Ummah Central


Monday, 26 April 2010

Ten useless time waster.....

1. Knowledge that is not acted on

2. The deed that has neither sincerity nor is based on following the righteous examples of others


3. Money that is hoarded, as the owner neither enjoys it during this life nor obtains any reward for it in the Hereafter


4. The heart that is empty of love and longing for Allah, and of seeking closeness to Him


5. A body that does not obey and serve Allah


6. Loving Allah without following His orders or seeking His pleasure


7. Time that is not spent in expiating sins or seizing opportunities to do good


8. A mind that thinks about useless matters


9. Serving those who do not bring you close to Allah, nor benefit you in your life


10. Hoping and fearing whoever is under the authority of Allah and in His hand; while he cannot bring any benefit or harm to himself, nor death, nor life; nor can he resurrect himself.


However the greater of these matters are wasting the heart and wasting time. Wasting the heart is done by preferring this worldly life over the Hereafter, and wasting time is done by having incessant hope. Destruction occurs by following one’s desires and having incessant hope, while all goodness is found in following the right path and preparing oneself to meet Allah.


How strange it is that when a servant of Allah has a [worldly] problem, he seeks help of Allah, but he never asks Allah to cure his heart before it dies of ignorance, neglect, fulfilling one’s desires and being involved in innovations. Indeed, when the heart dies, he will never feel the significance or impact of his sins.

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ عِلْماً نَافِعاً، وَرِزْقاً طَيِّباً، وَعَمَلاً مُتَقَبَّلاً

Allaahumma 'innee 'as'aluka 'ilman naafi'an, wa rizqan tayyiban, wa 'amalan mutaqabbalan.


O Allah, I ask You for knowledge that is of benefit , a good provision , and deeds that will be accepted.


( to be recited in Arabic in the morning)
Ibn As-Sunni, no. 54, Ibn Majah no. 925. Its chain of transmission is good (Hasan), Ibn Al-Qayyim 2/375


Great Pearls of Wisdom

Great Pearls of Wisdom
• Beware of the one who is an enemy to the people of the Our'an and Sunnah, and do not let them infect you with enmity or you will be the loser.
• Beware of two enemies, which were the cause of the doom of many creatures: he who keeps away from Allah and acts on his suspicions, and he who is fascinated by this worldly life and the power he has obtained.
• Whoever was granted some kind of special power and readiness, will find his pleasure in using it in this worldly life. Whoever was granted the power to have sexual intercourse, will find his pleasure in utilizing this power, whoever was granted the power to get angry, will find pleasure in using his anger to get what he wants, whoever was granted the power of eating and drinking, will find pleasure in using his power, whoever was granted the power to gain knowledge, will find pleasure in using this power, and whoever was granted the power to love Allah and turn to Him, he will find his pleasure in using this power to gain closeness to Allah .
. Pleasures other than those will be less significant and rare.

