Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (3/260)

Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-ṢāliḥīnIbn al-'Uthaymin

on cold days to a warm spot, holding them in her teeth, yet never harming them, for she carries them with mercy. Once they are weaned and able to fend for themselves, she begins to drive them away, because Allah places mercy in her heart so long as they remain in need of her; after that they are to her like any other cats.

The point, then, is that love of relatives is a natural affection. If, however, your relative is one of Allah’s righteous servants and you love him beyond that natural bond, then you love him for Allah’s sake.

The hadith states: “that he love a person only for Allah’s sake, and that he hate to return to disbelief after Allah has rescued him from it just as he would hate to be cast into the Fire.” In other words, he should loathe the idea of reverting to unbelief after Allah has delivered him from it.

This attitude is plain in someone who was once an unbeliever and then embraced Islam. Yet even one born into Islam must detest the prospect of falling into disbelief after Allah has blessed him with Islam just as he would detest being hurled into the Fire—in fact, being thrown into the Fire would be easier for him to bear than returning to disbelief after having entered Islam. Praise be to Allah, this is the state of many believers. If such a believer were told, “Renounce your faith or we will throw you from the highest cliff in town, or burn you,” he would reply, “Burn me, throw me from the cliff, but I will never apostatize after my Islam.”

This is what is meant by genuine apostasy, which settles in the heart. As for the one who is coerced into uttering words of disbelief while his heart remains tranquil in faith, that will not harm him, for Allah the Exalted says: “Whoever disbelieves in Allah after having believed—except for one who is compelled while his heart remains steadfast in faith—but those who open their breasts to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allah and for them is a tremendous punishment. That is because they preferred the life of this world over the Hereafter” (al-Nahl 106–107)—when

أيام البرد، تدخلهم في الدفء، وتمسكهم بأسنانها، لكن لا تؤثر فيهم شيئاً؛ لأنها تمسكهم إمساك رحمة، حتى إذا فطموا واستقلوا بأنفسهم، بدأت تطردهم؛ لأن الله يلقي في قلبها الرحمة ما داموا محتاجين إليها، ثم بعد ذلك يكونون مثل غيرهم. فالشاهد أن محبة القرابة محبة طبيعية، لكن إذا كان قريبك من عباد الله الصالحين، فأحببته فوق المحبة الطبيعية فأنت أحببته لله. ((أن يحب المرء لا يحبه إلا الله، وأن يكره أن يرجع في الكفر بعد أن أنقذه الله منه؛ كما يكره أن يقذف في النار)) يعني: يكره أن يرجع في الكفر بعد إذ أنقذه الله منه. وهذه ظاهرة فيمن كان كافراً ثم أسلم، لكن من ولد في الإسلام فيكره أن يكون في الكفر بعد أن من الله عليه بالإسلام كما يكره أن يقذف في النار، يعني أنه لو قذف في النار لكان أهون عليه من أن يعود كافراً بعد إسلامه، وهذا والحمد لله حال كثير من المؤمنين. كثير من المؤمنين لو قيل له: تكفر أو نلقيك من أعلى شاهق في البلد أو نحرقك لقال: احرقوني. ألقوني من أعلى شاهق ولا أرتد من بعد إسلامي. وهذا مراد الردة الحقيقية التي تكون في القلب، أما من أكره على الكفر فكفر ظاهراً لا باطناً، بل قلبه مطمئن بالإيمان، فهذا لا يضره لقوله تعالى: (مَنْ كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالْإيمَانِ وَلَكِنْ مَنْ شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْراً فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمُ اسْتَحَبُّوا الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا عَلَى الْآخِرَةِ) [النحل: ١٠٦، ١٠٧] ، لما