Exerting Efforts towards Accomplishing Sincere Righteous Actions (2/5)
Shaykh Abdur-Razzaak al-Abbaad
One concludes from this that righteousness cannot be attained by the celestial and earthly worlds until the activity of its inhabitants are made all for Allah. The movement of the body is dependent on the activity of the heart and its intention. If therefore, the heart’s movement and desire are for Allah Alone, it will become sound and all the movements of the body will become sound. If, however, the movement and intent of the heart are for other than Allah, it will become corrupt and the activity of the body will also become corrupt in accordance to the (level of) corruption within the activity of the heart.[1]
It has been authenticated on the Prophet that he said:
"Whoever loves for Allah, hates for Allah, gives for Allah and withholds for Allah has indeed perfected Iman.”[2]
The meaning of this is that with all the motions of the heart and limbs, if they are all for Allah, the Iman of the servant, both the interior and exterior, will be complete and the goodness of the activity of the heart necessitate goodness of the activity of the limbs.
“Thus, if the heart is good, there being only desire of Allah and of that which He desires, the limbs will only proceed towards that which Allah desires. Consequently, the limbs hasten towards that which incurs the pleasure of Allah; they refrain from what Allah dislikes or what is feared that would be disliked by Allah even if it is not sure of that.”[3]
Whenever the hearts become righteous with Iman, truthfulness, sincerity and love and no desire for other than Allah is left in the heart, all the limbs will attain righteousness and they will not move except for Allah and only in areas that His pleasure will be attained.
Furthermore, the heart is always occupied in thought, either about its essential afterlife and its betterment, or about the welfare of its worldly life and living, or its thoughts center on misgivings, false aspirations and hypothetical circumstances.
The sum and substance of the rectification of the heart is that you occupy it with thoughts on that which constitute its welfare and true and actual success.
Hence, in the area of knowledge and conceptions, one occupies it with knowledge of what binds one of Tawheed and its rights, of death and what leads on from it up until entering Paradise and Hellfire and of the ill actions and the ways to protect oneself from committing them. In the area of intentions and resolutions, one occupies it with desires of that which will cause one benefit and to reject desires that which will bring harm upon him.[4]
Indeed, of immense assistance to the servant in this regard is to increase the beneficial observations, which are enacted in the heart, so that his attachment with Allah strengthens, as the existence of righteous actions is associated to the establishment and great number of these observations in the heart.
Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “We will by the aid and tawfeeq granted by Allah, point out these observations in a manner that will make known the reality of this matter.”
The first observation of the traveler to Allah and the home of the Hereafter is that there exists in his heart an observation of this world and its insignificance, its trivial fulfillment, extensive futility, vile participants and rapid demise... Thus, if the servant undertakes this observation of the world, his heart will migrate from this world and it will travel to seek the home of the Hereafter.
At this moment, an observation of the Hereafter and its continuity is enacted in his heart. That it is in all truth, the real life. Its inhabitants will never migrate or depart from it. Rather, it is the place of settling, the last stopping point of all travelers and the end of the journey...
Thereafter, an observation of the Fire is made in his heart, of its combustion, blaze and the depth of its pit; its intense heat and the immense torment of its inhabitants. He observes them as they are brought forth to it with blackened faces, blue eyed with iron chains and fetters around their necks. When they reach the fire, its doors will be opened in front of their faces and they will witness that abominable sight, whereupon their hearts will be become severed out of regret and sorrow...
Consequently, if this observation is accomplished in the heart of the servant, he will be stripped of sins, disobedience and of following desires and will instead don the guise of fear and caution... How distant he will actually be from disobedience and violations is dependent on the strength of this observation.
This observation will melt away, roast through and expel the destructive remnants and elements within his heart and thereupon, the heart will find the sweetness of well-being and its pleasure.
Thereafter, an observation of Paradise is established in the heart and of what Allah has prepared in it for its inhabitants: things that no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard and no imagination of has ever been made within the heart of a person. This is besides the detailed types of bliss Allah has portrayed to His servants upon the tongue of His Messenger, guaranteeing the loftiest types of pleasure concerning foods, drink, clothes, palaces, delight and happiness. So, enacted in his heart is an observation of an abode, within which Allah has placed everlasting bliss in its entirety.
Its ground is musk and its pebbles are pearls. Its structure is made up of bricks of gold and silver and of pearly embroidery. Its drink is sweeter than honey, possesses a fragrance more pleasant than musk, is cooler than camphor and tastier than ginger. In relation to its women, if the face of one of them were to be revealed to this world, it would overpower the radiance of the sun. The clothes of the inhabitants are made of the silk of sarsenet and brocades. Their servants are youths looking like scattered pearls. Their fruit will be everlasting, whose season is not limited and supply not cut off Therein are thrones raised high. Their food is the flesh of the fowls they desire. They will have drink of wine, there being no harmful effect within it and they will not suffer intoxication. Their vegetation is the fruit that they desire.
Their view will be of fair females possessing wide lovely eyes like preserved pearls. They will be reclining upon thrones and in that Garden being made happy. In it are what the souls covet, what gratifies the eyes and they will abide in it forever.
“If one adds to this observation, the observation of the day of Mazeed[5] looking at the face of the Lord and listening to His speech without an intermediary...If this observation is attached to the ones before it, there and then, will the heart race towards its Lord faster than the procession of the wind moving in its direction and the heart will not on its way bother to glance, neither left nor right...”[6]
Hence, if such observations are manifested in the heart of the servant and he contemplates over them, it will be of great help towards the purification of his heart and its eradication of denounced characteristics and ignoble desires and towards the evacuation of any attachment to other than Allah. Furthermore, it will be a great motive for worship, love, fear, repentance and of feeling in need of Allah.
The intent here is to highlight that one of the greatest incentives for Iman, one of its most beneficial consolidators and most important reasons for its increase and development is the rectification of the heart through Iman, love of Allah, His Messenger, of that which Allah and His Messenger love and to purify it from anything that opposes or nullifies this. Allah is the one who grants tawfeeq.
(Continued)
[1] Jaami' al-'Uloom wa al-Hikam, page 71. See al-Waabil as-Sayyib of Ibn al-Qayyim, page 12
[2] Related by Aboo Daawood, 4/220, at-Tabaraanee in al-Kabeer, number 7737, Ibn Battah in al-Ibaanah, 2/658 and others. Al-Albaanee declared it saheeh, see as-Silsilah as-Saheehah, 1/658
[3] Jaami' al 'Uloom wa al-Hikam, page 72
[4] See al-Fowaa'id of ibn al-Qayyim, page 310 and 311
[5] i.e., the day of increase. Allah says in the Qur’an: “For those who do righteousness is al-Husnaa and more ...” [Soorah Yoonus (10):26]
Allah also says, “There (i.e., Jannah), they will have all that they desire, and We have more” [Soorah Qaaf (50):35]
Husnaa has been explained to mean Jannah and 'more' to mean seeing Allah. This is attested to by the hadeeth recorded in Saheeh Muslim and Sunan at-Tirmidhee and related by Suhayb ar-Roomee, may Allah be pleased with him, in which the Prophet said: “When the people of Jannah enter Jannah, Allah will say ‘Would you like something I con increase you with?’ They will reply, ‘Have you not whitened our faces? Have you not admitted us into jannah and saved us from the Fire?’ The Prophet then said: “Then the veil will be lifted and they will not have been given anything more beloved to them than seeing their Lord.” In a similar narration, the end reads: “The Prophet then recited this aayah: “For those who do righteousness is al-Husnaa and more...”
[6] Madaarij as-Saalikeen, 3/250-252