Comprehensive advice of a beloved father to a beloved son

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Imam Ibn Muflih, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

Abdullāh, the son of Imam Ahmad, once said to his father: “O my dear father! Give me some advice”. He replied: “O my dear son! Make an intention to do good, for indeed you will not cease to be upon good as long as you intend good”.

This is great advice- easy for the one who is asked, easy to understand and easy to put into practice by the questioner. The doer of it is rewarded constantly- continuous and ongoing because of its lasting and continuous nature. It applies to all inward acts of the heart that are required by the Shariah, whether related to (one’s dealing with) the Creator or the creation. A person is rewarded for such intentions, and I have not found any scholarly disagreement concerning the reward for them. Shaikh Taqi Ad-Deen, may Allah have mercy upon him, said in his book Kitāb al-Īmān: “Whatever good speech or good deed is intended, then indeed, it is written for a person as one good deed. When it becomes actual speech or action, ten good deeds are recorded for him, up to seven hundred times as much. This is based on the well-known hadith concerning intention”.

Acting upon this advice also necessitates abandoning the actions of the heart that are considered blameworthy by the Shariah, for whoever does them is no longer within Allah’s protection and safeguarding; rather, he may have fallen into something from which evil and punishment are feared. This text demonstrates that a person is held accountable for blameworthy actions of the heart. Similarly, is the statement of Imam Ahmad in the section that comes before the sections on learning the Qur’an and Hadith: “If you would like Allah to continue for you what you love, then persist in doing what He loves”. As for when one neither intends good nor evil, it is far-fetched that a rational person would be completely free of either intention. Then, among good intentions there are some that are obligatory and if abandoned, then without a doubt, one has committed something forbidden.

What a piece of advice this is! How great its impact, and how great its benefit! We ask Allah, The Most High, to grant us and our Muslim brethren the ability to act upon it, grant success in adhering to it, and in all that He loves and is pleased with. Amin. The likes of this (matter) are admonitions (advices) of the Imams of the Muslims—may Allah be pleased with them all. And Allah, Glorified be He, free from all imperfections, knows best.

Al-Aadab Ash-Shar’iyyah 1/159-160. Publisher: Risalah Publishers 1st Edition 1436 [2015]