Thursday, July 20, 2017

And thought wrongly of Allah – the thought of ignorance...

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And this belief was explained as their belief that Allah does not help His Messenger and that His Deen will disappear. And it was explained as meaning that they thought that what had befallen them was not from the Qadar of Allah, nor was there any wisdom behind it. It was also explained as being a denial of wisdom, a denial of Qadar and a denial that the Deen of Allah will exceed. And this ad belief was the belief of the disbelievers and the munafiqeen mentioned in Surah al-Fath. And this belief was only described as a bad and ignorant belief because it entails thinking of Allah that which is not befitting to Him, His Attributes and Names, His Wisdom, His praise, His Oneness in matters of Lordship and worship and His Truthfulness in fulfilling His Promises. And whoever believed that He would not make the Deen of His Messenger successful (over all others) and that He would cause falsehood to triumph permanently over truth, causing the truth thereby to disappear completely and not to reappear thereafter has believed evil of Allah and attributed to Him things not befitting His Perfection and His Divine Attributes. And whoever denied that this was from His Qadar does not know Him, nor does he know His Kingdom. And likewise, whoever denied the wisdom of it which demands praise and thanks to Allah, but rather, claimed that it was something that Allah allows to happen without reason or purpose, then that is the belief of those who reject (i.e. the disbelievers) – and woe to those who disbelieve from the Fire.

And most of the people think badly of Allah in matters relating to themselves and to others; and none is saved from that except those who know Allah, know His names, and Attributes and what is entailed by praising and thanking Him and know His Wisdom. And those who despaired of His Mercy thought badly of Him and whoever claimed that He would punish the righteous man and that He would place him on the same level as His enemy has thought badly of Him. And whoever thought that He would abandon His creation without guidance to distinguish between what is commanded and what is prohibited has thought badly of Him. Likewise, whoever thought that He would neither reward them not punish them and that He would not make the truth clear to them in those matters in which they differed, as has one who thought that He would cause righteous deeds to be lost without cause from the slave and that He would punish him for deeds over which he had no control or in which he had no choice, or claims that He would support His enemies with the same miracles with which He supports the Messengers (as), and that everything is good in His Sight, even that He would cause one who spent his life in obedience to Him to dwell forever in Hell-fire and that He would bless one who frittered away his life in disobedience to Him and that the two are of equal goodness in His Sight and that which prevents either of them from reaching his rightful abode cannot be known without strong evidence (from the Qur’an and Sunnah); and if there is none, then logic cannot judge which of them is good and which of them is evil. 

Likewise, one who thought that He has informed us about Himself, His Attributes and His Actions that which is manifestly false and that He has failed to speak the truth and has not informed us of it, but only referred to it in some obscure way, or indicated it in some mysterious manner and always explained things bu that which is false and that He wants them to tire their minds in elucidating His Words and that He wants them to depend for their understanding His Names and Attributes on their own understanding, and not on His Book and that rather, He wanted them not to understand His Words in accordance with what they understood from their language, in spite of His Ability to make the truth clear and to remove the expressions which cause them to have false beliefs and believed that he and those of like mind have interpreted the truth without Allah and His Messenger (saws) and that guidance was in their sayings and that nothing but misguidance will be obtained by understanding the Speech of Allah according to its apparent meaning, such a person has thought badly of Allah. And all of those people are guilty of thinking badly of Allah and they believe other than the truth of Allah, the belief of the former times of jahiliyyah. And whoever believes that something can occur in His Kingdom which He does not will to be, and that He is unable to bring it into being has thought ill of Him. And whoever thought that He was without ability to do a thing from through out eternity and that at that time He could not be thus described and then He became able to do it, such a person has thought ill of Allah. And whoever believed that He does not hear and that He does not see and that He does not know about the things which exist has thought badly of Allah. And whoever thinks that He does not will and that He does not speak and that He neither commands nor forbids, has thought badly of Him. And whoever believed that He is not above the heavens, over His Throne and that with regard to Him, all places are equal and that whoever said: “Gloried be my Lord, most low” is the same as one who said: “Glorified be my Lord, Most High” has believed the most wicked thing of Allah. And whoever believed that He loves disbelief, iniquity and disobedience just as He loves obedience has thought evil of Allah. And whoever denies for Him the Attributes of Pleasure and Anger and denies that He takes friends and enemies and that He does not draw near to anyone and that no one draws near to Him, has thought ill of Him. Likewise, whoever believes that He considers opposites equal and that He distinguishes between things which are equal in every way and that He invalidates the good deeds of a lifetime due to the commission of a major sin, causing him to dwell eternally in the Fire of Hell – and in short, believed of Him other than that by which He has described Himself or that by which His Messengers (as) have described Him, or negated the Attributes by which He has described Himself, has indeed thought ill of Allah, as has one who believes that He has a son or a partner or one who can intercede with Him without His permission, or that there are intermediaries between Him and mankind who submit their requests to Him and that the Reward which is with Him may be attained through acts of disobedience just as it is attained through obedience, or he thought that when he leaves something for His sake, He will not give him something better than it in its place, or believed that He punishes simply in accordance with His will and without cause from the slave, or believed that if he was sincere in his desire (for the pleasure of Allah) and his fear, that He will frustrate his hopes and desires, believed that He would make His enemies ever victorious over His Messenger, Muhammad (saws) during his life and after his death – he has thought ill of Him. 

And they believed that when he died, they (the Sahabah) voiced opinions in the Deen without authority and wronged the members of the Prophet’s (saws) family and that the power was in the hands of His enemies and their enemies without any sin on the part of His awliya while He was able to help them, then that He made those who changed the Deen to lie with him (saws) in his grave, where his Ummah send greetings of peace upon him and upon them. And every liar, disbeliever and subjugated and oppressed person believes this of his Lord. Indeed, most of mankind, or rather, all of them – except those whom Allah wills – believe of Allah that which is untrue, believe ill of Him. And whoever searched within himself will find in it hidden there like the fire which is hidden within the flint: Strike the flint of anyone you will, and its sparks will inform you of what is in it – whether it belittle or much. 

So examine yourself – are you free from it? 

If you are saved from it, you are saved from a great misfortune, and if not, than I am not sure of your salvation. So let the intelligent person who wishes good for himself pay regard in this matter and let him repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness whenever he thinks ill of his Lord. 

[Mukhtasar Zad al-Ma’ad, by al-Imam Ibnul-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (rahimahUllah)]

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