Al-Irshad ila Sahih al-Itiqad - Salih Al-Fawzan - (93)

Al-Irshad ila Sahih al-ItiqadSalih Al-Fawzan

expecting that matters should have been such and such—some complain only a little, others a great deal. So examine your own soul: are you really free of this?

If you escape a peril so immense,
Otherwise, I fear you will not escape at all.

Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said: “Whoever thinks that Allah will not grant victory to His Messenger, will not bring his mission to completion, will not strengthen him and his followers, raise them high, grant them triumph over their enemies and make them prevail; whoever imagines that He will not aid His religion and His Book, and that He will instead give lasting ascendancy to polytheism over monotheism, to falsehood over truth—until monotheism and truth fade away never to rise again—such a person harbours evil thoughts about Allah. He ascribes to Him what is utterly unbefitting of His Majesty, His perfection, His attributes and His qualities. For His praise, His might, His wisdom, and His divinity all reject that; they refuse that His party and His army be humbled, or that settled and perpetual victory belong to His enemies who associate partners with Him and set up equals to Him. Whoever thinks this way has never truly known Him, nor known His names, nor known His perfect attributes.”

Likewise, anyone who denies that these matters occur by His decree does not know Him, nor recognise His Lordship, His sovereignty, and His greatness.

And whoever rejects the idea that He has preordained what He has decreed—this and everything else—for an all-embracing wisdom and a praiseworthy end for which He deserves praise, imagining instead that it proceeds from a mere will devoid of wisdom and devoid of a desired goal more beloved to Him than its absence, and who claims that the disliked causes leading to that end fall outside the scope of wisdom—whereas He decreed them precisely because they lead to what He loves, even though they are disliked—such a person is alleging that He decreed them in vain, willed them in jest, and created them pointlessly: “That is the assumption of those who disbelieve, so woe to those who disbelieve from the Fire.” 1

Most people entertain unworthy—indeed evil—thoughts about Allah concerning what befalls them personally and what He does with others. None are safe from this except the one who truly knows Allah, knows His names and attributes, and understands what His wisdom and His praise require:

(1) Quran, Surah Sad (38), verse 27.

ينبغي أن يكون كذا وكذا؛ فمستقل ومستكثر، وفتش نفسك هل أنت سالم؟ فإنْ تَنْج مِنْ ذي عَظيَمٍة ... وإلاَّ فَإنِّي لا أَخَالكَ نَاجِيا قال ابن القيم ﵀: "فمن ظن به أنه لا ينصر رسوله ولا يتم أمره ولا يؤيده ويؤيد حزبه ويعليهم ويظفرهم بأعدائهم ويظهرهم، وأنه لا ينصر دينه وكتابه، وأنه يديل الشرك على التوحيد الباطل على الحق إدالة مستقرة يضمحل معها التوحيد والحق اضمحلالاً لا يقوم بعده أبدًا؛ فقد ظن بالله ظن السوء، ونسبه إلى خلاف ما يليق بجلاله وكماله وصفاته ونعوته؛ فإن حمده وعزته وحكمته وإلهيته تأبى ذلك، وتأبي أن يذل حزبه وجنده، وأن تكون النصرة المستقرة والظفر الدائم لأعدائه المشركين به العادلين به، فمن ظن به ذلك؛ فما عرفه، ولا عرف أسماءه، ولا عرف صفاته وكماله". وكذلك من أنكر أن يكون ذلك بقضائه؛ فما عرفه، ولا عرف ربوبيته وملكه وعظمته. وكذلك من أنكر أن يكون قدَّر ما قدَّره من ذلك وغيره لحكمة بالغة وغاية محمودة يستحق عليها الحمد، ظن أن ذلك إنما صدر عن مشيئة مجردة عن حكمة وغاية مطلوبة هي أحب إليه من فواتها، وأن تلك الأسباب المكروهة له المفضية إليها لا يخرج تقديرها عن الحكمة؛ لإفضائها إلى ما يحب، وإن كانت مكروهة له؛ فما قدرها سدى، ولا شاءها عبثا، ولا خلفها باطلاً، ﴿ذَلِكَ ظَنُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنَ النَّارِ﴾ ١. وأكثر الناس يظنون بالله غير الحق، ظن السوء، فيما يختص بهم، وفيما يفعله بغيرهم، ولا يسلم من ذلك إلا من عرف الله، وعرف أسماءه وصفاته، وعرف موجب حكمته وحمده:

١ سورة ص، الآية: ٢٧.