Al Fawaid

Lessons and Warnings by ibn Qayyim

Lessons and Warnings
• 0 You unarmed, having no good deeds in your account with Allah, beware of the sight of a pious man for he can see your defects from behind a veil. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Beware of the insight of a believer. ,
• Glory be to Allah: the soul has the pride of Satan, the envy of Cain, the insolence and impiety of 'Ad, the tyranny of ThamOd, the boldness of Nimrod, the tendency to attack violently like Fir'awn (Pharaoh), the injustice of Oarun, the meanness of Haman, the fancy of Bil'arrr", the trickery of the people of the Sabbathbreakers, the mutiny of AI-Walld, and the ignorance of Abu Jahl. The soul of man also took some of the characteristics of the animals such as the greediness of the crow, the gluttony of a dog, the folly of a peacock, the lowness of a scarab, the disobedience of a lizard, the spite of a camel, the impulsive jumping of a cheetah, the power of a lion, the debauchery of a mouse, the malice of a snake, the frivolity of a monkey, the desire to collect and store like an ant, the cunning of a fox, the lightness of a butterfly, and the laziness of a hyena. But through taming and fighting this soul, all these traits will be removed, but whoever submits to these follies, will become their servant and his good self will not be bought by Allah, as Allah says,
, "Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives." (At-Tawbah, 9: 111)
Allah will never purchase any good (deed) that has not been refined by faith for without it, the good deed cannot enter the world of the pious worshippers of Allah. Hand your good deeds over to the buyer (Allah) before they are ruined through doing bad deeds. In this case the buyer will not accept them. The buyer knew what defects were present in this good deed before buying it, so hand it to Him and be assured that He will never return it.
• The value of the good person is estimated according to the buyer (Allah), and the price that will be paid for it (Paradise) is also allotted by Him. If the buyer is Great, then the price is significant, and whatever is sold will be considered precious.
• 0 you who evaluate matters, do you know the value of yourself? The universe was created for your sake.
• 0 you who were fed the milk of piety and changed by the will of Allah, all things are like a tree while you are the fruit; a picture and you are the meaning; a shell and you are the pearl, and buttermilk and you are the butter.
• Allah says to His servant, "Whenever you want Me, ask Me to come. Send for Me from yourself and you will find Me near you and do not ask Me to come through another servant, as I am more near to you than the other. "
• If you knew the true value of yourself, you will never allow yourself to be humiliated by committing sins. Satan refused to bow to you when it refused to bow to your father Adam, so how come you reconciled with it and left us? If there is any love in your heart, its effect would appear on your body.
• If the heart is fed by love, greed for pleasure would disappear.
• If your love is true, you would feel an aversion for anything that does not remind you of the one you love.
How odd! Whoever claims to love and needs someone to remind him of the lover, his love is not complete. The least thing that shows your love is that you never forget your lover.
• If a lover traveled to meet his lover, his solders will ride with him. Love will be the vanguard, hope will accompany them, longing will drive them, and fear will gather them on the road to the lover. When he will be about to reach the place of his lover, they will go together. So when he comes to the lover, gifts and rewards will be given to him from every direction in order to be examined whether he will dwell in tranquility and this will be his destiny or he will search for whoever bestowed them upon him.
• Their hearts were filled with good deeds and pure feelings for Allah, and when the time of early dawn came, these deeds were performed and by dawn they reached Allah.
• They walked seriously through this worldly life facing all kinds of pleasures and lusts. A little time passed and they returned from their travel and reached the Hereafter where they found reward and relief and they entered this world of the Hereafter and they were rewarded forever.
• People emptied their hearts from whatever distracted them, and replaced such things with love and appointed eyes to guard and care for them.
• Love is never found except in an empty and honest place
Know the value of what was lost and cry like someone, who knows the value of what has passed him by.
• If the human knew the pleasure of meeting Allah and being near Him, he would feel grief for being distant from Him.
• If you taste the pleasure of the Hereafter, your drunken heart would sober up.
• Whoever feels that the path of performing good deeds is long; his walk along that path will weaken.
• Whoever is true to his intention, will be granted resolution.
• The human being is always discontent; if August comes,he will long for March.
• All hard work is easy for those who believe in Allah, when they know that Allah hears them.
• Whoever tastes the pleasures of the Hereafter, it would be easy for him to leave this worldly life.
• 0 you who are patient! Bear a little more, just a little more remains.
• If one remembers the sweetness of meeting Allah, the difficulty of fighting in His cause will be made easy for him.
• You will know where your house is in the Hereafter, so prepare yourself for it and you will be happy there.The best intention is that of he who is preparing to meet his Lord.
• Prepare yourself with good deeds before going to the Hereafter and then you will obtain your reward there. Allah says, which means, "And send (good deeds, or ask Allah to bestow upon you pious offspring) before you for your ownselves." (AI-Baqarah, 2:223)
• Paradise will be content if you performed obligatory acts of worship, Hellfire will be kept away from you if you avoid sins, and love cannot be satisfied with less than the sacrifice of your soul.
• The time in which you are obedient to Allah and you are longing for Him is the sweetest time.
• When people handed their souls over to the owner of Islamic law (Allah), He teaches them how to reach agreement in disputes so they learned to agree and obey.

