Part 12

used to consume alcohol from, making the excuse that he is not drinking alcohol in it. Indeed, even crows recoil from drinking from such utensils, even if they are offered the best dtink in them.

I£ the truthful one could isolate this (negative feeling) during his attendance of poetry and singing, he would have realised it, but the sweetness of honey causes him to overlook the dirt and filth of the cup. However, as soon as he concludes his listening, he endures a state of strangeness and constriction in his heart - but this only happens if he is truthful with Allah and if he listened to songs and poetry (assuming it to be) for the sake of Allah. As for the liar whose intention in listening is for enjoyment and to fulfill his base desires, he is like a person drinking impure drink from a dirty cup and yet unable to perceive the ill-feelings mentioned above, because Satan and his lustful desires have taken over his heart. On the other hand, the ones whose interest and heart lies in listening to the Qur’4n, he will be drinking a pure, unadulterated drink in the purest and cleanest of cups.

‘The drinking cups ate of three types: pure and clean, impure

and dirty and a mixture of both. And drinks ate of three types as well: pure, impure and a mixture of the two.

INNER DIMENSIONS OF THE PRAYER

5.1 The Types of Hearts

Hearts are of three kinds:

1) Healthy hearts, whose drink is pure and whose drinking cups are clean,

2) Sick hearts whose drinks ate impute and whose drinking cups are filthy, and

3) Hearts that contain elements of both iman and hypoctisy, that drink from both pure and impute cups. Allah measures everything; the perceptive one is he who looks deeply into causal factors and contemplates their outcomes and objectives.

‘The one who understands the underlying objectives of religious legislations -in particular the principle of blocking the means that lead to matters the religion prohibits - will certainly declare listening to songs and poetry to be impermissible, especially considering that listening to the singing of a non-mabram woman, looking at her as well as being in private with her are in themselves unlaw-

The matters that religion prohibits fall into two categories: 1) Matters that are prohibited due to the corruption and evil that they involve (in themselves). 2) Matters that are made prohibited because they serve as a means to what is deemed evil ot corrupted.

That is why a person who only looks into the apparent aspect of whether listening to poetry and singing is allowed or not, without considering what it can lead up to, might find this ruling debatable or hard to fathom. And Allah, most High, Knows best.

5.1 The Types of Hearts

[To conclude], all praise be to Allah, the Lord of all worlds, alone, and may the salah and salam of Allah be upon the master of all the Messengers, Muhammad (#g), and upon his Family, his Companions, and their followers until the Day of Judgment. Indeed, everything is with Your Favour and Help exclusively, for You are the Most Merciful.

Tbn al-Qayyim on Khusha'‘

Allah, Most High, says,

a3 eee ios ee

a4 Sisal ABA Bes pe nae

Dette Sacer ices aan

“Has the time not arrived for the hearts of those who have faith to yield to the remembrance of Allah and to the truth He has sent down, so they are not like those who were given the Book before for whom the time seemed over long so that their hearts became hard? Many of them are deviators.””

Ibn Mas‘tid (radiyAllahu ‘anhi) said, ‘The time between our accepting Islam and being rebuked by this verse was four years.’>

Ibn al-Qayyim on Khushi‘

Tbn ‘Abbas said, ‘Allah granted time and leeway to the hearts of the believers, then, at the turn of the thirteenth year after the revelation had started, He rebuked them.”*

Allah, Most High, says,

Linguistically, &busha‘means sinking, subservience, and stillness. Allah, Most High, says,

CSE SANSA CES “Voices will be humbled before the All-Merciful and nothing but a whisper will be heard.”*

i.e. stilled and humbled. In this respect, the carth has been described as having khushi, i.c. its being dry, bare, and low and not being elevated with plant and vegetation. Allah, Most High, says,

“Among his Signs is that you see the earth laid bare

+ Suyati, a/-Durr, vol. 14, pg. 277 who references it to ibn Abi Hatim and ibn Mardawayh.

5 abMuiminiin (23): 1-2

INNER DIMENSIONS OF THE PRAYER

and then when We send down water on it, it quivers and swells.”

(Technically), &hushi‘ refers to the heart standing before the Lord in submissiveness, subservience, and focusing on Him.

Itis also said that &busha‘is to submit to the truth, however (the truth is that) this is one of its results. Thetefore, amongst the signs of &fushi‘is that when the servant opposes the truth and is reminded of it, he accepts and willing returns to it.

Itis said that &busha‘is the abating of the flames of lusts in the servants’ breast and the dissipation of their smoke; replacing in their stead the blaze of the greatness (of Allah) in the heart.

Junaid said, ‘Kéusha‘is the humbling of hearts to the One who knows the unseen,’

The Gnostics have agreed that the seat of Abusha‘is the heart and that its fruits sprout on the limbs and they display it. The Prophet (#) saw a man playing with his beard while praying and remarked, “If the heart of this person was humble, so too would his limbs be.”*

The Prophet (9) said, “Zaqwd is hete,” pointing to his breast,

Talq ibn Habib said upon being asked about /agud, “That you petform the obedience of Allah upon a light from Allah, hoping for the reward of Allah.

