Purification of the Soul

It is a duty upon every sane person to be prepared for his departure (from this world), for one does not know when he will be served by his Lord's commands (to take away his soul) nor does he know how long it is going to be before he will be summoned (for the Day of Judgment).

I have seen so many people enchanted by their youth. They have forgotten that their peers no longer exist, yet they are preoccupied with prolonged hopes (to stay alive).

A person in the process of acquiring knowledge may tell himself; 'I will acquire knowledge today and will adopt it the following day. Such (postponement) may leave him in his deviation whilst giving himself a break (for the day)!

Delaying his readiness to achieve repentance, whilst exposing himself to be indulged in (sins, such as) backbiting or listening to such (backbiting) or getting involved in a shubhah (suspected, halal or haram) matters.

He hopes to cancel it out (i.e. the bad deed/s) through his would be observance, the following day, forgetting that death may be sudden.

The wise one is he who values each and every moment of his life, observing one's due duties. Then, if death was to come suddenly, one would be ready (to face the Judge, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala). However, if one is granted his wish (in his life being prolonged) that would mean the increasing of (one's scale of) good deeds.

(s) Al-Kaba'ir

(1) Recognizing the bounties Allah has bestowed upon His slaves. These bounties [are so many that they] cannot be counted or enumerated. [Allah says:]

"If you count the blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them." [Al-Qur'an 14:34]

Hearts naturally have love for those who do good to them. Love for a blessing is from the general aspects of thanking the one who has bestowed a bounty. It is said that thanks is with the heart, tongue and limbs.

(2) Another cause is to have knowledge of Allah by His Names, Attributes and Actions. The one who knows Allah, loves Him. Whoever loves Him, obeys Him. Whoever obeys Allah is honored by Him. Whoever Allah honors, He will have him live close to Him. Whoever lives close to Him, has attained the glad tidings.

(3) One of the great causes [that leads to having love of Allah] is the specific knowledge that comes about through pondering over the creation of the heavens and the earth and what Allah has created. In the Qur'an, there is much mention of the signs of Allah that indicate His Greatness, Power, Majesty, Perfection, Eminence, Compassion, Mercy, Strength, Subjugation and other of His beautiful Names and exalted Attributes. Whenever one's knowledge of Allah is strengthened, one's love for Him is also strengthened and one's love for obeying Him is also strengthened. He will then experience the pleasure of worship, whether it be in prayer, remembrance or other forms of worship.

(4) Another cause that will bring about love for Allah is to act towards Allah with sincerity and purity while going against one's desires. This is a cause for Allah to bless a slave and when He blesses the slave, the slave loves Him.

(5) One of the greatest causes that bring about one's love for Allah is increasing one's remembrance of Allah. Whenever a person loves something, he remembers it more often. And it is through the remembrance of Allah that the hearts find tranquillity. In fact, one of the signs of having love for Allah is the constant remembrance of Allah by one's heart and tongue.

(6) One of the causes that brings about Allah's love for His slave is reciting the Qur'an often and pondering over its meaning, in particular those verses that contain Allah's Names, Attributes and Actions. Having fondness for that action will lead the slave to love Allah and Allah to love Him.

(7) Another of the causes of love for Allah is remembering what has been mentioned in the Qur'an and sunnah concerning the believers seeing their Lord in the Hereafter and visiting them and gathering together on the Day of Abundance. That will definitely bring about in a person love for Allah.

Ibn Rajab, Instinshaq Nasimul-Uns min Nafahati Riyadil-Qudus, pp. 22-30.

(s) The Delight of Faith

And among its effects is that the disobedient sinner is constantly in the shackles of his Shaytan and the prison of his shahwa (desires) and the chains / fetters of his hawa (whims). So he is a captive, one who is imprisoned and who is tied up. There is no captive in a worse state than the one who is captivated by his worst enemy and there is no prison which is tighter than the prison of hawa (desire) and there is no bond / fetter more strong than the bond of desire. How, then, will a heart which is captivated, imprisoned and fettered travel unto Allah and the Home of the Hereafter. How will a person take a single step forward when the heart is bound and harmful things approach it from every direction. The harmful things approach it to the extent that it is tied up [i.e. imprisoned by its desires and whims].

