Majmu' al-Fatawa - Ibn Taimiya - (9/316)

and clean; for these terms denote the absence of evil, impurity, and corruption. This is an attribute of absence and negation. It thus becomes clear that when the heart is turned towards falsehood, it likewise has two aspects.

Its affirmative aspect is that it turns towards falsehood and is occupied with it. Its negative aspect is that it turns away from truth and does not receive it. This reveals the clarity, beauty, and truth contained in the words:

“If you place the heart where it does not belong,
Without a vessel, it is a wasteful heart.”

When he wished to describe someone who wastes his heart and thereby wrongs himself—by occupying himself with falsehood and filling his heart with it until no room remains for truth and no way remains for truth to enter—he described both aspects of that heart and portrayed both its orientations. He first mentioned its affirmative attribute, saying:

“If you place the heart where it does not belong.”

He means: if you occupy it with something for which it was not created, turning it towards falsehood until it becomes lodged therein.

Falsehood, in turn, falls into two categories:

وَطَاهِرٌ؛ لِأَنَّ هَذِهِ الْأَسْمَاءَ تَدُلُّ عَلَى عَدَمِ الشَّرِّ وَانْتِفَاءِ الْخَبَثِ وَالدَّغَلِ وَهَذِهِ الصِّفَةُ صِفَةُ عَدَمٍ وَنَفْيٍ. وَبِهَذَا يَتَبَيَّنُ أَنَّهُ إذَا صُرِفَ إلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَلَهُ وَجْهَانِ كَذَلِكَ. وَجْهُ الْوُجُودِ أَنَّهُ مُنْصَرِفٌ إلَى الْبَاطِلِ مَشْغُولٌ بِهِ. وَوَجْهُ الْعَدَمِ أَنَّهُ مُعْرِضٌ عَنْ الْحَقِّ غَيْرُ قَابِلٍ لَهُ وَهَذَا يُبَيِّنُ مِنْ الْبَيَانِ وَالْحُسْنِ وَالصِّدْقِ مَا فِي قَوْلِهِ: إذَا مَا وَضَعْت الْقَلْبَ فِي غَيْرِ مَوْضِعٍ … بِغَيْرِ إنَاءٍ فَهُوَ قَلْبٌ مُضَيِّعُ فَإِنَّهُ لَمَّا أَرَادَ أَنْ يُبَيِّنَ حَالَ مَنْ ضَيَّعَ قَلْبَهُ فَظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُ بِأَنْ اشْتَغَلَ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَمَلَأَ بِهِ قَلْبَهُ حَتَّى لَمْ يَبْقَ فِيهِ مُتَّسَعٌ لِلْحَقِّ وَلَا سَبِيلَ لَهُ إلَى الْوُلُوجِ فِيهِ ذَكَرَ ذَلِكَ مِنْهُ فَوَصَفَ حَالَ هَذَا الْقَلْبِ بِوَجْهَيْهِ وَنَعَتَهُ بِمَذْهَبَيْهِ فَذَكَرَ أَوَّلًا وَصْفَ الْوُجُودِ مِنْهُ فَقَالَ: إذَا مَا وَضَعْت الْقَلْبَ فِي غَيْرِ مَوْضِعٍ. يَقُولُ إذَا شَغَلْته بِمَا لَمْ يُخْلَقْ لَهُ فَصَرَفْته إلَى الْبَاطِلِ حَتَّى صَارَ مَوْضُوعًا فِيهِ. ثُمَّ الْبَاطِلُ عَلَى مَنْزِلَتَيْنِ: