Part 3

Sins cause harm and repentance removes the cause.”

Bearing witness to sawhid opens the door of good and repentance from sins closes the door of evil.*"

The Jihad against the soul is the foundation for the Jihad against the disbelievers and hypocrites.”

A man will never fear something besides Allah unless it be due to a disease in his heart.

Trials and tribulation are like feeling the heat and cold, when one knows that they cannot be avoided, he will not feel anger at their onset, nor will he be distressed or disheartened.

* Majmi‘ Fatawa [1/94]

» Majmii' Fatawa [10/88]

” Majmit' Fatawa [10/255]

" Majmil Fatawa [10/256]

® ibn al-Qayyim, ar-Rawdah [p. 478]

* al-Bazzar [p. 74]

“ ibn al-Qayyim, a-Madanj [3/289]

= The perfection of sawbidis found when there remains nothing in the heart except Allah, the servant is left loving those He loves and what He loves, hating those He hates and what He hates, showing allegiance to those He has

allegiance to, showing enmity to those He shows enmity

towards, ordering what He orders and prohibiting what He prohibits.*

= Jn this world, man finds in the remembrance of Allah,

ptaising Him and worshipping Him, a delight that is incomparable to anything else.*

= The objective of asceticism is to leave all that harms the

servants Hereafter and the objective of worship is to do all that will benefit his Hereafter.’

= Sins are like chains and locks preventing their perpetrator

from roaming the vast garden of sawhid and reaping the fruits of righteous actions.**

= What can my enemies do to me? I have in my breast both

my heaven and my garden. If I travel they are with me, never leaving me. Imprisonment for me is a chance to be

alone with my Lord. To be killed is martyrdom and to be exiled from my land is a spiritual journey.”

% ibn al-Qayyim, a/-Madary [3/485]

% Minhaj as-Sunnab [5/389]

¥ Majmit' Fatwa (14/458)

8 Majmii Fatawa [14/49]

ibn al-Qayyim, Wabil [p. 69]

Lbn Taymiyyah

His Death

Ibn Taymiyyah died while imprisoned on the twentieth of Dhii-l-Qadah of the yeat 728H, after ultimately being banned from reading or writing. He fell sick for the few days preceding his death.

His funeral was attended by a huge congregation despite the many lies and slanders being spread about him by certain innovators of his time. Al-Bazzar says,

Once the people had heard of his death, not a single person in Damascus who was able to attend the prayer and wanted to remained except that he appeared and was present for it. As a result, the markets in Damascus were closed and all transactions of livelihood were stopped...Governors, heads, scholars, jurists all came out. They say that none of the majority of the people failed to turn up - according to my knowledge - except three individuals; they were well known for their enmity for ibn Taymiyyah and thus, hid away from the people out of fear for their lives.”

Ibn Kathir said,

There were so many people in front of his funeral, behind it, to its right and to its left. None but Allah could enumerate them, and then someone shouted, ‘this is how the funerals of the Jwams of the Sunnah are to be!’ At that the people started to. cry... when the call to prayer for Zabrwas proclaimed they prayed after it straight away against the usual norm. Once

“al-Bazzar [pp. 82-83].

they finished prayer, the deputy Ahafib came out - as the main &hatib was absent and in Egypt - and he led the prayer over ibri Taymiyyah... then the people poured out from everywhere and all the doors of the Masjid... and they assembled at a/-Khay/ market. “'

His Works

Ibn Taymiyyah was a prolific writet and authored many works spanning a broad range of topics. The sum of his writings were thought to consist of hundreds of volumes and even though a large numbet of them have been lost, many are still available and in print. A number of his works have also been translated and below is a list of these works followed by some of his works in Arabic.

The books of, or about, ibn Taymiyyah available in the English language:

1. Lbn Taymiyyah on Public and Private Law in Islam or Public Policy in Islamic Jurisprudence {tc. Omar A. Farrukh, Khayats, 1966]

2. A Seventh Century Sunni Creed: The aqeedah al-Wastiya of ibn Taymiya {tr. Merlin Swartz, the Hague: Mouton, 1973]

3. Public Duties in Islam {tr, Muhtar Holland, The Islamic Foundation, 1402/1982]

4. Ibn Taymiyyah’s Essay on the Jinn {tr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, 1409/1989

4 Ibn Kathir [14/138].

” None of the lists detailed below are meant to be exhaustive.

Lon Taymiyyah

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18,

Minhaaj as-Sunnah, 1415/1994]

Introduction to the Principles of Tafseer (tt. Mubammad Abdul Haqgq Ansari, al-Hidaayah, 1414/1993]

The Friends of Allah and the Friends of Shaytan (trans. Abu Rumaysah, Daar us-Sunnah, 1421/2000].

Lbn Taymiyyah Against the Greek Logicians (tc. Wal B, Hallaq, Oxford University Press, 1993]

Ageedah al-Waasitiyyah [tr. Assad Nimar Busool, IQRA International Educational Foundation, 1994]; Sharh Ageedah al-Waasitiyyah [commentary Muhammad Khalil Harras, tr. Muhammad Rafiq Khan, Dar-us-Salam Publications, 1416/1996]

Fundamentals of Exnjoining Good ¢> Forbidding Evil [tr. Abu Khalil & Muhammad al-Jibali, al-Qur’an & Sunnah Society of North America, 1997|

Mukbatasar Igtidaa as-Siraat al-Mustaqeem |Dat-as-Salam Publications, 1416/1996]

The Book of Eemaan [compiled from the works of ibn Taymiyyah by Dr. Muhammad Nasim Yasim, al-Firdous Ltd., 1997]

Diseases of the Hearts and their Cures (tr. Abu Rumaysah, Daar us-Sunnah, 1418/1998]

