Al-Fawāʾid - Ibn al-Qayyim - (الكتاب/192)

Al-FawāʾidIbn al-Qayyim

He, the Exalted, also says: “We shall turn their hearts and their eyes away because they refused to believe in it the first time.” ⦗al-Anʿām: 110⦘. He informs us that He punished them for holding back from faith when it came to them—after they had recognized it and then turned away—by overturning their hearts and their sight and placing a barrier between them and belief. Likewise, He, the Most High, says: “O you who believe, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which will give you life, and know that Allah intervenes between a person and his heart.” ⦗al-Anfāl: 24⦘. Thus He commanded them to answer Him and His Messenger whenever they summon them to what gives true life, and then warned them against hesitating or delaying to respond, for such reluctance becomes a cause for Him to come between them and their hearts. He, Glorified be He, further says: “So when they swerved, Allah caused their hearts to swerve; and Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people.” ⦗aṣ-Ṣaff: 5⦘.

He also says: “No indeed! Rather, what they used to earn has cast a veil upon their hearts.” ⦗al-Muṭaffifīn: 14⦘. The Almighty thus tells us that their deeds overlaid their hearts and barred them from believing in His signs, so they cried, “Tales of the ancients!” ⦗al-Muṭaffifīn: 13⦘.

Concerning the hypocrites He says: “They forgot Allah, so He forgot them.” ⦗at-Tawbah: 67⦘. He repaid their forgetting Him by forgetting them—meaning that He did not remember them with guidance and mercy—and He declared that He caused them to forget their own selves (1). Consequently, they did not seek the perfection of their souls through beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds, which are guidance and the religion of truth. As a punishment for their neglect of Him, He made them forget to pursue, love, know, and strive for these things.

He also says about them: “It is they upon whose hearts Allah has set a seal, and they follow their own desires; whereas those who are rightly guided, He increases them in guidance and grants them their God-consciousness.” ⦗Muḥammad: 16–17⦘. Thus He links, in their case, the pursuit of caprice with the misguidance that is its inevitable fruit and outcome, just as He combines

(1) Concerning His statement: “And do not be like those who forgot Allah, so He caused them to forget themselves” (al-Hashr 59:19).

وقال تعالى: ﴿وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ كَمَا لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهِ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ﴾ [الأنعام: ١١٠]؛ فأخبر أنه عاقبهم على تخلفهم عن الإيمان لما جاءهم وعرفوه وأعرضوا عنه، بأن قلَّب أفئدتَهم وأبصارهم وحال بينهم وبين الإيمان؛ كما قال تعالى: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَينَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ﴾ [الأنفال: ٢٤]؛ فأمرهم بالاستجابة له ولرسوله حين يدعوهم إلى ما فيه حياتُهم، ثم حذَّرهم من التخلُّف والتأخُّر عن الاستجابة الذي يكون سببًا لأن يحول بينهم وبين قلوبهم؛ وقال تعالى: ﴿فَلَمَّا زَاغُوا أَزَاغَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ (٥)﴾ [الصف: ٥]. وقال تعالى: ﴿كَلَّا بَلْ رَانَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ (١٤)﴾ [المطففين: ١٤]؛ فأخبر سبحانه أن كسبهم غطَّى على قلوبهم وحال بينها وبين الإيمان بآياته، فقالوا: ﴿أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ (١٣)﴾ [المطففين: ١٣]. وقال تعالى في المنافقين: ﴿نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَنَسِيَهُم﴾ [التوبة: ٦٧]؛ فجازاهم على نسيانهم له أن نَسِيَهم فلم يذكرهم بالهدى والرحمة، وأخبر أنه أنساهم أنفسهم (١)، فلم يطلبوا كمالها بالعلم النافع والعمل الصالح، وهما الهدى ودين الحق، فأنساهم طلبَ ذلك ومحبته ومعرفته والحرصَ عليه عقوبةً لنسيانهم له. وقال تعالى في حقهم: ﴿أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُمْ (١٦) وَالَّذِينَ اهْتَدَوْا زَادَهُمْ هُدًى وَآتَاهُمْ تَقْوَاهُمْ (١٧)﴾ [محمد: ١٦ - ١٧]، فجمع لهم بين اتباع الهوى والضلال الذي هو ثمرته وموجبه كما جمع

(١) في قوله تعالى: ﴿وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَأَنْسَاهُمْ أَنْفُسَهُمْ﴾ [الحشر: ١٩].