Al fawaid

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

"And it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you" by Ibn Qayyim

"And it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you" by Ibn Qayyim
Allah, the Almighty says,"And it may be that you dislike a thing which isgood for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allahknows but you do not know." (AI-Baqarah, 2:216)In this Our'anic Verse, there are several judgments, meanings and benefits for the servant. If the servant knows that misfortune can produce a desirable thing, and that the desirable thing can produce a misfortune, he would not feel secure against the harm that can come from delight, and he would not lose hope of delight to come from harm, for he does not know the outcomes of things. Verily, it is Allah Who knows about that which the servant does not know, and in this context the following issues must be noted: Nothing is more beneficial for him than abiding by the judgments of Allah, even if it is difficult for him at the beginning, because all its outcomes are good, delightful, and pleasurable. In the same way, nothing is more harmful for him than committing what is forbidden, even if he loves it. All its outcomes are pain, grief, evil and misfortune. Furthermore, the mind bears little pain in comparison to the great pleasure and abundant good that it will experience, andlikewise man is expected to avoid little in exchange for great rewards and preventing great pain and long term evil. In this way, we can see that the perception of the ignorant does not go beyond the basics of life; his perception does not reach the goals, but the intelligent person always keeps his eye on the goals behind his actions in life. The intelligent person perceives forbidden things like delicious food, which contain fatal poison. Whenever its pleasure arouses his interest, the reality of the poison would push him away from it. Also, he perceives the orders of Allah as bitter medicine that leads to good health and recovery. Whenever its bitterness urges him not to take it, the reality of its usefulness leads him to comply. This requires knowledge that is more than the rudiments of the religion in order to understand the essential goals. It also requires strong patience to adjust oneself to it, in order to bear the difficulties that will be encountered for the sake of the goal. So if he losescertainty and patience, it would be difficult to achieve the goal, and on the other hand if his certainty and patience is strong, every difficulty would be rendered easy for him for the sake of permanent good and eternal pleasure. There are other meanings of this verse. It also requires the servant to leave all his affairs in the Hands of the One Who knows the outcomes of all things, and to be pleased with whatever He chooses for him. Also, the meanings of the verse include the fact that he should not propose or choose for his Lord, and should not ask Him for that which he has no knowledge of, for his harm and ruin may be in it and yet he does not know. He should simply ask his Lord to choose good for him and make him pleased with His choice, for that indeed would be the best ending. Also when he leaves all his affairs to his Lord, and is satisfied with His choice for him, Allah will support him by providing him with ability, determination and patience. He, the Almighty would also keep him away from the evil that the servant would have encountered if he had chosen for himself. He would show him some of the positive outcomes of His Choice, which he would not have attained if he had chosen for himself. Such thinking relieves him of the burdens of trying to choose for himself as Allah frees his heart from estimations and arrangements, which fluctuate in difficulty. And in spite of this, the servant would always be surrounded by what was initially preordained for him. If he is pleased with the Choice of Allah, the preordainment would grant him what is praiseworthy, worthy of thanks and worthy of Allah's Mercy. Otherwise, the preordainment would incur on him all that is dispraised andunworthy of Allah's Mercy, because it was his own choice. When he truly leaves his affairs to Allah and truly becomes pleased with that, he would be surrounded by kindness and care in the preordainment, and he would be under the care and kindness of Allah. His Kindness protects him from that which he fears and His Care makes it easy for him to bear that which He preordained. When the preordainment is implemented upon the servant, the greatest cause of its implementation would be his trying to avoid it. Therefore, there is nothing more beneficial for him than submission.
Al Fawaid p 231

Tuesday, 13 April 2010

Perfect Wisdom by ibn Qayyim

Perfect Wisdom
• 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 the worldly life and your people.
• The whole world from its beginning until its end is not
worth an hour of sadness, so what about the sadness of a 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 the 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 devotion, He would never have dispraised the hypocrites.
• 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.

