Part 32

' Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

? Recorded by al-Bukhari.

3 Recorded by al-Tirmidhi.

* Recorded by al-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud. 5 Recorded by Ibn Majah and al-Nasa’i.

7 Surat al-Nazi‘at, verses 40-41.

and the Prophet # said: “This world is a prison for a believer but paradise for a disbeliever.””

Satan makes all sins appears to be good for man, endearing them to his heart; so then Satan is able to allure him to all types of misdeeds. For example, when a woman walks about outside, and is exalted by Satan; Satan beautifies her appearance in the eyes of onlookers. So if a Muslim displays patience, by preventing his eyes from looking at her, Satan will not be able to penetrate his heart.

Fourth: Patience with regards to facing harm for the Sake of Allah, because a mu’min (believer) who holds tight to his/her religion, and observes Allah’s Commands, and who follows the Sunnah of the Prophet %, will inevitably be subjected to afflictions and harm. He/she will certainly be a target, for hatred and hurt, of the enemies of Islam and those (who love to see filth being spread about concerning those who believe).

This is the reality of the people of the truth, today: being subjected to hostility from near and distant people, from leaders and the masses; bad scholars accuse them of extremism, while secularists accuse them of backwardness; as for the masses, they accusé them of fanaticism and narrow-mindedness.

This is due, possibly, to the fact that the truth does not conform to their own desires, or that they did not perceive the truth, as practiced correctly by its people clearly.

The conditions of patience

With regards to desires and passions, patience has three levels:

First: When patience overwhelms base desires, conquering them; so it (patience) becomes man’s habit, helping him overcome any anxiety

and any desire. This level is only attained by sincere faithful servants, who testify that their Lord is Allah and follow His Right Path.

' Recorded by Muslim and al-Tirmidbi.

Second: When desire and appetite overcome patience, until it finds no room in the heart of man, so that it becomes imprisotied by one’s own desires; and this type of person is in the majority, in our time.

Third: When there is a conflict waged between two different personalitiess; sometimes you see that a person is patient, only seeking the reward of Allah 3¢, and at other times, you see him/her anxious and extremely worried.

12. Following hawa (one’s desires and appetite)

When Allah 3 installed desires within man, He 4% also created for him a mind to control these desires and be their master.

Abu al-Hasan al-Mawrudi said: “Hawa wards off good and opposes the intellect, because it produces what is immoral: displaying hideous acts and allowing easy entry for evil.”

Some scholars have said: “Allah 4 has formed the angels with brains yet without having any desire, and formed the animals with desires but without (rational) brains, but formed mankind with both. So whoever makes his brain overcome his desires, then he is better than the angels, but whoever lets his desires conquer his. brain then he is worse than animals.”

Abu al-Darda’ said: “When a man wakes up in the morning, his desires, deeds and knowledge assemble together. If his deeds follow his desires, then he would have started an evil day, but if his deeds follow his knowledge, then his day would have been a good day.”

So, a reasonable person is the one who controls his desires, and an even better person is the one who subjects his desires to (the application of) shar’ (Islamic Law).

Allah 4 has made it clear that following hAawaa is the path to misguidance, deviation and hardship; He 3% said: (and do not follow

your own desires, letting them misguide you from the Way of Allah)’.

It was narrated that Jblis said: “I destroyed them with sins, and they destroyed me with Istighfar (asking forgiveness from Allah), so ] opted to destroy them with their own desires, as they think that they are rightly guided, they do not make istighfar”.

Ibn Mas‘ud 4 said: “You are in a time where the truth leads hawa, but there will come a time when hawaa will lead the truth”.

Hawa has three levels with regards to the intellect

The first is the case where the power of hawaa increases because of its numerous requirements, until it becomes too strong for the intellect to overcome, even if it is aware of its evil; and this is common mainly among youths, whose desires maybe overwhelming.

Any person with such a condition becomes a prisoner of his/her own desires; he/she thinks through it, fights for its sake, and strives to attain it at all costs. Allah 4 said about such a person: (Have you seen him

' Surat Sad, verse 26.

? Surat al-A ‘raf, verse 176.

3 Surat al-Kahf, verse 28.

* Surat al-Riim, verse 29.

