Part 56

Allaah, the Most High, says, "There are some amongst you who desire this world and some who desire the Hereafter." [surah Aal-’Imraan (3): 152] "Say, O Muhammad: This that I have brought you from your Lord is the truth - it is He who guides and humiliates - so if you wish then believe, and if you wish then disbelieve. If you disbelieve then your Lord has prepared for you a Fire whose walls surround those within it." [surah al-Kahf (18):29] "Whoever acts in obedience to Allaah, then it is for the benefit of his own soul and he will be rewarded for it; and whoever acts in disobedience to Allaah, then he has transgressed against his own soul and earned Allaah's Anger; and your Lord will not punish anyone for a sin he did not commit." [surah Fussilat (41):46] As for the reality that it witnessed, then every person knows the difference between his actions that he does by choice - such as eating, drinking, buying and selling, and those that happen without his will - such as shivering due to a feverish chill, and falling from a roof. So in the former examples he acted by his own will and choice and was not compelled and in the latter he neither chose nor desired that which happened to him. As for the rebuttal of the second sect (al-Qadariyyah), then it is in the texts and the intellect. As for the texts, then Allaah, the Most High, is the Creator of everything, and everything exists by His Will. Furthermore Allaah, the Most High, has made clear in His Book that the actions of the servants occur in accordance with His Will. He, the Most High, says, "And if Allaah had willed those who came after Moosaa and 'Eesaa would not have fought amongst themselves after clear signs had come to them from Allaah. But they differed, some believing in Allaah, and His signs and others disbelieving. So if Allaah had willed He would have prevented them and they would not have fought each other; but Allaah does whatever He wills." [surah al-Baqarah (2):253] "And if We had willed We could have guided every person to true belief in Allaah, but the Word from Me has become binding for them, that I will fill the Fire with the sinners and disbelievers from the jinn and mankind." [surah as-Sajdah (32): 13] As for the intellect, then all of the creation is the possession and dominion of Allaah, the Most High, and man is part of this creation and is a slave owned by Allaah, the Most High, and it is not possible for the slave to act within the dominion of the owner except with His Permission and Will. The third level is al-ihsaan [lit. to do well or perfectly], it is a single pillar which is: that you worship Allaah as if you were seeing Him, and even though you do not see Him then He certainly sees you. The proof is the Saying of Allaah, the Most High, "Allaah is with those who fear Him and keep away from what He has forbidden, and those who are people of ihsaan - those who do well in carrying out whatever He has obligated, taking care of His rights and being constant in obedience to Him, He aids, guides and assists them" [surah an-Nahl (16): 128], and His Saying, "And place your reliance O Muhammad in the All-Mighty, the Bestower of Mercy. He Who sees you when you stand to pray, and sees your movements along with those who follow you in the Prayer - in your standing, bowing, prostration and sitting. Your Lord is the One who hears whatever you recite and mention in your Prayer, and Who knows whatever you and those following you do in your Prayer - so recite the Qur'aan in it, and correctly perform it, since your Lord sees and hears you" [surah ash-Shooraa (26):217-220], and His Saying, "You are not involved in any matter, O Muhammad, nor do you recite the Book of Allaah, nor do you do any action - O people - whether it is good or evil, except that We are witnessing your deeds when you do them..." [132] [surah Yoonus (10):61] ________________________________________________________ Al-Ihsaan is the opposite of behaving badly, and it means that a person strives to do what is good and to repel harmful things. So he strives to benefit the servants of Allaah through his wealth, position, knowledge and his person. So as for the case of doing good with ones wealth, then he spends and gives in charity, and pays the zakaat, and the best of the types of doing good through wealth is the zakaat since it is one of the pillars of Islaam, and one of its great foundations. A person's Islaam will not be complete without it. It is the charity most loved by Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, and that is followed by that which it is obligatory upon a person to spend upon his wife, mother, father, children, brothers, children of his brothers, sisters, paternal uncles, paternal aunts, maternal aunts, and so on. Then by charity given to the poor and to the rest of those deserving of charity - such as students of knowledge for example.