Al Fawaid p 54

Friday, 9 April 2010

The signs of Allaah's love for a person by Ibn-Qayim

The signs of Allaah's love for a person by Ibn-Qayim


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The signs of Allaah's love for a person are as follows :1. When Allah loves someone he puts them under trials ( the more righteous they are, the harder the trials) in order to purify them.2. 2. When Allaah loves someone, he gives them the "understanding" of the religion of islaam.3. Whomever Allaah loves, he deviates them and their heart from disobedience and sins..Abu Huraira Radhiallahu anhu narrated tha Allah's Messenger Salallahu alaihi wa Salam said that Allah said:I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper of mineAnd the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My worshipper keeps on coming closes to Me through perfoming Nawafil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is (obligatory) till I love him, When i love him I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hands with which he grips, and his legs with which he walks; and if he ask Me, I will give him,and if he ask My Protection (Refuge), I will Protect him. Narrated by Al-Bukhari.In a Hadith Qudsi (Sacred Hadith), the Prophet (SAWS) mentioned that Allah (SWT) said,Myself, Mankind and Jinn are in a great serious state. I create them, then they worship other gods that they make for themselves; I bless them with my bounties, then they thank someone else for what I sent them; My Mercy descends to them while their evil deeds ascend to Me; I endear them with my gifts even though I have no need to any of them while they alienate themselves from Me with their sins even though they are desperate for my help. Whoever returns to Me, I accept him no matter how far he is; and whoever turns away from Me, I approach him and call on him. Whoever leaves a sin for my sake, I reward him with many gifts and whoever seeks to please Me, I seek to please him. Whoever acknowledges My Will and Power in whatever he does, I make the iron bend for his sake.My dear people are those who are with Me.Whoever thanks Me, I grant him more blessings; whoever obeys Me, I raise him and endear him more. Whoever disobeys Me, I keep the doors of My Mercy open for him; if he returns to Me, I bestow him with My Love since I love those who repent and purify themselves for My Sake. If he does not repent, I still treat him by putting them in hardship to purify him. Whoever favors Me over others, I favor them over others. I reward every single good deed ten times over or seven hundred times over to countless times over.I count every single bad deed as one unless the person repents and ask for My Forgiveness in which case I forgive even that one. I take into account any little good deed and I forgive even major sins. My Mercy supersedes My Anger; My Tolerance supersedes My Blame;My Forgiveness supersedes My Punishment as I am more merciful with My slaves than a mother with her child.From Madarij Al-Salikeen by Ibn-Qayem Al-jawzyia

