Al-Fawāʾid - Ibn al-Qayyim - (الكتاب/41)

Al-FawāʾidIbn al-Qayyim

their advocate, their defender, their supporter, the guarantor of their interests, the One who rescues them from every affliction and unfailingly fulfils His promise. He is their patron—there is no patron for them but Him. He is their true Protector and their Helper against the enemy: how excellent a Protector and how excellent a Helper!

When hearts, through the Qur’an, come to behold a mighty, merciful, generous and beautiful King whose dealings are of this sort, how could they not love Him, vie with one another to draw near to Him, expend their very breaths in seeking His favour, and hold Him dearer than everything else, preferring His good pleasure to the pleasure of all others? How could they not keep His remembrance forever upon their tongues, so that love for Him, yearning for Him and finding comfort in Him become their food, their sustenance and their medicine—such that, were they deprived of this, they would be ruined, perish, and gain no benefit from their lives at all?

Benefit
A receptacle can accept what is placed in it only after it has been emptied of whatever contradicts that content. What is true of physical substances is equally true of beliefs and intentions.

Thus, when the heart is filled with falsehood—both in conviction and in affection—no room remains in it for the conviction of truth and love for it. Likewise, if the tongue is busy with speech that brings no benefit, its owner cannot speak what will benefit him until he frees his tongue from useless talk. In the same way, when the limbs are occupied with something other than obedience, they cannot be employed in obedience until they are released from its opposite.

Similarly, a heart preoccupied with love for anything other than Allah—desiring it, yearning for it and finding solace in it—cannot be devoted to love for Allah, desiring Him and longing to meet Him until it is first emptied of its attachments to anything else. Nor can the tongue move in His remembrance, or the limbs in His service, until they are freed from remembering and serving others. When, therefore, the heart becomes saturated with concern for created beings and for worldly knowledge

عنهم، والمُحامي عنهُم، والناصرُ لهم، والكفيلُ بمصالحهم، والمُنجي لهم من كلِّ كربٍ، والمُوفِي لهم بوعده، وأنَّه وليُّهم الذي لا وليَّ لَهم سواهُ؛ فهو مولاهم الحقُ، ونَصيرُهم على عدوِّهم؛ فنعم المولى ونعم النصيرُ. فإذا شَهدتِ القلوبُ من القرآن ملكًا عظيمًا رحيمًا جوادًا جميلًا هذا شأنُهُ، فكيف لا تُحِبُّه، وتُنافِسُ في القُرْب منه، وتُنْفِقُ أنفاسها فيِ التودُّد إليه، ويكون أحبَّ إليها من كل ما سواه، ورضاهُ آثر عندها من رِضى كلِّ ما سواه؟! وكيف لا تلهَجُ بذكْرِهِ، ويصير حبُّه والشوقُ إليه والأُنسُ به هو غذاءها وقُوتَها ودواءَها؛ بحيثُ إن فقدتْ ذلك، فسدتْ وهلكتْ ولم تَنتفعْ بحياتِها؟! فائدة قَبولُ المَحلِّ لما يُوضع فيه مشروطٌ بتفريغه من ضدِّه، وهذا كما أنَّه في الذَّواتِ والأعيان؛ فكذلك هو في الاعتقادات والإرادات: فإذا كان القلبُ ممتلئًا بالباطل اعتقادًا ومحبةً؛ لم يبْقَ فيه لاعتقاد الحقِّ ومحبتِهِ موضعٌ؛ كما أنَّ اللسان إذا اشتغلِ بالتكلُّم بما لا ينفعُ؛ لم يَتمكَّنْ صاحبُهُ من النُّطق بما ينفعُهُ؛ إلا إذا فرَّغ لسانه من النُّطق بالباطل، وكذلك الجوارحُ إذا اشتغلت بغير الطاعة؛ لم يُمكن شغلها بالطَّاعة إلَّا إذا فرَّغها من ضدِّها. فكذلك القلبُ المشغولُ بمحبَّة غير الله وإرادته والشوق إليه والأُنْس به لا يُمكن شغلُهُ بمحبة الله وإرادتِهِ وحبِّه والشوق إلى لقائه؛ إلا بتفريغِهِ من تعلُّقه بغيره، ولا حركة اللسان بذكره والجوارح بخدمتِهِ؛ إلَّا إذا فرَّغها من ذكر غيره وخدمته؛ فإذا امتلأ القلبُ بالشُّغْل بالمخلوق والعلوم