In the Name of
Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful.
By Ibn Al-Qayyim Jawziyya
(r.a.)
There are two kinds of
meeting between friends:
The first is a meeting based on
sociability and spending time, in which are more disadvantages than advantage,
the least of which is corruption of the heart, and wasting time.
The Second kind is a meeting
for the sake of supporting one another, and recommending one another to the
truth and to patience. This is the best kind, yet there are still three
disadvantages therein,
1. Flattering each other.
2. Being excessively talkative.
3. That such
meetings become a habit or routine and they fail to
achieve their aims.
Enjoying health, this
worldly life, status, a wife or children, then surely those feelings are
temporary and will eventually dissipate.
There are three kinds of passive feelings, which affect the heart and they
are either related to the past, which causes sorrow, or related to the future
so as to cause grief, of finally related to the present so as to cause
distress.
If the heart is not
pure or honorable enough, and distance from every evil and malice, then it is
unworthy to love, know and aspire to Allah. On the contrary, the lowest
description of man’s heart is that he loves and aspires to this worldly life
instead to Allah, the Almighty.
When man’s love, knowledge and aspiration is directed in this worldly way,
the heart becomes narrow and gloomy as it is distant from the source of its
revival and life.
Subsequently, the hearts of man
can be divided into two kinds, the first of which is the heart of those, who incline to the Beneficent, which is the source
of brightness, life, happiness, pleasure, delight and blessings.
The second one is the throne of the devil where narrowness, darkness, death, sorrow, distress and grief are settled therein. This heart
is obsessed by sorrow for the past, and grief and distress for the present.
In order for a place to contain something, it must be free from whatever
contradicts it. This principle applies to mankind and all creation as well as
to belief and desires. So, if the hearts is obsessed by belief in falsehood,
there will be no place for truth.
Accordingly, if the tongue is involved in trivial discourse, one shall be
incapable of useful speech, unless falsehood is abandoned.Hence, if the body is busy doing wrong actions, then acts of worship will
be inapplicable unless these contradictory actions are abandoned.
Stand firm against
evil thoughts, for if you fail to do so, they will become ideas, if you do not,
they will become desires, so fight against them. If you do not, they will
become a form of determination and intention, if you do not resist, they will
become actions, and if you do not follow them up with their opposite, they will
become habits that will be hard to quit.
He, who did not make use of his eye, did not make use of his ear.
The servant has a veil between him and Allah and another one between him
and people. Whoever tore this veil between him and Allah, Allah will tear the
veil between him and people.
The servant has a Lord that he will stand in front of and a house that he
will live in, so he must seek the pleasure of Allah before meeting Him and he
should furnish his house before moving into it.
Loosing time is harder
than death, as loosing time keeps you away from Allah and the Hereafter, while
death keeps you away from worldly life and people.
The whole world from
its beginning until its end is not worth an hour of sadness, so what about the
sadness of whole life.
What we love today will catch up with what we hate tomorrow, and what we
hate today will catch up with what we love tomorrow.
The most precious reward during life is to busy yourself with most
suitable and useful matters in their exact and suitable time.
How can he be rational
who sells Paradise and what is in it, for one hour of passing pleasure?
The pious man will
leave this worldly life while he did not obtain satisfaction in two matters:
crying for himself and praising Allah.
If you are afraid of any creature, you will run away from it. When you are
afraid of Allah, you will love Him and seek to be close to Him.
If knowledge is useful without actions, Allah, the Exalted would never
have dispraised the people of the book, and if actions were useful without
devotions, He would never have have dispraised the hypocrite.
Piety has Three Levels
1. Protecting the
heart and limbs against sin and forbidden actions.
2. Protecting them
against undesirable matters.
3. Protecting against
curiosity and whatever is not of one’s concern.
The first will grant life to the servant, the second will grant his health
and power, and the third will grant him happiness and joy.
The sea of pleasures may drown its owner and the swimmer fears to open his
eyes under water.
Passing days are like dreams, the coming ones are wishes, and the time
separating them is wasted.
Buy for yourself (through doing good deeds) while there is still a market
and you have the ability to buy.
If you do not work hard and face difficulties along your way in seeking
glory, you will never taste honor and relief when you attain victory.
It was said to one of the worshipers: You are tiring yourself so much! He
said: I want to achieve comfort from it.
The human being was honored with blessings of faith and good health, but
he misused them, so they were justly taken away from him.
The truth will only be shown to perceptive people who will use the light
of their minds to see the consequences of the matters they face.
The pleasures of life
are similar to brides who are dressing for those who will prefer and choose;
them or the brides (rewards) of the Hereafter, and whoever knows the
significant difference between the two, will choose the best (the Hereafter).
Afflictions are but trials by which the faithful are distinguished from
the unfaithful, and if you were to succeed therein, they would be turned to
supporters by which you could attain your objective.
No one can indulge in unlawfulness except for two reasons, the first of
which is failing to trust in Allah, despite the fact that if one obeys Him, he
will surely be granted the best of lawful gains.
The second reason is
knowing that whoever abandons anything for the sake of Allah, surely He will
grant him something better than what he has abandon.
Unfortunately, his vain desires surpass his patience and his inclination
overpowers his mind, The first one has poor knowledge, and the second one has
poor insight.
How can one feel secure, who has an unmerciful wife, an unforgiving son, a
distrusting neighbor, a friend who gives no advice, a partner who misjudges
him, an enemy whose hostility never ceases, a soul that is inclined to evil, an
adorned world, vain desires, influential lusts, furious anger, the deception of
Satan, and controlling weakness? If Allah rescued and guided him, all those
problems would be under control, and if Allah deserted and abandoned him,
leaving him on his own, all these distresses would cause his destruction.
He who tastes the
pleasure of good health, surely the bitterness of patience will become easy for
him.
The aim has priority in estimation, it is the last in existence, it is the
principle according to the mind, and it is the end of the journey.
Source : Al-Fawa’id A Collection Of Wise Sayings Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim Jawziyya (r.a.)
