The Unavoidable Obstacle

 In ‘Madārij as-Salikīn’ [1/218-222], Ibn al-Qayyim has a section about the obstacles that Satan puts into the path of the one who chooses to live his life for Allāh. He mentions the six commonly known obstacles in the order that they will be thrown into the path of the believer, such that whoever passes through one obstacle is then faced with the next [disbelief, followed by innovation in religion, followed by major sins, followed by minor sins, followed by permissible acts that distract one from acts of obedience, followed by acts of obedience that are of lower reward than others].  

However, he mentions a seventh and final obstacle for the one who passes through the above six successfully:

‘…So, if he successfully passes through these, there remains only one obstacle from which the enemy [Satan] calls him from, and this is an obstacle that he must face. If anyone were to be saved from this obstacle, it would have been the Messengers and Prophets of Allāh, and the noblest of His Creation.

This is the obstacle of Satan unleashing his troops upon the believer with various types of harm: by way of the hand, the tongue, and the heart. This occurs in accordance with the degree of goodness that exists within the believer. So, the higher he is in degree, the more the enemy unleashes his troops and helps them against him, and overwhelms him with his followers and allies in various ways.

There is no way he can overcome this obstacle, because the firmer he is when calling to Allāh and fulfilling His commands, the more the enemy becomes intent upon tempting him with foolish people. So, he has essentially put on his body armour in facing this obstacle, and has taken it upon himself to confront the enemy [Satan] for Allāh’s sake and in His Name, and his worship in doing so is the worship of the best of those who know Allāh…and none are aware of this except those with complete and perfect insight.’
Mādraij as-Saliqīn

How Do You Benefit From the Qur’aan

Ibn Al-Qayyim (rahimahullaah) said in al-Fawaa’id:

Allaah the Exalted said:

Verily, therein is indeed a reminder for him who has a heart or gives ear while he is heedful. (Qaaf 50:37)

When you desire benefit from the Qur’an, then bring your heart together during its recitation, listen heedfully and have the presence of the one who is being addressed and spoken to, since it is a speech from Him, the Sublime, to you, upon the tongue of His Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam).

This is because the best and most complete effect is suspended between the following:

1. That which produces the required effect,

2. A place which receives this effect,

3. The condition which is necessary to receive such an effect and

4. The absence of that which prevents this effect from being obtained.

 

This verse has included all of the above with the most concise and clear of wording, which is most direct in expounding the intended meaning.

His speech: (Verily, therein is indeed a reminder…) is an indication of what has preceded from the beginning of Surah Qaaf to the present and this constitutes that which produces the desired effect.

And His speech: (…for him who has a heart…) this is the place which receives the effect and what is desired by it is: a living heart which understands from Allaah, just as the Exalted has said:

It is but a Reminder and a Manifest, Clear Qur’an, that he (Muhammad) may give warning to him who is alive (i.e. the healthy and live heart of the believer.) ( YaaSeen 36:69-70)

And His speech: (…or who gives ear…) the one who directs his listening and the perceptive faculty of his hearing to what is being said to him, and this is the condition of benefiting and receiving the desired effect from the words (that one hears).

And His speech: (…while he is heedful) meaning his heart is present and witnessing, not absent and unmindful.

Ibn Qutaibah said: “Listen to the Book of Allaah, while your heart and understanding are present, not while you are unmindful and forgetful.”

And this is an indication of that which prevents the desired effect [from the Book of Allaah] from being obtained and that is the forgetfulness and absence of the heart from understanding what is being said to it, looking at it with care and pondering slowly and carefully over it.

So when that which produces the effect and that is the Book of Allaah; a place which receives the effect and that is the heart; the necessary condition, which is paying attention; the absence of that which prevents the effect and that is the hearts occupation and distraction away from the meaning of the speech and its turning way to something else are all present, then the effect will be obtained and realized and that is benefiting from the Qur’an and its remembrance.

Certainly this life has begun travelling away

(Taken from Jâmi’ al-U’lûm wal-Hikam [1] – By: Ibn Rajab)

Ibn Umar (Radhiallahu ‘Anhum) said: Allâh’s Messenger (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wa Sallam) took me by my shoulder and said: “Be in this life as if you were a stranger or a traveller on a path.”

