Advice Against Self-Amazement with One’s Knowledge and Actions
Shaykh Sālih al-Fawzān (hafidahullah):
A person shouldn’t be deceived with what he has from religion, knowledge or acts of worship. Instead, he thanks Allah for His blessings upon him (verbally with the tongue and physically with his limbs by using these blessings in the obedience of Allah), and he acknowledges (with his heart) that this is a favour from Allah bestowed upon him.
Shaykh Fawzān’s Mā Tayassar wa Tahassal min Durūs al-Qurān fī Hizb al-Mufassal Vol.1 pg.24
O, would that I knew! By way of which intellect should the [evidences in the] Qur’aan and Sunnah be determined? Is it that whenever a man who can argue better than another man comes to us we take his statement and abandon the Qur’aan and the Sunnah because of him? [i.e. abandon what is already established by way of sound and unambiguous proofs and take the statement of that person]
The shaytān will attempt to divert you from Allāh’s religion in many different ways, and if he fails with one method, he will continue with a different method, as can be seen by the speech of the Imām ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullāh):
First Trap:
Evil of disbelief, polytheism and enmity to Allāh and His Messenger.
And if he is unable to get you to fall into this trap he goes to the next:
Second Trap:
Evil of Innovation and opposing the Messenger’s Sunnah. And this is a doorway to disbelief and polytheism.
Third Trap:
Evil of Major Sins, with all their various types.
Fourth Trap:
Evil of Minor Sins, which if gathered together it’s possible they will be the cause for a persons destruction.
Fifth Trap:
Evil of Busying Oneself with Permissible Affairs, for which there is no reward and no punishment associated with; however the consequences of this trap is losing out on potential reward by utilising energy and time with affairs that have no reward.
Sixth Trap:
Evil of Busying Oneself with actions of good (المفضول), however by way of performing them, actions which are of greater virtue and reward are not performed (الفاضل).
Finally if the shaytān fails in the aforementioned levels he and his supporters from jinn and mankind don’t cease to attempt to divert you and misguide you from Allāh’s religion, not leaving you, even whilst you are on your death bed.
Summarised & Paraphrased from Badā’i at-Tafsīr al-Jāmi’ li mā Fassarahu al-Imām ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Vol.3 pgs. 452-452
NB: The Shaytān tries to seduce, deceive and trap mankind one level at a time, starting with the most severe and working down. Seek refuge from the accursed Shaytān and be ardent upon the remembrance of Allāh and recitation of legislated supplications.
The people said to Jundub [radiyallaahu-anhu], “Advise us.” He said: “The first thing of the human body to putrefy is the abdomen, so he who can eat nothing but good food [halaal and earned lawfully] should do so, and he who does as much as he can that nothing intervenes between him and paradise by not shedding even a handful of blood [i.e. unlawful killing], should do so.”
In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy
Shaikh Muhammad Baazmool [may Allaah preserve him] said:
An [upright] scholar has precise understanding of the Qur’aan, the Sunnah and the various sciences related to the religion. He has knowledge and wisdom related to nurturing and teaching others, and he has experience. He has [good] awareness of the different circumstances of the people, their daily pursuits and general affairs, which is not found in books. And if a person wanted to acquaint himself with all these affairs, he would need a long time [or many years] to do so; but the scholar came across these affairs during his lifetime- from the very beginning of his path in pursuit of knowledge; so how can all of this be merely acquired by [reading] books?!
Source: [في قلب الحدث مقالات متنوعة – pages 48-49 Abridged and slightly paraphrased]
In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy
Shaikh Muhammad Baazmool [may Allaah preserve him] said:
The scholar possesses knowledge and precise understanding to aid him derive [sound] ruling [from the texts of the Sharee’ah]. So, when a Naazilah [i.e. an affair related to public safety or fear] occurs, he is able to quickly derive a ruling, teach the people, disseminate the ruling and explain the Sharee’ah ruling related to that [particular] Naazilah. The ability [to do this] is not acquired by merely reading books when a Naazilah occurs, without the oral skills, knowledge and prolonged experience possessed by the scholars.
Source: في قلب الحدث مقالات متنوعة – pages 48. Abridged and slightly paraphrased
Everytime a person ponders upon this Magnificent Qurān and is reminded by way of that which is in it [i.e. its commandments, prohibitions, admonitions etc], then indeed he receives blessing in his life, his deeds, his certainty and in all his affairs.
At-Ta’līq ‘alā al-Qawā’id al-Hisān by Shaykh Uthaymīn Pg. 16
إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ Except him who brings to Allāh a clean heart [clean from Shirk (polytheism) and Nifāq (hypocrisy)]. Ash-Shu’ara:89
Shaykh Rabī ibn Hādi Al-Madkhalī (hafidahullāh):
Ponder, is your heart sound?
What is the sound heart?
The sound heart is that which fights Shirk and rejects falsehood, it accepts the truth and refutes falsehood with all its might, this is the sound heart. So, if you notice that you accept the truth from whoever brings it to you (you accept the truth; the truth guides you and your goal is the truth) then by Allāh your heart and intellect is sound.
What is the sick heart?
And, if you realise that you reject the truth when it comes to you from a certain direction, and you accept falsehood when it comes from another direction and you behave as if it is the truth; then know that your heart is sick.
Reflect on the rapid passing of the nights and days, indeed this is your life (passing you by). These (night and days) are the deposit boxes of your actions. On the day of resurrection these boxes will be opened. The believer will find in his boxes, honour and nobility, whilst the negligent find in their boxes, humiliation and degradation.
Therefore, fill these boxes with the taqwa of Allah (subhānahu) and righteous actions before (these boxes) are closed due to the end of your life.
