Human Beings Have a Great
Capacity for Self-Delusion
Imaam
ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah rahimahullaah
Taken from 'al-Jawab al-Kafi li-man sa'al `an al-Dawa' al-Shafi'
There are two things one should be take heed
of if one wishes to attain success and felicity:
1) To know the details of the means of
attaining good and evil, and to be clear about these through witnessing them in
the world around, through one's own experience and that of others, as well as
through reports one has heard about earlier and latter nations. One of the most
effective means for attaining this is pondering over the Qur'an, for along with
the Sunnah, it clearly explains the paths to good and evil. If you turn your
attention to them, they will suffice you. They will inform you of Allah's
treatment of the obedient, and of the sinners. Moreover, apply what you read to
practical experience, and you will see the illustration of this - that Allah is
true, the Messenger is true, the Qur'an is true, and that Allah fulfills His
promise. History contains details of the paths to good and evil mentioned in the
Qur'an and Sunnah.
2) Beware of deceiving oneself with regard to
these paths. This is very important, for the servant knows that sin and
heedlessness are harmful to him in his world and the Hereafter, and yet he may
deceive himself through relying on Allah's pardon and forgiveness, by
procrastination of repentance, by performing istighfar only verbally, by doing
good deeds [after impetuously sinning], by knowledge, by justifying his sins by
the argument of destiny, by citing exam ples of people committing similar sins,
or by following in the footsteps of ancestors and elders.
Many people think that they can perform some
sin, and then if they say "Astaghfirullah" the sin will disappear. Or,
they may deceive themselves with ahadith such as:
"Whoever says "SubHaanallaahi
wa-biHamdih" one hundred times in a day, his sins are taken off from him,
even if they be like the foam of the ocean." Or:
"A servant committed a sin and then
said, 'O Lord! I have committed a sin, so forgive me,' and so he was forgiven .
. . . then Allah says, 'My servant knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sins,
and takes [to task] for them. I have forgiven My servant, so let him do as he
wishes.'"
Such people cling to the texts of hope, and
hold fast to them with both hands, and put [all] their reliance in them, such
that if they are reprimanded for committing some sin, they will recite all that
they known about Allah's mercy and forgiveness. Some went to excessive limits in
this, such that they claimed that to remain free of sins is being ignorant or
under-estimating Allah's mercy and pardon.
Some deceived people cling to the notion of
fatalism; that the servant has no free-will and that he is compelled to commit
sins. Other cling to the notion of irja' (false hope), claiming that faith is
merely affirmation, and that deeds are neither a part of faith nor have any
effect upon it. According to their claim, the iman of the most sinful of
believers is just like the eeman (faith) of the angels Gabriel and Michael.
Some are deceived by their fathers and
elders, thinking that they have a rank before Allah, such that they would not
leave them to perish. They take this by analogy from the behavior of worldly
kings, who might grant a favor or pardon to someone based on the merits of his
father or relatives. Such people are used to being taken out of difficult
situations by their fathers, and are under the impression that this may happen
in the Hereafter too.
Others deceive themselves by reasoning that
Allah has no need of punishing them since He gains nothing from it, and He does
not lose anything by showing them mercy. Such a person may say, 'I am in dire
need of His mercy, and He is not at all needy of [anything]. if a poor, thirsty
person were in dire need of a drink of water from someone in whose premises
there flows a river, he would not be denied it, and Allah is more generous, and
more expansive in mercy.'
Others are deceived by ridiculous
misinterpretations / misunderstandings, e.g.:
"Your
Lord will give you, so that you become pleased."
[Surah Duha, 5]
He says : I am not pleased to enter the Fire.
This is despicable ignorance, and clear lies, for he should be pleased by what
Allah is pleased by, and it is not against Allah's pleasure to punish the
oppressors, wrong-doers, evil-doers, traitors and those persistent on major
sins.
"Allah
forgives all sins." [Surah Zumar,
93]
This is also despicable ignorance, for this
verse refers to those who repent; otherwise it would imply invalidation of the
verses threatening punishment for the sinners. This is specified by another
verse,
"Allah
does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, and He forgives anything
beneath that to whomever He wills." [Surah Nisa,48],
Also, "None will burn in it except
the most miserable one who rejected and turned away [from the truth]."
[Surah Layl, 15-16].
This is a specific fire from among the
various levels of Jahannam, and moreover the fact that only the rejecters will
burn in it does not rule out that others may enter it. "[Hell] has been
prepared for the unbelievers." [Surah Baqarah, 24] . The fact that it
has been prepared for the unbelievers does not rule out that sinful Muslims may
also be punished in it, just as the fact that Heaven "...has been
prepared for the pious" [Surah Aali-`Imran, 133] does not rule out that
people with the smallest grain of faith may enter it even if they were not
pious.
