Al-Fawāʾid - Ibn al-Qayyim - (الكتاب/63)

Benefit
A servant only reaches for what has been forbidden him from two directions:
One (1): he harbours ill opinion of his Lord, imagining that were he to obey Him and give Him precedence, He would not grant him something better that is lawful.
The second: he actually knows that whoever leaves something for Allah’s sake, Allah replaces it with something better (2); yet his appetite overwhelms his patience and his desire overpowers his reason.
The first, then, stems from weakness of knowledge, and the second from weakness of intellect and insight.

• Yahya ibn Muʿadh said, “When Allah gathers a person’s heart in supplication, He does not turn him away.”
I say: when his heart is wholly present, his need and destitution are genuine, and his hope is strong, his prayer is scarcely ever rejected.

Section
• When the wakeful observed the world’s tyranny over its people, the deceit of wishful hopes toward their owners, Satan’s seizure of the reins of souls, and the ascendancy of the commanding self, they fled to the fortress of humble entreaty and seeking refuge—just as a frightened slave hastens to the sanctuary of his master.

(1) In the original manuscript the reading is “ahaduhuma” (one of the two). (2) Musnad Ahmad, vol. 5, p. 363; chain: Humayd ibn Hilal → Abu Qatadah and Abu al-Dahma’ → a Bedouin who heard the Messenger of Allah say: “You will never give up something for Allah’s sake without Allah replacing it with what is better for you.” The isnad is sound.

فائدة ما أخذ العبدُ ما حُرِّم عليه إلا من جهتين: إحداهُما (١): سوءُ ظنِّهِ بربِّهِ، وأنَّه لو أطاعَهُ وآثَرَهُ لم يُعطِهِ خيرًا منه حلالًا. والثانيةُ: أن يكون عالِمًا بذلك، وأنَّ مَنْ تركَ لله شيئًا أعاضَهُ خيرًا منه (٢)، ولكن تغلِبُ شهوتُهُ صبَرهُ وهواهُ عقلَهُ. فالأولُ مِن ضَعْفِ علمِهِ، والثاني من ضَعْفِ عقلِهِ وبصيرتِهِ. • قال يحيى بن معاذٍ: من جمع الله عليه قلبَهُ في الدُّعاءِ لم يَرُدَّهُ. قلتُ: إذا اجتمع عليه قلبُهُ، وصَدَقتْ ضرورتُهُ وفاقتُهُ، وقَوِيَ رجاؤُهُ؛ فلا يكاد يُرَدُّ دعاؤُهُ. فصل • لما رأى المتيقِّظون سطوةَ الدُّنيا بأهلها، وخداعَ الأملِ لأربابهِ، وتملُّك الشيطانِ قيادَ النُّفوس، ورأوا الدولة للنفس الأمَّارةِ؛ لجأوَا إلى حصنِ التضرُّع والالتجاءِ؛ كما يأوي العبدُ المذعورُ إلى حَرَمِ سيِّدِهِ.

(١) في الأصل: "أحدهما". (٢) أخرج أحمد (٥/ ٣٦٣) من طريق حميد بن هلال حدثنا أبو قتادة وأبو الدهماء عن رجل من أهل البادية سمع رسول الله ﷺ يقول: "إنك لن تدع شيئًا لله ﷿ إلَّا بدلك الله به ما هو خير لك منه". وإسناده صحيح.