The Wisdom of Ibn Mas'ud

The Wisdom of Ibn Mas'ud
One of the sayings of Ibn Mas'Od (may Allah be pleased with him) was that a man said in his presence, "I do not like to be from among the companions of the right hand, but I would liketo be from among those who are nearest to Allah." 'Abdullah said, "But there is a servant here, who wishes that when he dies he will not be resurrected again (meaning himself)."He went out one day, and some people followed him, so he asked them, "Do you need anything?" They said, "No, but we want to walk with you (as your followers)." He said, "Go back;you are humiliating yourselves and may do so to me."And he said, "If you knew about me what I knew about myself,you would pour dust upon my head." And he said, "I preferred the two unpleasant matters: death and poverty; by Allah they are in reality wealth and life, and I do not care which of them I may be afflicted with, as I will seek Allah in each of them; if it is wealth, it means I am going to meet Allah, and if it is poverty, I will be patient."And he said, "As you walk in the night and day your age decreases and your deeds are recorded, and death will come suddenly. Whoever sows good deeds, he will harvest goodness, and whoever sows evil deeds, he will harvestregret. Everyone will reap what he sows; he will neither precede a slow man according to his fortune nor catch up with an eager man unless it is destined for him.
• Whoever does good, must know that it is Allah, who allowed him to do so, and whoever is protected from evil, must know that it is Allah, who protected him.• Pious people are masters, jurists are leaders, and accompanying them will increase your good.• They are two: guidance and speech. The best speech is the words of Allah and the best guidance is that of Muhammad (peace be upon him). The worst matter of all is innovations and every innovation is a novelty, so do not be disturbed by hopes and do not waste time.Whatever is coming is near at hand and whatever is far will not come. Whoever is unhappy was destined to be so, when he was in his mother's womb and the happy servant is the one who takes the examples of others.Killing a Muslim is disbelief, abusing him is an evil doing and the Muslim is not allowed to abandon his brother for more than three days; he must greet him when he meets him, answer him when he calls him,and visit him when he is ill. The most evil account is that of lying. Lying contains no good, neither in cases of seriousness nor joking nor when a man promises his son something and does not fulfill it. Falsehood leads towickedness and evil doing, and wickedness leads to the Hellfire and Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. It would be said to thetruthful person that he was truthful and pious, and it would be said to the lying person that he was lying and wicked. Muhammad (peace be upon him) said to us,"And a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person and a man may keep on telling lies until he is written before Allah as a liar. II
The most truthful speech is the Book of Allah, the most correct word is the word of piety, the best religion is that of Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him), the best Sunnah is the sunnah of Muhammad (peace be upon him), the best guidance is the guidance of the Prophets,the most honorable talk is remembering Allah, the best account is the Our'an, the best matters are its consequences, and the worst matter is innovation.Whatever is little but sufficient is better than what is a lot but distracting. A soul that you save from evil is better than an emirate that you cannot control. The worst excuse is when it is the time of death and the worst regret is on the Day of Resurrection. The worst error is that which is done after guidance. The best wealth is the wealth of the soul. The best provision is piety. The best content of the heart is certainty, and doubt is disbelief. The worst blindness is blindness of the heart. Wine is a collection of evil, and unrighteous women are the traps of Satan. Adolescence is a kind of insanity, and wailing is a deed from the pre-Islamic era.• Among people are those who attend Friday prayer and hardly pay attention to it and remember Allah with his tongue but not with his heart. The gravest sin is lying, and whoever pardons people Allah will pardon him.Whoever restrains his anger, Allah will reward him, and whoever forgives, Allah will forgive him. Whoever is patient during disasters, Allah will recompense him. The worst of profits is usury, and the worst kind of eating is devouring an orphan's property. Whatever satisfies thesoul, is enough for you. The destiny of each of you is the grave. Matters depend upon their consequences.The most honorable way of dying is the death of amartyr. Whoever is proud, Allah will humiliate him, and whoever disobeys Allah, will obey Satan.
People who have memorized the Our'an should beknown by the night when people are sleeping and he is awake, and by the morning when people are not fasting but he is, by his sadness when they are happy, by his crying when they are laughing, by his silence when they are slandering, and by his piety and humility when they are arrogant. He who has memorized the Our'an should be tearful, sad, wise, patient, and calm, he should not be rude, inattentive, loud or cruel.• Whoever assaults others because of his authority, Allah will degrade him. Whoever is humble because of hispiety, Allah will elevate him. Allah has a gathering and Satan has a gathering. The gathering of Allah promises good and believes in right, while the gathering of Satan threatens evil and doubts right. If you see such a gathering seek refuge with Allah.