Part 9

Abi Bakr ibn ‘Ayyash prayed to Allah when he was on his death bed and said, “Should I not lay my hope in Him and I have fasted eighty months of Ramadan for Him!”

* Reported by Ibn-Majah 1629.

Averting Excessive Fear and Cautiousness of Death

Al-Ma'tamir ibn Sulayman said, “My father told me, ‘O son! Read for me the hadith in which state the concessions of Allah! So that I meet Allah while I expect the best from Him.”

Therefore a believer should remove fear and steer the camel as acameleer of the desert said:

Its cameleer gave it glad tidings and said tomorrow you will see the acacias and the mountains

It was reported that Aba Hurayrah (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) said, “The Messenger of Allah (8) said (that Allah said), “I am just as My servant thinks J am.”*

Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Tyad said, “Fear is better than hope. However when death befalls, hope becomes better.”

I say, that is true because as I have clarified fear is a lash that urges on a lazy person. If a camel is tired then we should use lenience. If one asks what of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz’s fear at death, then the answer is, that his fear was a result of his sense of responsibility for his people and the demands of his innate nature over not fulfilling the rights of others. He used to say: “Truly I fear this leadership!” though he used to clinch to the statements of men, therefore, when Ibn ‘Abbas told him: “Receive the glad tidings, O Chief of Believers! You were assigned the leadership,

5 Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

* Reported by Muslim

and you wete fair in it and you died as a martyr!” He told him, “O Ibn ‘Abbas! Will you testify that before Allah?”

Section Three: Increase in Anguish

If a sick person incteases in anguish, then he should count that as a reward for our righteous predecessors used to like the intensity of the agonies of a sick person because it expiates sins. It was narrated that Ibrahim said, “They used to like to be overstrained at death.” It was also narrated that ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz said, “I would not like that throes of death be eased for me, because they are the last thing that expiates [the sins] of a Muslim.”

A sick petson should repent, as long as he is sane, so that he meets Allah pure from all sins. He should also write his will, put his trust in Allah, Exalted and Glorified is He, to look after his spouse and children. For He supports and protects the righteous.

” Tbn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, said this to Amir-ul-Mu’minin “Umar ibn ul-Khartab when he was stabbed. Ahmad reported it in his Masnad 1:46, and al-Bayhaqi in Ishbat ‘Athab al-Qabr through the chain of Dawid Ibn Abii Hind from ‘Amir from ibn ‘Abbas he said, “I dropped in on ‘Umar IbnulKhattab when he was stabbed. So I said ‘Receive the glad tidings, O Amir-ulMu’minin! You converted to Islam when people disbelieved, you fought with the Messenger of Allah (38) when others let him down and he (3) died while he was pleased with you. People did not differ in your Ahildfab and you died as. a martyr.” So he said, “Repeat what you have said!” So I repeated it. He said, “By Alllah, the only true God, if I had all what is on earth of gold and silver 1 would have sacrificed it from the horror of the Day of Judgement.”

Aberting Excessive Fear and Cantiousness of Death

Section Five: Being Optimistic

If Shayfan bothers a dying person and reminds him of withering away, then he should know that withering happens to the ship after the traveler leaves it. He should also know that the Shari‘ah has stated that a believer is going to live in everlasting delight after death. So whoever possesses true belief should not be sad, because the destination is a good one and whoever does not possess true belief should be sad over not possessing it.

It was reported that Ka‘b (radiyAllabu ‘anhu) narrated from the Prophet (8) that he said, “The soul of a Muslim is like a bird that hangs on the trees of paradise, until Allah returns it to the Muslim’s body.”*

The purpose of this chapter is to show that fear of death should

be moderate, so that it does not exhaust the body, causing harm, one should fear what is to come after death and work towards it.

* Reported by al-Bukhari in a/-Tarikh a/-Kabir [5:306), al-Humaid? 873, and alTabarani in a/-Kabir [19:64].

‘ } 7 HEN HAPPINESS INTENSIFIES, the blood heats up and hence, it may harm the body, and may lead to the death of he who has excessive happiness if it is

not extenuated. If someone sees the way to achieve happiness, he

should take the means leading to it. When Yisuf met his brother, he asked him, “Do you have a father?” and he kept on expressing

lenience towards him, in order not surprise him with the good news.

Happiness should be moderate, so that it equals sorrow. If it exceeds the limits, then this is a sign of intense heedlessness. For happiness is unreasonable with a sane person, who is rejoiced by anything that brings joy, but then when he remembers his destiny and the fear of where he will end up, then that joy disappears. If the heedlessness of happiness intensifies it makes a person exultant and reckless. This is why Allah said,

“Surely Allah does not love the exultant”

This tefers to those who exceeded the limits of happiness and became exultant.

