Spirituality and Sufism
Family: Belief and worship · 17 entries
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Prophetic adab (proper conduct)
The body of proper conduct the believer is commanded in his words, deeds and relations with God and His servants; from the formula 'whoever believes in God and the Last Day' in Abu Hurayra's hadith Ibn Rajab derives that these traits are of the traits of iman and that deeds enter into iman, dividing the hadith's three commands into what belongs to God's rights — speaking good or keeping silent — and what belongs to His servants' rights — honouring the neighbour, withholding harm from him and honouring the guest; he transmits Aswad ibn Asram's report of the Prophet's counsel 'do not say with your tongue except what is good and do not extend your hand except to good', and that the tongue's uprightness is of the traits of iman; Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reports from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, the Maliki imam of his time, that the conduct of goodness and all its reins branch from four hadiths: speaking good or keeping silent, leaving what does not concern one, 'do not become angry', and loving for one's brother what one loves for oneself.Righteousness (birr)
In the twenty-seventh hadith of the Forty, righteousness (birr) and sin (ithm) are defined through conscience and character together: in al-Nawwas ibn Sam'an's report in Muslim (2553), 'righteousness is good character, and sin is what wavers in your soul and you dislike for people to see it' — righteousness reduced to sheer character, and sin marked by inner unease joined to dislike of public exposure; and in Wabisa ibn Ma'bad's report in Ahmad and al-Darimi, the Prophet commanded 'consult your own soul' while poking his chest with three fingers: righteousness is what the heart and soul are at peace with, and sin is what wavers in the heart and hesitates in the breast even if people give verdict upon verdict — inner rest and expansiveness made the sign of righteousness, and inner hesitation the sign of sin even against the muftis' rulings; Abu Umama's route 'if something wavers in your breast, leave it' and Abu Tha'laba al-Khushani's 'righteousness is what the soul rests in and the heart is at peace with … even if the muftis give you verdicts' corroborate it, both chains sound for Ibn Rajab.Ghadab (anger)
The soul's agitation at offence or opposition, from which the sharia magnifies the call to guard; a man came to the Prophet saying 'counsel me' and he answered 'do not become angry', the man repeating his request several times and receiving the same answer — one route has 'teach me something and do not make it long that I may retain it', another 'point me to a deed that admits me to Paradise' — the answer one in every case; Ibn Rajab infers that repeating the answer to the renewed request shows anger to be the sum of evil and guarding against it the sum of good; Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reports from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd that 'do not become angry' is one of the four hadiths from which all the conduct of goodness branches, and among the definitions of good character are Ahmad's 'that you not become angry or fierce' and Ishaq ibn Rahuya's 'a cheerful face and not becoming angry'.Haya' (modesty and shame)
The disposition that restrains a person from ugly deeds; in Abu Masud al-Badri's hadith in al-Bukhari: 'what people have retained of the speech of the first prophethood: if you feel no shame, do as you wish' — 'the speech of the first prophethood' meaning, for Ibn Rajab, what was handed down from the earlier prophets and inherited by people generation after generation until it reached the first of this community, one route adding 'nothing of the speech of the first prophethood reached people except this'; 'if you feel no shame, do as you wish' has two readings — not an imperative but censure: either threat and warning like 'do as you wish, for He sees what you do' and the hadith 'whoever sells wine, let him then carve up the pigs', the choice of a group including Abu al-Abbas Tha'lab, or an imperative in form carrying a statement — whoever lacks shame does whatever he wishes, shame being the only check on ugly deeds, like 'whoever lies about me deliberately, let him take his seat in the Fire' — the choice of Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, Ibn Qutayba and Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi, Abu Dawud reporting from Ahmad what indicates the same.Love for one's brother
That the believer loves for his brother, and for people, what he loves for himself of good; in Anas ibn Malik's hadith 'none of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself' — Muslim's wording 'for his neighbour or his brother' — and in Ibn Hibban's version 'no servant reaches the reality of iman until he loves for people what he loves for himself of good'; Ibn Rajab explains that this addition clarifies that the negation of iman is a negation of attaining its reality and perfection rather than of its root, iman being often negated for the absence of some of its pillars and duties — loving good for one's brother, neighbour and people among them; Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reports from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd that 'the believer loves for his brother what he loves for himself' is one of the four hadiths from which all the conduct of goodness branches.Goodness of Islam — leaving what does not concern one
Part of the goodness of a person's Islam is leaving what does not concern him in word and deed and confining himself to what does; Ibn Rajab explains that 'concerns him' means what his purposeful attention attaches to, and that the leaving is governed by the ruling of the sharia and Islam rather than by whim or the soul's desire — which is why the Prophet made it a mark of the goodness of one's Islam; when a person's Islam is sound it entails leaving all that does not concern him of the forbidden, the doubtful, the disliked, and the superfluous among the permissible for which he has no need, rising thereby to the station of ihsan, from which, together with watchfulness, is born modesty before God and the abandoning of all that occasions shame; Ibn Rajab calls it a great foundation of the foundations of proper conduct and cites Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reporting from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, the Maliki imam of his time, that the conduct of goodness and all its reins branch from four hadiths: 'whoever believes in God and the Last Day, let him speak good or keep silent', this hadith, 'do not become angry', and 'the believer loves for his brother what he loves for himself'.Ihsan (excellence in worship)
