The Path to Guidance - Ibnul-Qayyim

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The Path to Guidance - Ibnul-Qayyim

The Text of the Treatise

In the Name of Allaah, Full of Mercy, Ever-Merciful to
His (Believing) Servants

(1) This is a book which the Shaikh, the Imaam, the ’Allaamah, the
Shaikh of Islaam and the Muftee of the Muslims, Aboo ’Abdullaah
Muhammad the son of Aboo Bakr - better known as Ibn Qayyim
al-Jawziyyah - may Allaah the Exalted have mercy upon him, sent to
one of his brothers. He said:

BLESSING LIES IN GIVING ADVICE AND TEACHING

(2) Allaah is the One I ask and for Whose reply I hope: that He is
benevolent to the brother in this life and the hereafter, that He
brings about benefit by him and makes him blessed wherever he
may be. Verily the blessing of a man lies in his teaching of goodness
wherever he may be and his giving of advice to everyone he meets.

Allaah, the Exalted said, informing about al-Maseeh (i.e., Jesus) (υ):

And He made me blessed wherever I may be. [Soorah Maryam
(19):31].

Meaning, A teacher of goodness, a caller to Allaah, one who
reminds (others) of Him and who exhorts them to His obedience. So
this is from the blessing of a man.

(3) Whoever is devoid of these (characteristics) is devoid of
blessing and so the blessing of meeting such a person and spending
time with him is removed. In fact, the blessing of the one who
meets him and spends time with him will also be removed if he
should waste time in merely talking about occurrences and events,
thus corrupting the heart. [refer to the chapter one: The Sound
Heart]

(4) Every harm that enters upon a servant, is caused by the heart’s
corruption. The corruption of the heart in turn brings about the
removal of the heart’s right upon Allaah, the Exalted, and a
diminution of its degree and rank in the sight of Allaah. For this
reason, some of the shaikhs advised with their saying, “Be cautious
of (the) mixing with a person which will cause wastage of time and
corruption of the heart. For verily, when time is wasted and the
heart is corrupted, all of the affairs of the servant will become
ruined,1 and he will be of those about whom Allaah, the Exalted,
said:

And obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of
Our Remembrance, one who follows his own lusts and whose
affair has been lost and wasted. [Soorah al-Kahf (18):28].

Still coming..



Fi Amani Allah

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THE PUNISHMENT FOR HEEDLESSNESS

(5) Whoever reflects upon the nature and the state of creation will
find that, excepting a very small number, all of them are of those
whose hearts are unmindful of the remembrance of Allaah, the
Exalted; those who have followed their desires and whose affairs
and well-being have become a ruin. This means that they have
neglected what will benefit them and bring about their well-being.
They occupy themselves with what does not benefit them - rather,
with what brings harm upon them in this life and the next.

(6) It is such people that Allaah, free from all imperfection, ordered
His Messenger not to obey. Obedience to the Messenger cannot be
perfected unless obedience is denied to such people, because they
call only to that which causes difficulties and hardships, such as
following desires and being heedless of Allaah’s remembrance.
When unmindfulness of Allaah’s remembrance and the home of the
Hereafter is coupled with following of desires, then every evil
is produced thereby and very frequently one of them is found
combined with the other.

(7) Whoever contemplates the corruption of the world, both the
general and the specific, will find that it emanates from these two
principles.

(8) Heedlessness comes between a servant and his conceiving the
truth, becoming acquainted with it and having knowledge of it.
Therefore, because of this he becomes of those who are astray
(daalleen).

(9) Following of desires prevents him from seeking the truth,
desiring it and following it. Therefore he becomes of those with
whom Allaah is angry (maghdoobi ’alaihim).

(10) As for those who have been favoured (by Allaah), they are the
ones to whom Allaah has been bountiful by granting them the
realisation of the truth in terms of knowledge, in complying with it
and preferring it as a mode of conduct over whatever is besides it.
These are the ones who are upon the path of safety and those
besides them are upon the path of destruction.

(11) For this reason Allaah, free from all imperfection, has ordered
that we say numerous times, in the day and night:

Guide us upon the Straight Way. The Way of those on whom
You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who
earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who
went astray (such as the Christians). [Soorah al-Faatihah
(1):7].

(12) The servant is in the greatest need of being knowledgeable of
what will benefit him in this life and the hereafter, that he prefers
and chooses what benefits him and avoids what harms him. By both
of these things he is guided to the Straight Way.

(13) If the knowledge of this passes him by he will be treading the
path of those who are astray. If his desiring it (i.e., the truth) and
following it is lost, he will be treading the path of those upon whom
is (Allaah’s) anger.

(14) By this (explanation) you will realise the extent and scope of
this mighty supplication, the intense need for it and the dependence
of the happiness of this life and the hereafter upon it.

Still coming..



Fi Amani Allah