• People have many good sayings, and whoever's words agree with his deeds, he would have been granted goodness, and whoever's sayings contradict his deeds, he is simply scolding himself.• I hate to find a lazy, empty man, who neither works for his worldly living nor for the Hereafter. He whose prayerdid not command him to do right and did not forbid himfrom doing wrong. It will not be of any use to him; it will only increase the distance between him and Allah.• Undoubtedly one should never please people bydispleasing Allah, should not praise anyone for that which Allah had bestowed on you, and never blame anyone for that which Allah did not grant you. The blessings of Allah will not be gained according to someone's desires nor will they be removed because of someone's hatred. Allah in His justice and patience makes the soul happy by being content, and makes sadness and grief when one doubts and is discontent.• As long as you are performing prayer, you are knocking at the door of Allah, and whoever is knocking at the door of Allah, Allah will open it for him.• Man almost forgets the knowledge he has gained because of the sins he has committed.• Do not neglect knowledge and guidance, or the light of night, renewed hearts, and wearing worn clothes. In this way you will be known in the heavens and hidden from the people of the earth.• The hearts of man pass through two phases: activity and inactivity, so seek your hearts while they are in the state of activity and control them in the phase of inactivity.• Knowledge is not being able to narrate several accounts but by being pious.• The disbeliever may have a stronger and healthier body but he has the sickest heart among them, and the believer has the healthiest heart among people but perhaps the weakest body. By Allah, if your hearts are sick and your bodies are healthy, you would be lower than an insect in the sight of Allah.• The servant of Allah will not reach the reality of faith until he reaches its top, and he will not reach its top until poverty becomes preferable to him more than wealth,humility more preferable than honor, and until the one who praises or dispraises him are equal in his sight.Man comes out of his house with his religion and returns with nothing. A person comes to you while he cannot do anything for you nor your soul, either good or bad,and swore by Allah to others that he is good and he flatters you, and he returns and does nothing from what he wanted and Allah is not pleased with him.• If I mocked at a dog, I would be afraid of beingchanged into one.• Sin is whatever the heart is not comfortable with.• In every look, Satan will seduce you.• With happiness comes sadness. Every house that once was filled with joy will be faced with examples and each one of you is a guest and his money is a loan; the guest will travel and the loan will be repaid.• Later in time there will be nations whose best deeds will be reciting among themselves and listening to evil reciters.• If man wanted to be treated justly by his soul, he should visit those whom he would like to be visited by. The rightis heavy but healthy, and evil is light but harmful.• Perhaps one desire causes long term sadness.• There is nothing on earth that badly needs to beimprisoned more than the tongue.• If adultery and usury appeared in a town or village, it is asign of its coming destruction.• Whoever could put his treasure in heaven so that it would neither be eaten by worms nor stolen by thieves; he must do so, as the heart of man is his treasure.• Do not imitate anyone concerning religion; if he believes you, you believe and if he disbelieves you, you will disbelieve. If you must imitate, you should imitate dead people as the living are not protected from seduction.None of you should be weak. They said, "What do you mean by weak?" He said, "He says, 'I am with the people; if they are on the right way I will be on the right way and if they go astray I will go astray. One should adjust himself to adhere to Islam even when people disbelieve."A man said to him, "Teach me words that are complete and useful." He said, "Worship Allah and do not worship any partners with Him, adhere to the Our'an whatever it says, and whoever calls you to the right accept it fromhim even if he is far from you and odious, and whoever calls you to what is wrong reject him even if he is a lover and close to you."• The servant of Allah will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and he would be ordered to render back his trust, and he would say, "0 My Lord! From where?The worldly life has gone." Then this trust would be shaped as it had been during this worldly life but it will be in the bottom of Hellfire, and he would fall down after it, put it on his shoulder, and begin to come up until he thought that he is about to come out, but it would fall again and he would fall after it forever."• Submit your heart in three situations: when listening to the Our'an, during gatherings of remembering Allah, and during times of solitude. If you do not find your heart in these three situations, ask Allah to grant you with aheart, as you do not have one.AI-Junaid said, "I visited a youth, who asked me about repentance and its reality. I answered him and said, 'To put your sin between your eyes (never to forget it) untildeath comes to you', and he said to me, 'No this is not the reality of repentance', so I said to him, 'What is the reality of repentance according to you?' He said, 'To forget your sin.' And he left me and went away.' So I asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) "0 Abu Al Qasim!What is it according to you?' He said, 'It is likewhat the youth said.' He said, 'How is that?' He said, 'If I was in a state of alienation then Allah moved me from this to a state of devotion, then remembering alienation when one is devoted, is alienation."

