Points of Benefit

 

Points of Benefit

From al-Fawaa’id of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

Abridged by Shaikh Husain Al-‘Awaayishah

Faid-ur-Rahmaan fee Al-Fawaa’id-il-Hisaan
(No. 1, pg. 30-32)

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*  How can anyone who has common sense
trade Paradise and what is in it for the pleasure of one hour? 

*  When you fear the creation, you
feel repelled by it and run away from it, but when you fear the Creator,
you feel close to Him and run towards Him.

*  If knowledge without action were
of benefit, why did Allaah condemn the scholars of the People of the Book? 
And if action without sincerity were of benefit, why did He condemn the
hypocrites?

*  Repel the thought, for if you don’t,
it becomes an idea.  So repel the idea, for if you don’t it will become
a desire.  So fight against that (desire), for if you don’t, it will
become a determination and a passion. And if you don’t repel that, it will
become an action.  And if you don’t replace it with its opposite,
it will become a constant habit.  So at that point, it will be difficult
for you to change it.

*  When a decreed matter occurs to
Allaah’s ‘abd (slave), which he dislikes, then he should have six perspectives
about it

-  First: The Perspective of Tawheed:

And that Allaah is the One who decreed
it and willed it and created it.  And whatever Allaah wills comes
to pass, and whatever He doesn’t will doesn’t come to pass

-  Second: The Perspective of Fairness:

And that He ruled this event to occur in
the past and that there is fairness in His Divine ordainment.

-  Third: The Perspective of Mercy:

And that the person’s mercy with regard
to this thing that was decreed supercedes his anger and vengeance

-  Fourth: The Perspective of Wisdom:

And that it was Allaah’s infinite Wisdom
that brought that about.  He did not decree it in vain nor did He
divinely execute it for no purpose

-  Fifth: The Perspective of Praise:

And that to Allaah belongs the complete
and entire praise for that thing that was decreed from every angle of it.

-  Sixth: The Perspective of Worship
to Allaah (‘Ubudiyyah):

And that he is a pure worshipper of Allaah
from every standpoint.  His Master’s Rulings and Decrees occur to
him by virtue of his being Allaah’s possession and slave. So Allaah administers
him under His decreed rulings just as He administers him under His religious
rulings.  So it (i.e. the decreed event) becomes a place for these
rulings to occur to him.

*  Little success (from Allaah), bad
views, unawareness of the truth, corruption of the heart, laziness in making
dhikr, wasting time, distaste for the creation, estrangement between the
servant and his Lord, the prevention of the supplication from being answered,
hardening of the heart, the termination of blessing from ones provision
and lifespan, the prevention of knowledge, being covered in debasement,
humiliation at the hands of the enemy, constricting of the chest, prolonged
grief and sorrow, a wretched life of poverty, and a gloomy state of being
are all produced from sins and neglecting to remember Allaah just as crops
are produced from water and burning from fire.  And the opposites
of these things are produced from obedience to Allaah.

*  If your mind would free itself
from the governorship of your desires, the state would return back to it.

*  You have entered into the abode
of desires, so you have put your life at stake.

*  It was once to said to one devout
worshipper of Allaah: “Until when will you continue to exhaust your soul?” 
So he responded: “It is its relaxation that I seek.”

*  The women of this world were made
beautiful to those who can see in order to test which of them prefers them
over the women of the Hereafter.  So whoever knows the extent of differences,
he will choose what deserves to be chosen.