Ibn Taymiyyah’s Letters from Prison |tr. Abu Ammar, Message of Islam, 1419/1998]

The Waasitah Between Allaah <> The Creation [tr. Abu yaad Amjad Rafig, Invitation to Islaam, 1998]

Al-Ubudiyyah (tx. Nasir ud-Deen Khattaab, }; also translated as Ibn Taymiyyah’s Essay on Servitude (tr. Abu Safwan Fareed ibn Haibatan, al-Hidaayah, 1420/1999]

Kitab al-Iman: Book of Faith (tc. Salman Hasan al-Ani, Iman Publishing House, 1999]

bn Taimiya’s Struggle Against Popular Religion: with an annotated translation of his Kitab Igtida as-Sirat al-Mustagim Mukhalafat Ashab al-Jabim [Muhammad Umat Memon, the

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24,

25.

Hague: Mouton, 1976]

Ibn Taymiyah and his Projects of Reform [Serajul Haque, Islamic Foundation of Bangladesh, 1982]

Lbn Taymiyyah’s Ethics [Victor E. Makati, Scholars Press, 1983]

A Muslim Theologian’s Response to Christianity: Ibn Taymiyyah’s al-Jawab as-Sabih [ed. Thomas F. Michel, Caravan Books, 1985]

Exconomic Concepts of Ibn Taymiyyah [Abdul Azim Islahi, The Islamic Foundation, 1408/1988]

The Political Thought of ibn Taymiyyah (prof. Qamaruddin Khan, Adam Publishers & Distributets, 1992]

lbn Taymiyyah ¢ The Islamization of Knowledge (Taha Jabir al-Alwani, IIIT, 1994]

The Relief from Distress - An explanation to the du‘a of Yuanus[trans. Abu Rumaysah, Daar us-Sunnah, 1425/ 2005).

The available Arabic works of ibn Taymiyyah are many, from amongst them:

1.

BY

oOonrnnwm

Majmi‘ Fatawa ibn Taymiyyab [compiled by ‘Abdur-Rahman ibn Qasim and his son, Muhammad in thirty-seven volumes] containing many monographs and treatise that he wrote.

Fatawa al-Kubra, in five volumes

Fatawa al-Misriyyah

All-Jawab as-Sabih i man Baddala Din al-Masih, in six volumes

Minha as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah, in six volumes

Darr Ta‘arnd al-‘Aql wa-n-Naql, in twelve volumes As-Sarim al-Maslil ‘ala Shatim ar-Rasul, in three volumes Nagd at-Ta’sis

Lin Taymiyyah

9. Igtida as-Sirat al-Mustagim li Mukhalafah Ashab al-Jabim, in two volumes

All praise is due to Allah, peace and blessings be upon the Last Prophet

Know O beloved reader that it is most important to spend one’s time and energy in treating the heart, and hastening to correct and purify it from sickness and all sins. This is due to the heart occupying a great and lofty position in Islam, for it is the place to which the Lord looks and the storehouse for /awhid, faith, and sincerity.

Actions are distinguished, one from the other, with respect to their excellence in the Sight of Allah in accordance with the condition of the heart, not by their number or form, but rather due to the strength of the caller, his or her truthfulness, his or her sincerity and the extent to which he or she prefers Allah over himself or herself. '

The heart forms the foundation, it is the owner of the limbs, and the limbs are its soldiers, so when the owner becomes putified its soldiers become purified, and when the owner becomes

' As stated by Ibn al-Qayyim

Compiler's Foreword

sullied then its soldiers become sullied.

Al-Hafidh ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalani, may Allah have mercy upon him and nourish us with his knowledge, said: “The heart has been singled out for this because it is the leader of the body, and through the purification of the leader the subjects become purified, and with his corruption they become corrupted. So if you, O servant of Allah, wish to cure your heart then it is upon you to be truthful with regards to seeking refuge with Allah and putting your trust in Him, to pray a great deal of superogatory prayers, to perform the actions of obedience to Allah frequently, to pray the night prayer while the people are sleeping, and to treat your heart by making it continuously stick to the remembrances and by befriending only the righteous... and to frequently recite the Qur’an. May Allah allow all of this to be preserved by him.’

So my brother Muslim, this is a treatise by Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah concerning the topic, “Diseases of the Hearts and their Cures.’ 1 found it amongst his, ‘Fatawa’ and saw it to be a beautiful work, containing many benefits. So it is upon you O Muslim to hurry to distribute this amongst your beloved friends and your brothers so that perchance Allah may correct their hearts and Allah’s aid is sought.

Lbrahim bin ‘Abdullah al-Hazimi.

The Keys to the Life of the Heart

Ibn ul-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: The keys to the life of the heart lie in reflecting upon

the Qur’An, being humble before Allah in secret, and leaving sins. '

Allah, the Most High, said:

A Book which We have sent down to you, full of blessings that they may ponder over its verses, and that men of understanding may take heed.

[Sarah Sad (38) : 29]

So Allah informed us that He sent down this Great Qur’dn, blessed in its wording, meaning, commands, prohibitions and regulations. Amongst its blessings is that the one who recites

' Hadiyyul-Arvah ila Biladil-Afrah [p. 45] of Ibn ul-Qayyim.

The Keys to the Life of the Heart

even one woftd of it then he has a reward, and this rewatd is increased tenfold, as mentioned in the hadith reported by atTirmidhi, and Al-Tirmidhi said that it is basan sabib2 Also amongst its blessings is that the one who reads it and acts upon it shall not be misguided in this world, nor fall into distress and misery in the Hereafter as stated by Ibn ‘Abbas (radiyAl/abu ‘anbu) in the commentary to the verse,