Al Fawaid page 244

Two Kinds of Jealousy by ibn Qayyim

Two Kinds of Jealousy by ibn Qayyim


Two Kinds of Jealousy
There are two kinds of jealousy: to be jealous for something and to be jealous of something. Being jealous for your lover means that you care for him/her and you do not want anything to come between that person and yourself or to compete with you. The feeling of jealousy for the lover always comes with the feeling of being jealous of whatever is in competition withyou. The first kind of jealousy is praised, as the lover dislikes having partners in their love. This feeling is more likeable in loving the Messenger and the scholars, and even more likeable in loving the one, who most deserves our love, the Exalted! The idea of not wanting to have another compete with him/her intheir love is envy. The desirable form of jealousy on Hisbehalf is when the lover is jealous of his/her love for Him from being turned away to another one. Also, not wanting it to be known by others, thinking that others will spoil it, being jealous that his/her deeds may stem from parts that are not for his/her love, or being jealous because of hypocrisy. As a whole, jealousy requires that his/her condition, deeds, and actions all be for the sake of Allah. To be jealous that his/her time will bewasted in doing something else other than pleasing Allah is the state of the lover. This jealousy comes from the side of the servant and it is being jealous of his/her competitor who hinders and prevents the pleasure of his/her lover, the Exalted. While His lover, the Exalted is jealous for him/her through hating thatthe servant's heart should turn away from loving Him to love other than Him. That is why the jealousy of Allah is when the servant does whatever is forbidden. And out of His jealousy, He forbade shameful sins, illegal sexual intercourse, etc. whether committed openly or secretly. Because all mankind is His and He is jealous for them exactly as a master is jealous for his slaves. Allah is jealous for His servants to love other than Himin case this love will spur them on to commit sins.• The person whose love and reverence for Allah in hisheart prevents him from disobeying Him, Allah willvenerate him in the hearts of creatures so that they willnot humiliate him.• If the roots of knowledge hold onto the heart, the tree of love will grow in it and if it becomes stronger it will bear the fruits of obedience and it will keep on giving its fruit at all times by the Leave of its Lord.• The first ranks among people are those who do as Allah says, which means, "Remember Allah with muchremembrance. And glorify His Praises morning andafternoon [the early morning (Fajir and asr prayers]."(AI-Ahzab, 33:41-42)The middle rank is as Allah says,"He it is Who sends Salat (His blessings)on you, and His angels too (ask Allah to bless andforgive you), that He may bring you out from darkness(of disbelief and polytheism) into light (of Belief andIslamic Monotheism)." (AI-Ahzab, 33:43)The lowest rank is as Allah says, "Their greeting on the Day they shall meet Him will be "Sa/am: Peace (i.e. the angels will say to them: Sa/amu 'A/aikum)!" (AI-Ahzab, 33:44)• The land of nature is wide and accepts whatever isgoing to be planted in it. If you plant a tree of faith andpiety, it will give the sweetness of the Hereafter and ifyou plant a tree of ignorance and desire, it will give bitter fruit.Return to Allah and seek Him in your eye, ear, heart, and tongue and do not forget to seek Him in these four ways.Whoever obeys Him is doing so concerning these four and whoever does not, is also doing so by means of these four.The fortunate one is he who hears, sees, speaks, and attacks while seeking the pleasure of Allah and the miserable one is the one who does so seeking his own pleasure and desires.The example of obedience that grows and increases, is like a seed that you plant, which becomes a tree, then bears fruit,and you ate this fruit and planted their seeds again and whenever the tree bears fruit you eat it and plant its seeds. The exact example can be applied to sins and the way they increase. There is an old proverb and the wise will understand it. It means: the reward for good deeds is that they are followed by other good deeds, and the punishment for bad deeds is that they are followed by other bad deeds.It is not strange that a servant lowers himself before Allah,worships, and does not become bored from serving Him because he needs Him. The strange matter is that Allah shows love to His servant by all means through granting blessings and rewards while He does not need him.

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