Part 29

Faith is something other than all that. It is a compound reality that includes knowing what the Messenger came with, believing in it, declaring it verbally, following it out of love and submission, working and abiding by it both secretly and publicly, obeying it, and calling others to it as much as possible. To complete one’s faith, you should seek Allah alone in love, hate, giving, and preventing, and Allah alone must be your Lord

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and the only One whom you worship. The path, which leads to that is by following His Messenger secretly and publicly and keeping your heart away from anything other than Allah and His Messenger.

A Valuable and Precious Gem: The Origin of Happiness

Whoever abandons habits for the sake of someone or something other than Allah, will surely suffer hard and difficult times. However, whoever abandons habits for the sake of Allah sincerely from his heart, he will not suffer from leaving it except at the beginning so that his credibility will be examined. If he bears this pain it will be turned into pleasure. Ibn Sirin said, "I heard Shuraih swearing by Allah that a servant, when deserting something, for the sake of Allah never suffers from its loss." It was Said, "Whoever abandoned anything for the sake of Allah: Allah will compensate him with what is better. And compensation is of different kinds and the best is to be compensated by Allah with His love, and satisfaction within his heart, its strength, activity, happiness, and contentment.

The most Foolish among People is he who Goes Astray at the End of his Journey while he was about to Reach his Destination

* The mind of man that is supported with success see that what the Messenger (peace be upon him) brought to us is right and that it agrees with reason and wisdom,

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but the ill minds see a contradiction between reason, wisdom, and Islamic law.

e¢ The means to attain closeness to Allah is to follow the Sunnah secretly and publicly, resort to Allah, and seek Him alone in our words and deeds. No one reaches Allah except through these three and no one separates from Allah except through leaving these three, or one of them.

e The origins of happiness are based upon three things, and each one of them has an opposite and whoever lost one of these will get its opposite: monotheism and its opposite, which is polytheism, Sunnah and _ it opposite, which is innovation, and obedience and disobedience. All these three have one opposite, which is a heart that fails to seek Allah and the pleasures He promises, and fails to fear Allah and the punishments He promises for the wrong doers.

A Valuable and Important Rule: The People of Guidance and the People of Misguidance

Allah, the Exalted says,

which means, "And thus do We explain the Aydt (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) in detail, that the way of the Mujriman (criminals, polytheists, sinners), may become manifest." (Al-An’am, 6:55)

And He, the Almighty says,

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which means, "And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers’ way, We shall keep him in the path he has chosen." (An-Nisa’, 4:115)

Allah, the Exalted shows in detail, the paths of the believers and those of the sinners, as well as the consequences of both, the deeds of both, the friends and supporters of both, along with granting success to one of them, and the causes behind this success, and the causes of failure. Allah clarified the two matters in His Book, and revealed and explained them to the extent that we can see and differentiate between them as we see and differentiate between light and darkness.

Those who know Allah, His Book, and His religion know in detail the path of the believers and the path of the sinners. The two paths were revealed in front of them like as road, which reaches its destination and a road, which does not. Those who know the best are the most useful to people, and they have the most useful advice. That is why the Companions were distinguished more than all those who came after them until the Day of Resurrection. They were brought up amid the paths of polytheism and the ways that lead to destruction and they know it in detail, then the Messenger (peace be upon him) was sent to them. He led them out of this darkness to the path of light and to the straight way. They came out of darkness to complete light, from polytheism to monotheism, from ignorance to knowledge, from sin to goodness, from injustice to justice, and from blindness and confusion to insight and right guidance. They knew the value of what they received and what they had, as the goodness and benefit of matters becomes clear after knowing the opposite. They loved and their love increased for what they received and what they became. And their hate increased for what they left behind. They were the most loving people to monotheism, faith, and Islam and the most to hate its opposite. They knew the path in detail.

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Some of those who came after the Companions were brought up in Islam and did not know its opposite, so some details were confusing to them concerning the path of the believers and the path of the disbelievers. This is because confusion occurs when one has only a little knowledge of one or both paths. As ‘Umar bin Al-Khattaéb said, "The ties of Islam decreased one by one with the people who were brought up in Islam and did not know the pre-Islamic era." This shows the perfect knowledge that ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) had. He knew the pre-Islamic era and its rules, which encompassed all that disagreed with what the Messenger (peace be upon him) was sent with, and all that is related to ignorance and that which contradicted the Messenger (peace be upon him).

Those, who do not know the path of the sinners and it is not obvious to him may consider the sinners to be believers, as has happened in this nation. Some people do not know the matters of belief, knowledge, or deeds and so take the disbelievers and enemies of the Messengers as friends. They considered matters as lawful while they are forbidden by Allah and His Messenger. This happened to the people of innovations from among Al-Jahmiyyah, Al-Qadariyah, AlKhawarij, Ar-Rawafid, and others from among those who created an innovation, called for it, and accused of disbelief whoever disagrees with it.

Such people belong to four groups:

Group One: those who know both the paths of the believers and that of the disbelievers in detail and prefer the path of the believers both in knowledge and deeds.

Group Two: those who neither know this or that and they are like animals and closer to the path of the disbelievers and they follow it.

Group Three: those who care more to know the path of the believers alone and not its opposite. He only knows its opposite through disagreeing with it and in a general way. Someone once wrote to ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab asking him about the best among two men: aman, who does not think about desires and a man who fights his desires seeking Allah. So ‘Umar wrote that whoever longs for his desires and sins but abandons them seeking Allah is among those whom Allah had tested their hearts for piety and for them is forgiveness and a great reward.

So whoever knows about innovation, polytheism, and its paths, hated it for the sake of Allah, was cautious about them, warned others about them, pushed them away, did not let them harm his faith or cause doubts, and his insight increased by knowing them and his hate increased, is better than the one whose desires did not enter his heart. The more they came to the heart and tempted him, the more his love increased in the right and fought against them and the more his faith will become stronger. He who is tempted by these desires and sins, regardless of the way they came to him and he refused and fought against them, he will love their opposite more and long for it. Allah afflicts His believing servant with these desires and sins in order to make him love what is better than them and more useful and to fight against himself for the sake of Allah only. This struggle will bring him closer to Allah. Whenever his soul tempts him and he longs for it, he will change this longing and desire to another direction, which is the superior kind. Unlike the empty and cold soul even if it longs for what is superior it will differ from the other. There is a difference between he who travels to his beloved walking on a firebrand and thorns and he who rides fine animals on his way and between such a one and another who prefers his beloved while fighting against others. Allah, the Exalted afflicts His servants with desires either to be veil between them or to be a way to seek the pleasure of Allah and closeness to Him.

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Group Four: those who know in detail the path of evil, innovations, and polytheism and the path of the believers. This is the case of many among those who compare nations and the people of innovations. , This is obvious for those who have read their books. Whoever knows the path of evil, injustice, and decay, was from among its people, but then repented, and returned to the path of the believers and was good, and his knowledge of this path will be general and he will not know its details like he who spent his life studying its ways.

The meaning is that: Allah, the Exalted and ever Majestic, likes that you know the path of His enemy so that you may avoid and hate it, as He likes you to know the path of His people in order to love and follow it. Such knowledge has a great deal of benefit that Allah alone knows because of His wisdom, and the perfection of His names and attributes. This is the greatest proof of the Might and Justice of Allah, His ownership, Divine power, love, hate, reward and punishment.