Zād al-Maʿād - Ibn al-Qayyim - (1/640)

Zād al-MaʿādIbn al-Qayyim

and shaving the head, raising the voice in lamentation and wailing, and related practices (1).

He taught humility in the face of death, silent weeping, and sorrow in the heart. He himself observed this and would say: “The eyes shed tears, the heart grieves, but we say only what pleases the Lord” (2).

He taught his community to praise Allah, affirm that we belong to Him and will return to Him, and be content with Him. This was not incompatible with tears in the eyes and sorrow in the heart. Thus, he was the most content of all creation with Allah—Mighty and Majestic—in His decree, and the most abundant in praising Him. Yet he wept on the day his son Abraham died, out of compassion, mercy, and tenderness for the child, while his heart remained filled with contentment with Allah and gratitude to Him, and his tongue remained occupied with remembering and praising Him.

When one of those with knowledge of Allah found it beyond him to embrace this state and combine these two responses on the day his child died, he began to laugh. He was asked, “Do you laugh in such circumstances?” He replied, “Allah Most High has decreed something, and I wished to be content with His decree” (3). This puzzled a number of scholars, who asked, “How could the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) weep on the day his son died, when he was the most content of all creation with Allah, while this man’s contentment brought him to the point of laughter?” Then I heard Shaykh

(1) Al-Bukhārī (1294, 1297, 1298, 3519) and Muslim (103) relate from ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd: “He is not one of us who slaps his cheeks, tears his garments at the neckline, and makes the calls of jāhiliyyah (the pre-Islamic age of ignorance).” (2) Related by al-Bukhārī (1303) and Muslim (2315) from Anas ibn Mālik; the wording is closer to Muslim’s version. (3) This is reported of al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyād on the day his son ‘Alī died. Ibn Abī al-Dunyā relates it in al-Ridā ‘an Allāh bi-Qadā’ihi (Contentment with Allah’s Decree), p. 108, through his chain of transmission from Abū ‘Alī al-Rāzī. The author identifies him by name in Tuhfat al-Mawdūd (A Gift to the Beloved), p. 156, and elsewhere.

وحلق الرؤوس، ورفع الصوت بالندب والنياحة وتوابع ذلك (١). وسَنّ الخشوع للموت، والبكاءَ الذي لا صوت معه، وحزنَ القلب. وكان يفعل ذلك ويقول: «تدمع العين، ويحزن القلب، ولا نقول إلا ما يُرضي الرَّبَّ» (٢). وسَنّ لأمته الحمد والاسترجاع والرضى عن الله. ولم يكن ذلك منافيًا لدمع العين وحزن القلب، ولذلك كان أرضى الخلق عن الله ﷿ في قضائه وأعظمهم له حمدًا، وبكى مع ذلك يوم موت ابنه إبراهيم رأفةً منه ورحمةً للولد ورقَّةً عليه، والقلبُ ممتلئ بالرضى عن الله وشكره، واللسانُ مشتغلٌ بذكره وحمده. ولما ضاق هذا المشهدُ والجمعُ بين الأمرين على بعض العارفين يومَ موتِ ولده جعل يضحك، فقيل له: تضحك في هذه الحال؟ فقال: إنَّ الله تعالى قضى بقضاء، فأحببتُ أن أرضى بقضائه (٣). فأشكل هذا على جماعة من أهل العلم، وقالوا: كيف يبكي رسولُ الله ﷺ يومَ موتِ ابنه، وهو أرضى الخلق عن الله، ويبلغ الرِّضى بهذا العارف إلى أن ضحك؟ فسمعت شيخ

(١) أخرج البخاري (١٢٩٤، ١٢٩٧، ١٢٩٨، ٣٥١٩) ومسلم (١٠٣) من حديث عبد الله بن مسعود: «ليس منا من لطم الخدود، وشق الجيوب، ودعا بدعوى الجاهلية». (٢) أخرجه البخاري (١٣٠٣) ومسلم (٢٣١٥) ــ واللفظ أشبه بلفظه ــ من حديث أنس بن مالك. (٣) حكي ذلك عن الفضيل بن عياض يوم مات ابنه عليٌّ. وقد رواه ابن أبي الدنيا في كتاب «الرضى عن الله بقضائه» (ص ١٠٨) بسنده عن أبي علي الرازي. وقد سمّاه المؤلف في كتابه «تحفة المودود» (ص ١٥٦) وغيره.