5 Surat al-Qasas, verse 50.

? Tafsir al-Qurtubi (19/280).

who has taken his whims and desires to be his god?)' One lets one’s desires control oneself, therefore, one is led to a life of disgrace and abasement.

When hawa overcomes the intellect, it makes it so paralyzed (or dragged) that it cannot even distinguish between truth and falsehood; its effect could even increase until it nullifies all sense of judgment, regarding truth as falsehood and falsehood as truth.

The second condition is the one where there is an ongoing war between the two of them (intellect and desires); so a person is, at one time, attracted to his/her desires, but at another, has regained his/her self-control. Such a person should seek better friends in his/her life to remind hinvher if he/she forgets, warning him/her if he/she is careless, guiding him/her if he/she is ignorant, encouraging him/her if he/she is lazy, straightening him/her if he/she is weak, and leading him/her to the Right Path. Nevertheless, he/she is required to equip him/herself with the tools to ward off all the attractions to his/her own desires.

Al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have Mercy upon him, said: “The best form of jihad, is that of facing up to one’s own desires.”

A wise scholar was asked: “Who is the bravest of people and the most successful in his struggle against his desires?” He replied: “The one who fight his own desires off, in obedience to Allah 4%, and is keen to protect his heart from incoming devilish insinuations.”

The best among people is he/she who expulses his/her appetite from his/her heart, and rejects his desire to disobey Allah 8. He/she has to stand firm in his/her strife, because the Reward of Allah is very dear; the Prophet 4 said: “The Commodity of Allah is dear. The Commodity of Allah is Paradise.”* He should seek the Help of Allah 8 to oppose his/her desires, because he/she has no power and no strength save in Allah 3%, so he/she should make the supplication of the Imam of the mujahideen, the Prophet 48: “We seek refuge in Allah against the evil within ourselves and the evil in our deeds”, and “O Allah, grant to my

* Surat al-Furgan, verse 43. ? Recorded by al-Tirmidhi, on the authority of Abi Hurayrah #. 3 Recorded by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah, on the authority of Abu Malik

soul a sense of righteousness and purify it, for You are the Best Purifier thereof. You are the Protecting Friend and Guardian thereof.”'

The third condition is where a person overcomes his/her desires and restrains them; he/she subjects them to shar’ (Islamic Law) as he/she takes the Prophet 4 as his/her example. These type of people are truly and rightly guided, and comply with the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah %, who said: “Say: I affirm my faith in Allah and then remain steadfast to it’, and they are the ones intended in Allah’s Verse: (But for those who fear the Station of his Lord and forbade the lower self its appetite, the Garden will be his refuge)’.

Sayyid Qutb, may Allah have Mercy upon him, said: “The one who entertains the fear of standing before Allah’s Tribunal, does not attempt to commit a sin, and if he ever does, due to his human weakness, the fear of standing before Allah leads him to remorse and repentance, and so he remains in the circle of obédience to his Lord.

Forbidding the lower self its appetite is the focal point in the circle of obedience to Allah 3, because appetite and desires are powerful incentives for every transgression and sin. It is the basis of misfortune and source of evil. Man is mainly targeted (by Satan) through his desires; ignorance is easily curable, but a strong appetite for following one’s desires, after knowledge, is an ailment of the lower self, which requires a long hard struggle to be (fully) cured.

Having fear from Allah 3€ impedes that powerful drive to follow one’s desires. The Author in the Verse is the Creator of the self, Who knows both its ailment and its cure. He 4 Alone knows its highs and lows, where its appetite and its treatment lies, and how that appetite could be pacified.

Allah 3 did not order mankind to dispute with the hidden desires of his soul; for He 3& knows that it would be beyond his ability. Nevertheless, he is charged with the task to curbing its defiance and restraining it, inspired by his fear of the Day on which he will stand

' Recorded by Muslim, on the authority of Zayd ibn Argam. ? Recorded by Muslim, on the authority of Sufyan ibn ‘Abdillah al-Thagafi. 3 Surat al-Nazi‘at, verses 40-41.

before his Lord; as He 3& would reward him, for his long struggle, with the entry into Paradise. Allah 8 knows how huge this struggle with the self really is, and the importance of educating and taming the human soul, raising it to higher levels.”

13. Having low opinions of others