Ibn Umar used to say, “If you reach the evening then do not expect to reach the morning, and if you reach the morning then do not expect to reach the evening. Take from your health before your sickness, and from your life before your death.” – [Reported by al-Bukhârî]

This hadîth is the foundation for limiting one’s hope in this life. So a believer must not take this life as a homeland or permanent residence, his heart being tranquil and resting assured within it. Rather, he must be in it as if he were on a journey, preparing himself to depart. The advice of the Prophets and their followers confirmed this.

Allâh said, narrating upon a believer at the time of Fir’awn that he said: “O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” [Ghafir : 39]

Alî ibn Abi Tâlib used to say, “Certainly this life has begun travelling away, and the hereafter has begun travelling forward, and each has its children. So be from the children of the hereafter, and don’t be from the children of this life. For indeed today there is action with no account, and tomorrow there will be account with no action.”

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The Heart & The Gates Of Satan

 

By: Ibn Qudaamah-al-Maqdisi  

 

The  heart is the most honourable part of the human body, for it is the part that knows Allāh, works for Him, seeks to draw near to Him, and feels the value of His bounties and favours. The other organs are only followers of the heart, which it utilizes as kings utilize their slaves.

Whoever knows his or her heart knows the Lord, yet most people are ignorant of their hearts and souls. Allāh, Most High, comes in between a person and his or her heart, and He is in full control of all hearts. Thus, knowing the heart and its qualities and functions is an integral part of the religion and a basis for those who seek the right way to Almighty Allāh.

Naturally, the heart is prepared to accept guidance, but because of vain desires and wishes, it may reject such guidance. In this way, the heart remains a field of struggle between angels [the soldiers of good] and devils [the soldiers of evil] until it chooses to side with either. Then, the chosen party will settle in the heart, with the heart still having to resist the other party.

The only way to get devils out of the heart is to remember and mention Almighty Allāh, as they cannot stay in a place where Allāh, the Lord of all, is mentioned. In the Qur’ān, Almighty Allāh says,

‘Say, ‘I take refuge with the Lord of humankind, the King of humankind, the God of humankind from the evil of the constantly slinking whisperer, who whispers in the breasts of humankind, of the Jinn and humankind.’ [An-Nas 114, v.1-6]

The Gates

The heart is like a fort, and the Devil is like an enemy who seeks to enter this fort and control it. The best way to protect a fort is to safeguard its gates, and none can safeguard its gates except a person who is well aware of them. By the same token, no one can push Satan away except one who knows the means that he usually uses to penetrate the forts of his victims. Satan’s means of penetration are human’s qualities, which are so many. We are going to mention only some of those methods much used by the soldiers of Satan.

Envy & Covetousness

Once people covet something, their desire puts out the light of their hearts with which they would recognize Satan’s evil means of penetration. Satan finds more support if the covetous person is envious, as this enables Satan to make good in the person’s eyes everything that may help in satisfying his or her desire, no matter how abominable or offensive it may be.

Wrath & Craving

Anger precludes recognition. Once a person is no longer able to recognize things around him or her, it is then most suitable for Satan to attack with his evil insinuations. It is said that when a man becomes heedlessly angry, devils play with him as boys play with a ball.

Eating To One’s Fill

This strengthens one’s desire and distracts from showing obedience to the Creator.

Haste

About it, Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] is reported to have said, ‘Deliberation is from Allāh, and haste is from Satan.’

Love Of Wealth

If inculcated in one’s heart, it ruins it, driving the person to seek wealth through lawful or even unlawful means and making such a person stingy and very afraid of poverty. A person like this in most cases holds the due rights of others unjustly.

Fanaticism

Some people may fanatically follow or support certain doctrines or views without even acting according to the good requirements entailed therein. Moreover, they may be interested only in thinking about Allāh’s existence and attributes as well as other matters that are beyond their comprehension; thus they may come to doubt the very foundations of the religion they vehemently defend.

Thinking Ill Of Others

When a Muslim thinks ill of others, he or she may be led to despise, backbite, or spread evil things about them. He or she may, thus, believe that he or she is better than them.

Then the caller to the way of good within him or her wages a counterattack, reminding that only those who forget the Hereafter will ultimately go to ruin. A believer, on the contrary, should never think ill of others; rather, he or she should seek excuses for them. That is the way of believers. The hypocrite, on the other hand, always tries to detect defects and flaws in others. Anyway, a Muslim should keep away from suspicious situations so that others may not think ill of him or her.