The cure for excessive happiness is to think deeply about previous sins and future tribulations.

Al-Hasan al-Basti said, “Death has exposed this dunya (world). It did not leave any happiness in it for the sane.”

' Al-Zuhd by Abmad Ibn-Hanbal p.316 through the chain of Ibrahim Ibn-‘Isa al-Yashkari from al-Hasan.

ceived difficulty of tasks are what lead one to laziness. Bukhari and Muslim reported from Anas ibn Malik (radiyAllabu ‘anbu) that the Prophet (8) used to frequently say,

[ew LEISURE, PREFERRING idleness and the per-

“T seek refuge in Allah from grief and distress, old age

Muslim reported in his Sahih that Abi Hurayrah (radiyAllabu ‘anhn) narrated that the Prophet (48) said, “A strong believer is better and more loved by Allah than a weak believer.”?

At all times, strive for that which will benefit you, seek the help of Allah, and do not be helpless. If anything (bad) befalls you, do not say, ‘If only I had done such-and-such, then such-and-such

' Reported by Bukhari 8:98, Muslim p.2079, 2080 and 2088 (Abdul-Baqj)

? Reported by Muslim, a/-Qadar 34.

would have happened.’ Rather you should say, ‘Allah preordained this, and whatever He wills He does,’ for the words ‘if only’ open the door to Satan.

Ibn ‘Abbas (radiyAllabu ‘anhu) said, “Slackening married laziness and they gave birth to poverty.”

Malik ibn Dinar said, “There is no righteous deed except that there is an obstacle that comes before it, if a person endures it patiently he will reach comfort, and if he fears it he will abstain from it.”

Sufyan al-Thawri said, “People left riding fast horses, and we have stayed on indolent camels.”

Section One: The Cure for Laziness

The cure for laziness lies in motivating and urging the endeavor by fearing that one may miss the goal, or be blamed, or fall into regret (lest one does not make an effort]. For the regret of a negligent person when he sees the reward of a hard worker is the greatest punishment. Also a petson of sound mind should reflect on the negative consequence of indolence, for many a time has leisure lead to regret.

Reported by Abi Nu‘aym in al-Hilyab 1:130, through the chain of Yahya Ibn Wathab from Ibn Mas‘td, may Allah be pleased with him.

Whoever sees that his neighbour has travelled, returning with profits, his regret will be many times greater than the satisfaction of leisure, similarly if one person becomes brilliant in knowledge and another does not due to his laziness. The intended purpose of these examples is to explain that the pain of missing something exceeds the satisfaction of laziness.

Wise people are unanimous that wisdom is not teached by relaxation and idleness. Therefore, whoever knows the fruits of laziness will avoid it, and whoever is aware of the fruits of hard work will endure the hardships of the path. Moreover an intellectual knows that he was not created in vain, rather he, in this world, is like a hired laborer or a merchant.

The span of lifetime in this world, which is practically the life one is given to perform good deeds, and the span of time one is to spend in the grave is like a single moment compared to the eternal dwelling in paradise or in the hellfire.

From amongst the best cures for indolence is reading and reflecting on the biographies of those who strove. Therefore, I wonder at he who would prefer idleness in the sowing season and leaves yielding for the harvesting season.

It was narrated that Farqad said, “You put on the garment of leisure before you started working. Have you not noticed that when a worker starts working he wears his cheapest garment, when he is done, he takes a shower and puts on two clean garments. On the other hand you wore the garment of leisure, before you even started working,”*

* Hilab al-Awliya’ 3:47 through the chain of Ibn Shawthab from Farqad alSubkhi.

NOW THAT THE SELF IS LOVED and the flaws of the beloved might not be apparent to the lover. However, some people are so resolute in their struggle against

themselves that they consider their selves as their enemy in opposing it, and so they are able to see its flaws.

Tyas ibn Mu‘awiyah said, “He who does not know his own demerits is a fool!” He was asked, “So what are yours?” He answered, “Excessive talking.” However this is very rare, because people usually hide their own flaws, but we do not mean that a person does not know of his flaws, for a person of sound mind recognizes his flaws, I rather mean the concealed flaws. For they are like internal diseases that a doctor does not know of, and so cannot prescribe a medicine for, because they do not have symptoms. Also a person’s love for himself prevents him from viewing his hidden flaws as flaws.