer, tying him down: he may wander for a bit but always returns. It is the pillar of his faith to which he recourses, there is no faith for the one who has no patience. If, in such a case, it does exist, it would be severely weak. The one who has no patience is like worshipping Allaah at the edge of a faltering precipice: if good comes his way he takes comfort, but if trial comes his way, the world turns inside out and he loses both it and the Hereafter.

~Ibn Qayyim: Idatu’l Sabirun wa Dhakiratu’l-Shakireen

 

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O you who wasted his strength without reserve!

 

 

Al Imaam Ibn Qayyim al Jawziyyah said

O you who wasted his strength without reserve! And transgressed in his illness without a shield!  And who has no patience to repent! Do not deny the approach of destruction, for illness will cause corruption! If you were to follow the divine remedy so as to cure yourself, by having a shield from vain desires and lusts you would have found salvation! Unfortunately, lust blinded your insight, to the extent that you think salvation means to abandon the promise of Allaah in return for vain desires! What blind insight you have! It makes you impatient for one hour, then you bare disgrace forever! You travel seeking this worldly life despite its transient nature and you neglect to prepare for your journey to the hereafter despite its eternity!

If you find a man, who is buying something worthless in return for something precious, and is selling something priceless in return for something of no value, verily he is a fool”

• Al fawaaid (Eng trans pg. 104)

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Ikhlaas, Islaam and Emaan…

 

Ibn Qayyim:
Ikhlaas is the way to salvation, Islaam is the ship to safety and Emaan is the seal of security.

(Miftaah Darus Sa’adah 1/74)

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Do not think…

By Allaah! The enemy did not wrong you except after the Lord abandoned you, so do not think that shaytaan overpowers you, it is just the Maintainer (i.e. Allaah) who has forsaken you.

 

• Al Fawaaid (Eng trans pg.108)

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Beware of your soul!

Imaam Ibn Qayyim al Jawziyyah said:

Beware of your soul, for no misfortune has befallen you except because of it, so do not ever be reconciled with it. By Allaah! Its honour is derived from its submission (to Allaah),  its dignity is derived from its subservience, its reform is derived from its breakdown,  its comfort is derived from its harship, its security is derived from its fear (of Allaah), and its pleasure is derived from its sorrow.

 

• Al Fawaa’id (Eng trans. pg. 108)

 

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