Ton al-Qayyira on Khushi‘

One of the Gnostics said, ‘Fine conduct on the outet is a clear indication of fine conduct on the inward. One of them saw a person showing khushi‘ on his shoulders and body and said, ‘O such-and-such, khushi is here,’ pointing to his breast, ‘not here,’ pointing to his shoulders.

One of the Companions, Hudhayfah, would say, ‘Take refuge with Allah from hypoctitical khushd? When asked what it was, he replied, ‘That you see the body humble and submissive while the heart is not.”!!

You leave disobedience to Allah upon a light from Allah, fearing the punishment of Allah.’

Recorded by ibn al-Mubarak, a/-Zuhd #473 with a sabih isnad.

Ibn al-Qayyim, ar-Risdlab al-Tabikiyyah, p. 27, said, “This is the best that has been said concerning the definition of /agnd for indeed every action must have a beginning cause to it and an objective. An action can never be considered to be obedience and a cause to draw one closer to Allah until its point of commencement and cause be unadulterated faith, not habit, not base desires, not the wish for praise and position, nor other such things. Its objective must be the reward that lies with Allah and His good-pleasure, this being the definition of ibtisab. This is why we often find the combined mention of these two foundations such as in his (48) saying, “Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan out of faith and ipti

1 Muslim #2564 on the authority of Aba Hurayrah.

1 Ahmad, a/-Zubd, pg, 142 and ibn al-Mubarak, a/-Zuhd #143 on the authority of Abii al-Darda’.

INNER DIMENSIONS OF THE PRAYER

“Umar (radiyAllahu ‘anh) saw a person with his neck bowed in prayer and said, ‘O such-and-such raise yout head for khushi‘ lies not on the neck but in the heart.’

‘Mishah (radiyAllibu ‘anha) saw some youth trying to walk with an air of quietude, so she asked, ‘Who are they?’ Her colleagues replied, ‘Ascetics.’ She said, ‘When ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab walked, he walked rapidly; when he spoke, he was heard; when he struck someone, it hurt; when he fed (the poor), he made sure they ate to their fill; he was the true ascetic!’

Fudayl ibn ‘Tyad said, ‘Tt used to be disliked for a person to display more £fusha‘ than was in his heart.’

Hudhayfah said, “The first thing you will lose of your religion will be &busha‘and the last thing you will lose of your religion will be the prayer, and it is well possible that there is no good in a person who prays, and soon will come a time when you shall enter a large Masjid and not see a single person with khushi?

Sahl said, ‘The person whose heart has khasha‘ will not go near Shaytan.”?

” Thn al-Qayyim, Madanj al-Salikin, vol. 1, pp. 417-418

Ibn al-Qayyim on Hypocritical Khushi‘

‘The difference between (true) bushi‘ engendered by faith and the hypoctitical khusha‘is that the former takes place in the heart to Allah and is conduced by veneration, magnification, sobriety, dignity, and shyness, The heart breaks for Allah, combining dread, bashfulness, love, and shyness with the perception of Allah’s blessings and one’s own transgressions. This necessarily engenders Abushii‘in the heart which is then followed by &bashi‘on the limbs.

Hypocritical khushi’, on the other hand, appears on the limbs; it is a mete pretence, the person affecting something that is not there since the heart is void of Abasha, One of the Companions would say, ‘I take refuge with Allah from hypocritical khushi? When asked what it was, he replied, ‘That you see the body humble and submissive while the heart is not.”

The one who has bushi‘ for the sake of Allah is a servant, in

2 Ahmad, al-Zuhd, pg, 142 and ibn al-Mubarak, a/-Zuhd #143 on the authority of Abii al-Darda’.

INNER DIMENSIONS OF THE PRAYER

the breast of whom the flames of desires have abated and their smoke has dissipated, replacing in their stead radiance. The blaze of the greatness (of Allah) has been ignited, and the lusts of the soul have died in the face of fear and sobriety which have, in turn, stilled the limbs and quietened the heart. The heart is content and at peace with Allah, and it remembers Him; engulfed in the effusion of tranquillity descending from its Lord, it becomes meek and humble (w#khbil). The heart which is meek is the heart which is at peace and rest for the land which is m#&hbit is land which is low-lying to which water flows and settles. The same applies to the heart: when it is mwkbbit, i.e, it has achieved khushi’, it becomes like this piece of low-laying land to which water flows and settles.

The sign of such a heart is that (its owner) will prostrate before Allah out of magnification and abject humility, broken before Him, nevet (desiring) to raise his head till the day he meets Him. This is the khushi‘ engendered by faith.

The arrogant heart, on the other hand, heaves and swells in its arrogance like a fast flowing rivet. It is like an elevated portion of the land at which water never settles. This is hypoctitical Ahusha’ the person feigns quietude and affects stillness of limb by way of ostentation. In reality, his soul is raging with lusts and desires; outwardly he displays &busha’, but inwardly the valley serpent and jungle lion lurk between his shoulders, waiting to pounce on the

*Tbn al-Qayyim, a/-Rib, pp. 346-347