These are some of the means used by Satan to lead humans to the way of evil. The remedy of these flaws is simply to block the ways leading to them and to purify the heart from all dispraised qualities.

When someone’s heart is void of these evils, which represent the main instrumentality of Satan against human beings, nothing significant remains to support Satan against them. Satan is simply driven away just by mentioning the name of Almighty Allāh. Adversely, if a person whose heart is controlled by vain desires and lusts remembers Allah, his or her remembrance does not settle in his or her heart, for Satan has already established himself therein.

The Solution

A person may experience the truth of this by observing his or her own Prayer, during which Satan keeps reminding him or her of worldly matters.

Out of Allah’s mercy, this can be overcome; if a person, out of fear from the Creator, refrains from doing an evil thing that he or she has intended to do, it is written down for him or her as one good deed. But, if one has ultimately made up one’s mind to do a certain evil deed, it is recorded against one as a sin.

The Prophet [PBUH} is reported to have said, ‘When two Muslims fight [meet] each other with their swords, both the murderer as well as the murdered will go to the Hell.’ He was then asked, ‘O Allah’s Messenger! We understand why the murderer would go to Hell, but what about the murdered one?’ The Prophet [PBUH] replied, ‘He surely had the intention to kill his companion.’ [Al-Bukharī]

Determination and keenness are condemned here because people’s actions are judged according to their intentions; is it not that pride, hypocrisy, and ostentation are inner matters?

It was reported in a hadith that the Prophet [PBUH] used to say, ‘O You Who [Allah] turns hearts, keep our hearts adherent to Your religion.’

The Prophet [PBUH] is also reported to have said, ‘The heart is like a feather that the wind turns over in a desert.’

Types Of Hearts

As for their compliance with good and evil, the heart is of three types:

First] – A heart that is filled with consciousness of Almighty Allāh, purified with obedience to Him, and void of bad morals. Such a heart is apt to receive divine guidance.

Second] – A forsaken heart that is charged with vain desires and stained with evils and bad morals. It is quite reasonable that such a heart is ready to be controlled by Satan who transforms it into a blinded heart that is unable to recognize the truth or be affected by admonition.

Third] – A heart that is being tempted by evil thoughts and desires, but at the same time faith-oriented thoughts and wishes are calling it to the way of good.

Satan may wage an attack against a person’s mind to seduce and strengthen the vain desires within him or her, giving examples of people and, more significantly, scholars of that kind who are enjoying such desires freely. In this way, that person readily inclines to the Satanic temptations.

Then the caller to the way of good within him or her wages a counterattack, reminding that only those who forget the hereafter will ultimately go to ruin. Furthermore, it advises him or her not to be swayed by the heedlessness of other people.

This back-and-forth action continues until this person inclines to the more persistently offered thing, whether advice or admonition.

Thus, the heart swings between the soldier of good and that of evil, until it is completely attached to one side.

(Taken with modifications from the author’s book Mukhtasar Minhaj Al-Qasidin)

Prophet Yusuf Finds Comfort in Allah

(Taken from Ibn Kathir’s “Stories of the Prophets”)

“In the dark well Yusuf managed to find a stone ledge to hold onto. Around him was total darkness and an eerie silence. Fearful thoughts entered his mind: what would happen to him?  Where would he find food? Why had his own brothers turned against him? Would his father know of his plight? His father’s smile flashed before him recalling the love and affection he had always shown him. Yusuf began to pray earnestly, pleading to Allah for salvation. Gradually his fear began to subside. His Creator was testing the young man with a great misfortune in order to infuse in him a spirit of patience and courage. Yusuf, surrended himself to the will of his Lord.”

Asking of the Creation

“Allah loves to be asked, to be hoped in and desired at times of need, to be supplicated frequently and resolutely.  He is able to grant all of mankind all their requests without His dominion decreasing in the slightest. 

Created beings on the other are the exact opposite, they dislike being asked due to their own inability, need and poverty.  This is why Wahb bin Munabbih said to one who would frequent the door of the ruler, “Woe to you!  You run to the one who would shut his door in your face, display his poverty to you and conceal his riches and you leave One who opens His door to you in the middle of the night and the middle of the day, who displays His richness and proclaims, “invoke Me and I will respond”.  Tawus said to Ata, ‘Beware of asking your needs to be met by one who would close his door in your face, instead it is upon you to go to the One whose is open until the Day of Judgment, One who has ordered you to ask Him and promised you that He would respond”.

