The door of Success

Ibn ul Qayyim Al Jawziyah (Rahimahullah) mentioned in his book “Fawaa’id ul Fawaa’id” on the authority of Shaqeeq Ibn Ibrahim (Rahimahullah) ,

Who said: The door of Tawfeeq (success) has been closed on the people because of six things:

The First: Because they busy themselves with the Ni’mah (blessing) bestowed upon them and forget about the gratitude they should express to Allah, the One who bestowed the favor on them.

The Second: Because they have an ardent desire for knowledge however, they abandon acting upon it.

The Third: Because they hasten to commit sin but delay repentance for the sin.

The Fourth: Because they are deceived by the companionship of the righteous but fail to emulate their actions.

The Fifth: Because the life of this world is behind them but they are insistent on chasing after it.

The Sixth: Because the hereafter is in front of them but they turn away from it.

The source of all of this stems from a lack of Raja’a (hope in Allah’s mercy) and Khowf ( fear of Allah’s punishment and the fact that He may not accept any of your deeds). And the origin of this stems from a weakness in Yaqeen (certainty). And the origin of this stems from a weakness in Baseerah (sound legislative knowledge). And the origin of this stems from humiliation and ignobility and exchanging that which is superior for that which is mediocre.

If the individual was noble and ambitious he would not settle for mediocre. The source of every good is by the Tawfeeq of Allah as well as by His will, the nobility of the soul, its magnanimity and exaltedness. Subsequently, the source of every evil is the villainousness of the soul, its ignobility and lowliness, as Allah says:“Indeed he will be successful who purifies his soul and he who corrupts his own soul will fail…”

Meaning, the one who exalts his soul, multiplies it’s good and nurtures it upon obedience to Allah, will be successful. However, the one who disgraces his soul and humiliates it by exposing it to sin and disobedience to Allah will utterly lose. Thus the noble souls are not satisfied except with the finer things in life, those things that reap the most praiseworthy outcome. On the other hand, the ignoble souls loiter around the lowliest affairs just as the fly that only lands on feces.

Hence the noble and superior soul is not satisfied with oppression, fornication/ adultery, stealing or betrayal due to the fact that he considers himself more dignified to commit such acts. However, the ignoble soul is the total opposite. And every soul will incline towards what is in conformity with it’s desire(s) and what it deems suitable. This is consistent with the statement of Allah: “Every soul shall act according to what it inclines towards…”

Meaning, every soul will act upon what is in conformity with it’s desires. The soul will act upon what it deems suitable and appropriate for it. Thus, every soul will proceed upon the path that is natural for it. So the Fajir (i.e. criminal) soul will act according to what is natural for it, of welcoming the blessing(s) of Allah with sin while turning away from Al Mun’im.

Yet the believer acts according to what is natural for him, of gratitude to Allah, the One who grants His bounty to whomsoever He wills. Also loving Him, praising

Him, showing affection to Him and being modest before Him, while the slave is conscious of the fact that Allah is evaluating his every movement, coupled with magnification and glorification of Him.

If..

If
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling

The ignorant people complain

The ignorant people complain to people about Allaah, and this is the highest degree of ignorance, for if he had known his Lord, he would not have complained about Him, and if he had known the people he would not have complained to them.

One of the predecessors saw a man complaining to another man about his poverty and dire necessity. He said to him, ‘O you! By Allaah, you have done nothing but complain about He who has mercy for you, to the one who has no mercy for you’.

The following verses have been mentioned about the meaning of the previous statement of the predecessor.

When you complain to a son of Adam
verily you complain about the Most Merciful
to the one who does not pity.

On the contrary, the person who is profoundly knowledgeable about Allaah complains to Allaah alone. And the most knowledgeable person about Allaah is the one who complains about himself to Allaah, and never to people. He complains about the causes that make people do wrong to him, for he knows about the following Qur’anic verses,

‘And whatever of misfortune befalls you it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much’
(Ash-Shura, 42: 30)

‘Whatever of good reaches you, is from Allaah but whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself.’
(An-Nisa, 4: 79)

‘(What is the matter with you?). When a single disaster smites you, although you smote (your enemies) with one twice as great, you say: ‘From where does this come to us?’ Say (to them), ‘It is from yourselves (because of your evil deeds). ‘And Allaah has power over all things.
(Al-Imran, 3: 165)

Therefore, there are three levels: the lowest one is to complain about Allaah to his creatures, the highest one is to complain about yourself to Him and the middle one is to complain about His creatures to Him. May Allaah make us from those who complain to Him alone about ourselves, He the Majestic and Most High, Ameen.

Ibn alQayyim alFawaid page 134

source: http://theclearsunn ah.wordpress. com/2009/ 10/24/the- complaint- of-the-ignorant/

Isn't it crazy how a person can live brain dead, but would die without a heart.

On the authority of Abu 'Abdullah al-Nu'man bin Bashir, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:

"Truly, what is lawful is evident, and what is unlawful is evident, and in between the two are matters which are doubtful which many people do not know. He who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and honour blameless, and he who indulges in doubtful things indulges in fact in unlawful things, just as a shepherd who pastures his flock round a preserve will soon pasture them in it. Beware, every king has a preserve, and the things Allah has declared unlawful are His preserves. Beware, in the body there is a flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt, and behold, it is the heart."

[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

7th & 8th benefit

أنى رأيت كل أحد يسعى بجد ، ويجتهد بمبالغة لطلب القوت والمعاش
بحيث يقع فى شبهة وحرام ويذل نفسه وينقص قدره
فتأملت فى قوله تعالى : ( وما من دابه فى الأرض إلا على الله رزقها)
فعلمت أن رزقى على الله تعالى وقد ضمنه ، فاشتغلت بعبادته ، وقطعت طمعى عمن سواه

The seventh benefit ~ I saw everyone working very hard, exhausting themselves in obtaining food and sustenance, tempted by doubts and forbidden things. They degrade themselves and diminish their potential..
I pondered over the saying of the Exalted: وما من دابه فى الأرض إلا على الله رزقها
“There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance dependent on Allah.”

I knew that my livelihood is guaranteed by Allah the Exalted so I engaged myself in worship and cut off my covetousness of other than He.


الفائدة الثامنة : أنى رأيت كل واحد معتمدا على شىء مخلوق ، بعضهم على الدينار والدرهم ، وبعضهم على المال والملك ، وبعضهم على الحرفة والصناعة ، وبعضهم على مخلوق مثله، فتأملت فى قوله تعالى :
( ومن يتوكل على الله فهو حسبه إن الله بالغ أمره قد جعل الله لكل شىء قدرا)
فتوكلت على الله تعالى فهو حسبى ونعم الوكيل

The eighth benefit ~is that I saw that everyone relied on some created thing, some on the dinār and dirham, some on wealth and property, some on trade and industry and some on creatures like themselves.
I meditated upon the saying of the Exalted: ومن يتوكل على الله فهو حسبه إن الله بالغ أمره قد جعل الله لكل شىء قدرا

“And whosoever places his reliance on Allah, sufficient is [Allah] for him. For Allah will surely accomplishes His purpose. Verily for all things has Allah appointed a due proportion for everything.”

I therefore placed full reliance in Allah the Exalted. He is sufficient for me and He is the best Disposer of affairs.’


Shaqīq then said: “May Allah bless you and grant you success. I looked into the Old Testament, and Gospel, the Psalms and the Qur’an and have found that the four books revolve around these eight benefits. Whoever acts according to them is acting according to these four books.”