Al-Siyasa al-Shar'iyya - Ibn Taimiya - (الكتاب/78)

Al-Siyasa al-Shar'iyyaIbn Taimiya

and a desire to exalt himself. The Prophet’s words—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“Actions are only according to intentions” (1) form a complete and comprehensive maxim. Intention is to an action what the soul is to the body. Were this not so, both the person who prostrates to Allah and the person who prostrates to the sun and the moon place their foreheads upon the ground, and their outward forms are identical; yet the former is the closest of creatures to Allah Most High, while the latter is the farthest from Him.

[أ/ق 23] Allah—Mighty and Majestic—says: “They urged one another to the truth and urged one another to patience” (2) [al-ʿAsr: 3], and: “They urged one another to patience and urged one another to compassion” [al-Balad: 17]. It is related in a report: “The best of faith is generosity and patience” (3). The care and governance of people can therefore be properly fulfilled only through generosity, which consists in giving, and valor, which is courage. Indeed, neither religion nor worldly affairs can prosper without them.

Hence, whoever fails to uphold these two qualities is stripped by Allah of authority, which He transfers to another, as Allah Most High says: “O you who believe, what is the matter with you that, when you are told to march forth in the cause of Allah, you cling heavily to the earth? Are you content with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? Yet the enjoyment of this worldly life, compared with the Hereafter, is but little. (38) Unless you march forth, He will afflict you with a painful punishment

(1) Reported by al-Bukhārī (no. 1) and Muslim (no. 1907), from Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with him. (2) This verse appears only in the original manuscript. (3) Reported by Ahmad (no. 22717), al-Kharā’itī in *Makārim al-Akhlāq* (no. 653), al-Bukhārī in *Khalq Afāl al-Ibād* (no. 124), Ibn Abī Āsim in *al-Jihād* (no. 25)—the latter two give it in abridged form—and others, from Ubāda ibn al-Sāmit—may Allah be pleased with him. The wording reported by Ahmad and al-Kharā’itī is: A man came to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and asked, “O Prophet of Allah, which deed is best?” He replied, “Faith in Allah, belief in Him, and jihad in His cause.” The man said, “O Messenger of Allah, I want something easier than that.” He replied, “Generosity and patience…” to the end of the hadith. The chains of Ahmad and al-Kharā’itī include Ibn Lahīa; besides him, the chain contains another narrator who is regarded as weak.

وإرادةٌ للعلو، وقول النبي ﷺ: «إنما الأعمال بالنيات» (١) كلمة جامعة كاملة، فإن النية للعمل كالروح للجسد، وإلا فكل واحد من الساجد لله والساجد للشمس والقمر، قد وضع جبهته على الأرض، فصورتهما واحدة، ثم هذا أقرب الخلق إلى الله تعالى، وهذا أبعد الخلق عن الله. [أ/ق ٢٣] وقد قال الله ﷿: ﴿وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ﴾ (٢) [العصر: ٣]، ﴿وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ﴾ [البلد: ١٧]. وفي الأثر: «أفضل الإيمان: السماحة والصبر» (٣). فلا تتم رعاية الخلق وسياستهم إلا بالجود الذي هو العطاء، والنجدة التي هي الشجاعة، بل لا يصلح الدين والدنيا إلا بذلك. ولهذا كان من لم يقم بهما سلبه الله الأمر ونقله إلى غيره، كما قال الله تعالى: ﴿يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَا لَكُمْ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمُ انْفِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ اثَّاقَلْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ أَرَضِيتُمْ بِالْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا مِنَ الْآخِرَةِ فَمَا مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا فِي الْآخِرَةِ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ (٣٨) إِلَّا تَنْفِرُوا يُعَذِّبْكُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا

(١) أخرجه البخاري (١)، ومسلم (١٩٠٧) من حديث عمر بن الخطاب ﵁. (٢) هذه الآية من الأصل فقط. (٣) أخرجه أحمد (٢٢٧١٧)، والخرائطي في «مكارم الأخلاق» (٦٥٣)، والبخاري في «خلق أفعال العباد» (١٢٤)، وابن أبي عاصم في «الجهاد» (٢٥) ولفظهما مختصر، وغيرهم من حديث عبادة بن الصامت ﵁ ولفظه عند أحمد والخرائطي: أن رجلًا أتى النبي ﷺ فقال: يا نبي الله، أي العمل أفضل؟ قال: «الإيمان بالله، وتصديق به، وجهاد في سبيله»، قال: أريد أهون من ذلك يا رسول الله، قال: «السماحة والصبر ... » الحديث. وفي إسناد أحمد والخرائطي ابن لهيعة، وفي إسناده غيره من يُضَعَّف.