(Taken from “The Spiritual Cure” – A Summary of Numerous Classical Commentaries of the Quran – prepared and translated by Abu Rumaysah)

“…but You forgave us…”

“Oh Allah, guide us by Your favor among those whom You have guided; and forgive us among those whom You have forgiven; … Our Lord, You created us in the best of forms; and You granted us sustenance from Your bounty; and You taught us and gave us guidance; and then we disobeyed You openly, but You forgave us; and we committed sins, but You availed us from them; Your generosity has been descending upon us, yet we sin easily, and we are weak; if You look to our account then we indeed deserve punishment; but Your mercy is more expansive than our sins, so grant us Your mercy, oh the Most Merciful of those who show mercy” (Taken from Saad Al Ghamdi’s Ramadan Dua)

Every Breath is a Precious Jewel

By: Muhammad al-Ghazaali – “Ihyaa Uloom ad-Deen”

Life is nothing but an accumulation of many breaths. So every breath is just a precious diamond which cannot be purchased with anything in the world. It is a priceless jewel which has got no substitute in value. So in movements and talks, and in sorrows and happiness, such a priceless breath should not be spent in vain. To destroy it is to court destruction. An intelligent man cannot lose it.

When a man gets up at dawn, he should enter into an agreement with himself just as a tradesman contracts with his partner. At that time, he should address his mind thus:

O mind, you have been given no other property as precious as life. When it will end, the principal will end and despondency will come in seeking profit in business. Today is a new day. Allah has given you time, that is, He has delayed your death. He has bestowed upon you innumerable gifts. Think that you are already dead. So don’t waste time.

Every breath is a precious jewel. Man has got for each day and night twenty-four treasure houses in twenty-four hours. Fill up these then find them filled up with divine sights in the world next. If they are not filled up with good works, they will be filled up with intense darkness wherefrom a bad stench will come out and envelop them all around. Another treasure house will neither give him happiness nor sorrow. That is an hour in which he slept, or was careless, or was engaged in any lawful work of this world. He will feel grieved for its remaining vacant.

Overeating at I’ftar

By: Muhammad Al-Ghazali

‘…One should not overeat while breaking the fast to the point that he fills his stomach, as there isn’t any container that Allāh hates more than a full stomach. How can one benefit from fasting and subdue this enemy and break this desire if he breaks his fast by making up for it through eating everything that he missed out on during the day? In fact, some even eat more than they usually would during the day! This habit has continued to the point that so many types of food are prepared for Ramadhān that more food is eaten in this month than in any other month.

It is known that the whole point of fasting is discipline and to break one’s desire in order to strengthen the soul with taqwa. So, if you prevent your digestive system from food all day long until night such that its desire and longing for food goes wild, and you then feed it what it wants until it is fully satisfied, this will only increase its desire and multiply its energy, and it will manifest a longing that wouldn’t have been there had it been left to its usual intake.

So, the essence and secret of fasting is to weaken this energy that provides means for Satan to pull you towards what is bad, and this can’t happen unless you reduce your food intake. When you break your fast, eat only what you would normally eat at that specific time when not fasting. But to break your fast by combining the amount you would’ve eaten during the day with the amount you usually eat at night will leave you having gained nothing at all from your fast.

In fact, from the etiquette of fasting is to not sleep much during the day in order to feel the hunger and thirst, and in order to weaken this energy. This will clean out the heart and keep this energy weakened every night so that it will be easier to pray at night and do your sets of Qur’ān recitation and Dhikr of Allāh. Maybe this will prevent Satan from approaching your heart and allow you to look to what is in the Kingdom of the Heavens, and the Night of al-Qadr is basically the night in which some of what is contained in this kingdom is shown, and this is what is meant by Allāh’s Saying, ‘Indeed, We have descended it on the Night of Qadr.’

And whoever puts a barrier of food between his heart and his chest will have a barrier put between himself and what is shown from this kingdom, and to keep your stomach free isn’t enough to lift this barrier if your mind isn’t free from anything other than Allāh – and this is the entire point.

The starting point of all this is to reduce your intake of food…’

['Ihya' 'Ulum ad-Din'; 1/303]