Some are deceived by fasting the days of `Ashura
and `Arafah, such that some may even say that the fast of `Ashura' expiates the
whole year, and the fast of `Arafah remains as a surplus of reward. Such people
have failed to realize that the fast of Ramadan and the 5 daily prayers are
greater and more noble than the fasts of `Arafah and `Ashura, and that [it is
understood that] sins are [only] forgiven as long as major sins are avoided. So,
[fasting] from one Ramadan to another, [praying] from one Jumu`ah to the next,
act in a mutually strengthening manner to achieve forgiveness of minor sins,
provided major sins are avoided. So, how then can an optional fast expiate every
major sin of a person while he still persists upon the sins, and has not
repented from them? Also, it is possible that these two optional fasts expiate
all sins in totality, but that this has certain prerequisites and conditions,
such as avoidance of major sins, or that the expiation is achieved in
conjunction with other good deeds, much the same as the 5 daily prayers and the
fasting of Ramadan expiate minor sins in conjunction with the avoidance of major
sins. "If you abjure the major things which you are prohibited from, We
shall expiate you your evil deeds." [Surah Nisa, 31]
Some are deceived by the Hadeeth Qudsi, "I
am according to the good expectation/thought of My servant, so let him think of
Me as he wishes." i.e. that whatever he thinks I will do to him, I
will. But, good expectations can only be with good conduct, for one who does
good expects that his Lord will deal with him well, will not break His promise,
and will accept his repentance. As for the one of evil conduct, who persists
upon major sins, oppression and other evils, the desolation of sin, wrongdoing
and [other] prohibited things prevent him from having good expectations of his
Lord. This is something we witness in everyday life. A disobedient employee who
has run away with company property will not have a good expectation of his boss.
The evil of wrong deeds cannot coexist with good expectation. The best in
expectation of his Lord's mercy is the most obedient to Him. Al-Hasan al-Basri
said, "The believer has good expectation of his Lord, so he make his deeds
good. But, the evil person has bad expectation of his Lord, so he does
evil."
How can someone claim to have good
expectation of his Lord when he is like a runaway, and is doing things which
displease and anger his Lord, and has abandoned His orders, and is at war with
Him. How can one have good expectation of his Lord if he thinks that He does not
see him? "And, you used not to conceal yourself, lest your hearing,
sight and skin testify against you, but you though that Allah does not know much
of what you used to do. And that, your expectation which you entertained about
your Lord, has destroyed you, so you have become among those lost/ruined."
[Surah Fussilat, 23] So, these people, who thought that Allah did not know much
of what they did, actually had ill-expectation of their Lord, and that destroyed
them. Such people are deceived if they think they will directly enter Heaven;
they are fooling themselves; Satan is leading them astray and beguiling them.
Ponder over this.
Consider : how is it possible for one's heart
to be certain that one is going to meet Allah, that Allah sees and hears all
that he does, and knows his secret open affairs, and that he will be made to
stand before Allah, answerable for all his deeds - how can one be certain and
aware of all of this, and yet persist upon things which displease Allah; persist
upon abandoning Allah's orders, neglecting His rights, and yet claim that he has
good expectation of Allah?!!
Abu Umamah Sahl ibn Hanif reports: `Urwah ibn
al-Zubayr and I entered upon `A'ishah and she said : If only you had seen the
Messenger of Allah in one of his illnesses; [when] he had 6 or 7 dinars. The
Messenger of Allah ordered me to distribute them [in charity?], but the pain of
the Messenger of Allah kept me from doing that, until Allah cured him. Then, he
asked me about them : "What have you done? Had you distributed the 6
dinars?" I said, "No, by Allah. Your pain had kept me from doing
so." He asked for them to be brought [to him], and put them in his hand
then said, "What would be the expectation of Allah's prophet if he met
Allah with these in his possession?"
What, then would be the expectation of the
people of major sins, and the oppressors, if they were to meet Allah with these
sins and forfeited rights of people on their backs? If their claim that they
entertained good expectations that Allah would not punish evil and wrongdoing
people, were to benefit them, then everyone could do as he wished, doing
everything that Allah has forbidden, provided he kept good expectation of Allah,
thinking that the fire will not touch him. Subhanallah! How deceived can one be?
Prophet Ibrahim said to his people, "Is it a lie, gods besides Allah,
that you desire? What then is your expectation of the Lord of the Worlds?"
[Surah Saffat, 86] i.e. what is your expectation of Allah, what do you expect He
will do to you if you meet Him having worshipped other than Him?
So, if we reflect over this, we will realize
that good expectation of Allah is equivalent to good deeds, for one is moved to
good deeds by good hope of Allah, that He will reward him for his efforts and
accept them. Otherwise, good expectation along with pursuit of whims and desires
and lusts is incapacity.
In short, good expectation can only occur if
the means for salvation are pursued. Pursuit of the means to destruction cannot
accompany good expectations.
Someone might claim : It might, based on the
expansiveness of Allah's mercy and forgiveness and generosity, and that His
mercy exceeds His wrath, and that punishing does not benefit Him, nor does
forgiveness harm Him. The reply is : Allah is indeed most generous and merciful,
but this is in the appropriate place. Allah is also described as possessing
wisdom and might and inflicting retribution, seizing with might, and punishing
those deserving punishment. So, if the good expectation is based merely on some
of Allah's attributes, then the righteous and the evil, the believer and the
unbeliever, would equally be candidates for it. But, the names and attributes of
mercy do not benefit the unbeliever or similarly one who has neglected his duty
and exposed himself to Allah's curse. Rather, good expectation of Allah is for
one who repents, regrets his sins and desists from the. This is good
expectation, whereas the first is deception.
"Those
who believe, and those who perform hijrah and jihad in the path of Allah - they
are hopeful of Allah's mercy." [Surah
Baqarah, 218]
So, these people are the ones who can be
truly hopeful of Allah's mercy; not the evil and sinful people. "...then,
your Lord is, to those who make hijrah after they have been persecuted, and then
perform jihad and are patient/steadfast - indeed, your Lord is, after that, Most
Forgiving, Most Merciful." [Surah Nahl, 119]
So, the knowledgeable one is he who puts hope in its correct place, whereas the deceived one is he who puts it elsewhere.