Iqtiḍāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm - Ibn Taimiya - (1/543)

Iqtiḍāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-MustaqīmIbn Taimiya

another dish: and if he does partake of it at all, he does so only with reluctance and strain. It may even harm him, or at the very least bring him no benefit, for it is not the nourishment that sustains his body. In the same way, when a servant satisfies part of his need through deeds that are not prescribed, his desire for the prescribed deeds—and the benefit he gains from them—diminishes in proportion to what he has replaced them with. By contrast, whoever channels his appetite and ambition toward what the Law has sanctioned finds his love for it and his advantage from it grow; his religion is perfected and his Islam completed.

Thus you will find that a person who constantly listens to sung odes in the hope of rectifying his heart sees his inclination to listen to the Qur’an wane, until he may even come to dislike it. One who frequently travels to visit tomb-shrines and the like discovers that the love and reverence he holds for the pilgrimage to the Sacred House are no longer what they are in the heart of one content with the Sunnah. Whoever becomes accustomed to drawing wisdom and etiquette from the sayings of the sages of Persia and Rome no longer accords the wisdom and manners of Islam the same standing in his heart. And whoever is engrossed in the stories of kings and their exploits loses his concern for the narratives and lives of the prophets. There are many parallels to this.

For that reason the Prophet—may God’s blessings and peace be upon him—said, “No people ever introduce an innovation without God removing …”

(1) In manuscripts J and D the reading is taʿallam (“learn”). (2) The printed edition reads: “wa-yatimmu dīnahu bihi” (“and he completes his religion thereby”). (3) In manuscript B the word appears as najid. (4) The preposition min (“of/from”) is absent from manuscript A. (5) The negating particle lā (“not”) is absent from manuscript A. (6) The word al-ḥarām (“the unlawful”) is absent from manuscript A; the printed edition has al-muḥarram (“the forbidden”). (7) Manuscript B adds the phrase min al-Islām (“of Islam”). (8) The printed edition reads: “admana ʿalā qiṣaṣ al-mulūk” (“he became addicted to stories of kings”). (9) The word naẓīr (“similar/parallel”) is omitted from manuscripts A and B. (10) In the printed edition the sentence continues: “qāla: wa-naẓāʾiru hādhā kathīra” (“He said: ‘There are many similar cases to this.’”).

آخر، حتى لا يأكله إن أكل منه إلا بكراهة، وتجشم، وربما ضره أكله، أو لم ينتفع به، ولم يكن هو المغذي له الذي يقيم بدنه، فالعبد إذا أخذ من غير الأعمال المشروعة بعض حاجته، قلّت رغبته في المشروع وانتفاعه به، بقدر ما اعتاض من غيره، بخلاف من صرف نهمته وهمته إلى المشروع، فإنه تعظم (١) محبته له ومنفعته به، ويتم دينه (٢) ويكمل إسلامه. ولذا تجد (٣) من أكثر من (٤) سماع القصائد لطلب صلاح قلبه؛ تنقص رغبته في سماع القرآن، حتى ربما كرهه، ومن أكثر من السفر إلى زيارات المشاهد ونحوها؛ لا (٥) يبقى لحج البيت الحرام (٦) في قلبه من المحبة والتعظيم ما يكون في قلب من وسعته السنة، ومن أدمن على أخذ الحكمة والآداب من كلام حكماء فارس والروم، لا يبقى لحكمة (٧) الإسلام وآدابه في قلبه ذاك الموقع، ومن أدمن (٨) قصص الملوك وسيرهم؛ لا يبقى لقصص الأنبياء وسيرهم في قلبه ذاك الاهتمام، ونظير (٩) هذا كثير (١٠) . ولهذا جاء في الحديث عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: «ما ابتدع قوم بدعة إلا نزع الله

(١) في (ج د) : تعلم. (٢) في المطبوعة: ويتم دينه به. (٣) في (ب) : نجد. (٤) من: ساقطة من (أ) . (٥) لا: سقطت من (أ) . (٦) الحرام: سقطت من (أ) . وهي في المطبوعة: المحرم. (٧) في (ب) : من الإسلام. (٨) في المطبوعة: أدمن على قصص الملوك. (٩) نظير: سقطت من (أب) . (١٠) في المطبوعة: قال: ونظائر هذا كثيرة.