Al-Fawāʾid - Ibn al-Qayyim - (الكتاب/162)

Al-FawāʾidIbn al-Qayyim

of His universal Lordship, His wisdom, the perfection of His names and attributes, the way those attributes attach to their proper objects, and the effects and necessitations that flow from them. All of this stands as one of the greatest proofs of His Lordship, sovereignty, and divinity, as well as of His love and His wrath, His reward and His punishment.

And Allah knows best.

• Those who have needs crowd the King’s gate, pleading for those needs to be met, while His friends who love Him—those for whom He alone is the concern and the goal—sit with Him as His intimates. When He wishes to satisfy the need of one of those petitioners, He grants permission to one of His companions and intimates to intercede for him, as a mercy to the petitioner and an honor to the intercessor, while all others are driven from the door, struck by the whips of remoteness.

Section

Ten things are wasted and yield no benefit:

Knowledge that is not acted upon;
A deed devoid of sincerity and conformity to the prophetic way;
Wealth from which nothing is spent, so its hoarder enjoys none of it in this world and sends none of it ahead to the Hereafter;
A heart empty of love for Allah, yearning for Him, and finding intimacy with Him;
A body left idle from obedience and service;
Love that is not bound by the Beloved’s good pleasure and obedience to His commands;
Time squandered, neither used to make up what was missed nor to seize an opportunity for righteousness and closeness to Allah;
A mind that roams in matters of no benefit;
Serving someone whose service does not draw you nearer to Allah and brings no improvement to your worldly life;
Fearing and hoping in one whose forelock is in Allah’s hand, who is captive in His grasp, and who has no power over harm or benefit, death or life, or resurrection.

The greatest of all these losses are two that lie at the root of every other loss: the loss of the heart and the loss of time. The heart is lost by preferring this world over the Hereafter, and time is lost by holding on to long, empty hopes.

عمومِ ربوبيَّته سبحانه وحكمته، وكمال أسمائه وصفاته، وتعلُّقها بمتعلَّقاتها، واقتضائها لآثارها وموجباتها. وذلك من أعظم الدِّلالة على ربوبيَّتِهِ ومُلكِهِ وإلهيَّتِهِ، وحُبِّهِ وبُغْضِهِ، وثوابِهِ وعقابِهِ. والله أعلم. • أربابُ الحوائج على باب الملك يسألون قضاءَ حوائجهم، وأولياؤُهُ المحبُّون له الذين هو همُّهم ومُرادُهم جُلساؤُهُ وخواصُّه؛ فإذا أراد قضاءَ حاجة واحدٍ من أولئك؛ أذِنَ لبعض جلسائه وخاصَّتِهِ أن يشفع فيه رحمةً له وكرامةً للشافع، وسائرُ الناس مطرودون عن الباب مضروبون بسياط البُعْدِ. فصل عشرةُ أشياء ضائعةٌ لا يُنتفع بها: علمٌ لا يُعمَل به، وعملٌ لا إخلاصَ فيه ولا اقتداء، ومالٌ لا يُنْفَقُ منه فلا يَستمتِعُ به جامعُه في الدُّنيا ولا يُقدِّمُه أمامَه إلى الآخرة، وقلبٌ فارغٌ من محبة الله والشوق إليه والأنس به، وبدنٌ معطَّلٌ من طاعته وخدمته، ومحبةٌ لا تتقيَّدُ برِضىَ المحبوب وامتثال أوامره، ووقتٌ معطَلٌ عن استدراك فارطٍ أو اغتنام برٍّ وقُربةٍ، وفكرٌ يجولُ فيما لا ينفعُ، وخدمةُ من لا تُقرِّبُك خدمتُه إلى الله ولا تعودُ عليك بصلاح دُنياك، وخوفُك ورجاؤُك لمن ناصيته بيد الله وهو أسيرٌ في قبضته ولا يَملِك لنفسه ضرًّا ولا نفعًا ولا موتًا ولا حياةً ولا نشورًا. وأعظمُ هذه الإضاعات إضاعتان هُما أصلُ كلِّ إضاعةٍ: إضاعةُ القلب وإضاعةُ الوقت؛ فإضاعة القلب من إيثار الدُّنيا على الآخرة، وإضاعةُ الوقت من طول الأمل.