The example of the heart is like the example of a bird. Every time is ascends it becomes distant from the harmful things and every time it descends the harmful things hurt it. In a hadith there occurs that Shaytan is like a wolf to people. Just as when a sheep has no protector and is in between many wolves, they are quick in causing damage and injury; likewise the servant who does not have guardianship from Allah, then his wolf [i.e. his desires, whims, etc.] is to him a predatory animal. Thus there is no escape for the servant from having protection from Allah. Taqwa is a safeguarding for him and a strong shield between himself and the punishment of this World and the Hereafter.

Every time the sheep is close to its shepherd it is more safe from the wolf and every time it becomes distant from its shepherd it is closer to destruction. So its sanctuary is when it is close to its shepherd because the wolf takes the lonely one from the flock and this is the one which is the furthest one of the flock from the shepherd. The basis of all of this is is that every time the heart is distant from Allah the harmful things are quick in approaching it and every time it is close to Allah the harmful things become distant from it.

Remoteness from Allah has levels/degrees, some of which are more severe than others. Heedlesness distances the servant from Allah and some acts of disobedience are greater than some acts of heedlessness. Some innovations are greater than some acts of disobedience and some things from hypocrisy and shirk are greater than all of what has preceded.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"And come not near to the unlawful sexual intercourse. Verily, it is a fahishah (i.e. anything that transgresses its limits (a great sin)), and an evil way (that leads one to Hell unless Allah forgives him)." [Al-Qur'an 17:32]

"The woman and the man guilty of illegal sexual intercourse, flog each of them with a hundred stripes. Let not pity withhold you in their case, in a punishment prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a party of the believers witness their punishment." [Al-Qur'an 24:2]

The Jurists say that the last verse quoted above is the punishment for fornicators who have never been married. If a person was ever married before committing the crime of zina (illegal sexual intercourse), he or she is to be punished by stoning to death. This is established by the practise of the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam. If they are not punished in this world and die without repentance (by regretting, leaving the sin, and so forth), they will be punished in the Fire with whips of fire.

In a tradition transmitted by Bukhari, on the authority of Samurah ibn Jundab radiallahu 'anhu, concerning a dream of the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam in which the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam was accompanied by Jibril 'alayhis salam and Mika'il, the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, "We went on and arrived near a pit which was like an oven, out of which we could hear cries. We glanced into it and saw naked men and women, who cried out when the flames reached them from below." I asked, 'Who are these, O Jibril?' He replied, 'Males and females who have committed fornication.' " [vol. 9, p. 138, no. 171]

In explaining the meaning of the verse concerning Hell:

"It has seven gates, for each of those gates is a (special) class (of sinners) assigned." [Al-Qur'an 15:44]

'Ata says, "The most severe of these gates in terms of heat, pain, sorrow, and stinking air is the gate for the doers of fornication, who did it (even) after knowing the awfulness of it."

(s) Al-Kaba'ir

From the morals and manners of the salaf was that they would constantly search their souls to breed in them the characteristics of the believers, and to discard the characteristics of the hypocrites. One is the opposite of the other. A summary of the believers characteristics is mentioned in His Great Book saying:

"Those who turn (to Allah) in repentance; that serve Him, and praise Him; that wander in devotion to the cause of Allah; that bow down and prostrate themselves (in prayer); that enjoin good and forbid evil; and observe the limits set by Allah - so proclaim the glad tidings to the believers." [Al-Qur'an 9:112]

Also:

"The believers will be successful. Those who humble themselves in their prayers; who avoid vain talk; who are active in deeds of charity, who abstain from sexual relations except with those joined to them in marriage or (the captives) whom their right hands possess, for (in their case) they are free from blame. But those whose desires exceed those limits are transgressors. Those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants; who (strictly) guard their prayers: these will be the heirs who will inherit Paradise, to dwell therein." [Al-Qur'an 23:1-11]