The third level named in the hadith of Jibril after islam and iman, defined by the Prophet as worshipping God as though you see Him, for even if you do not see Him, He sees you. In his commentary on Shaddad ibn Aws's hadith 'God has prescribed ihsan upon everything' Ibn Rajab extends it from the station of watchful worship to a ruling written upon all things — reaching excellence even in execution and slaughter — noting that the wording of 'writing' entails obligation for most jurists and usul scholars.Istiqama (steadfast uprightness)
Standing firm upon faith and obedience after the words 'I believe in God'; in Sufyan ibn Abdullah al-Thaqafi's hadith he asked the Prophet for comprehensive words of Islam he would not need to ask anyone after him about and was answered 'say: I believe in God, then stand firm' — one route 'say: my Lord is God, then stand firm' — its meaning for Ibn Rajab drawn from 'those who say our Lord is God then stand firm' in Fussilat and al-Ahqaf; Abu Bakr is reported glossing 'then stood firm' three ways: 'they associated nothing with God', 'they did not turn to a god other than Him', and 'they stood firm that God is their Lord'; a weak al-Nasa'i route through Anas adds 'people have said it then most of them disbelieved, and whoever dies upon it is of the people of istiqama'; and in the hadith's continuation in al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa'i, when he asked 'what do you most fear for me?' and 'what shall I guard against?', the Prophet took hold of his own tongue — 'this' — or gestured to it, making guarding the tongue among the greatest things istiqama watches.The endings of deeds (khawatim)
That deeds are weighed by their endings; in his commentary on Ibn Masud's hadith Ibn Rajab explains 'deeds are but by their endings' as meaning that what counts is the state — sound or corrupt — in which the deed ends, that an evil ending comes through a hidden inward corrupting trait in the servant that people do not see, and that 'endings are the legacy of what preceded'; hence the early generations' intense fear of a bad ending and their fear that lesser hypocrisy might overcome them at the end and carry them into greater hypocrisy, while the Prophet often prayed 'O turner of hearts, make my heart firm on Your religion'.Husn al-khuluq (good character)
Treating people with what pleases them in word and deed while withholding harm — the third clause of 'fear God wherever you are': 'and keep company with people in good character' — which together with taqwa combines God's rights and His servants' rights, a combination Ibn Rajab calls rare, sustained only by the most complete of prophets and the truthful; its summit, as God describes the muttaqun, is giving freely and bearing hurt — 'who spend in ease and hardship, who restrain their anger and pardon people' — and revelation reports 'the most complete of believers in faith are the best of them in character', that it is the heaviest thing laid in the scales, raising its owner to the rank of the one fasting and praying, the best gift given a Muslim and what makes them most beloved to God and nearest to the Prophet in station; among its definitions: Ahmad's 'that you not become angry or fierce' and, in another report, 'that you bear what comes from people', Ishaq ibn Rahuya's 'a cheerful face and not becoming angry', and some scholars' 'restraining anger for God, showing openness and cheer except to the innovator and the flagrant, pardoning the erring except for discipline or establishing a hadd, and withholding harm from every Muslim and covenanted person except to change an evil or take what is due for the wronged without transgression'.Nasiha (sincere counsel)
Wishing good for the one counselled and standing for him in the ways of good in will and deed; in Tamim al-Dari's hadith 'the religion is nasiha' — to God, His book, His messenger, the leaders of the Muslims and their common folk — Ibn Rajab cites al-Khattabi that the root of nash in the language is purity, its meaning toward God being sound belief in His oneness and sincere intention in worshipping Him, toward His book faith in it and acting on what is in it, toward His messenger believing his prophethood and offering him obedience in what he commanded and forbade, and toward the generality of Muslims guiding them to their welfare; and he transmits Ibn al-Salah's detailed exposition of each, the pledge of Jarir ibn Abdullah 'to establish prayer, give zakat and counsel every Muslim', Abu Dawud's report that it is one of the hadiths around which jurisprudence revolves, and Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi's that it is a quarter of the religion.Niyya (intention in deeds)
The purpose and will behind an act; Ibn Rajab notes that intention has two senses in scholars' usage: distinguishing acts of worship from one another and from habits — the sense dominant in the jurists' books — and distinguishing the aim intended by the act, whether for God alone or for other than Him — the sense dominant among the early generations and companion to sincerity; al-Shafi'i is reported to have called the hadith 'actions are but by intentions' a third of knowledge entering seventy chapters of jurisprudence, and al-Bukhari opened his Sahih with it.Sabr (patience and steadfast endurance)
Holding the soul to God's obedience, away from disobedience, and through His painful decrees; in the commentary on Ibn Abbas's counsel Ibn Rajab records that contentment is a recommended excellence while patience is binding upon the believer, God having commanded it and promised a vast reward, that in patience over what one dislikes lies much good since the affliction written upon the servant, borne patiently, yields much good — Amr mawla Ghafra's route adding 'if you can work for God with contentment in certainty then do, and if not, then in patience over what you dislike lies much good'; the servant needs God's aid for performing the commands, abandoning the forbidden and bearing all decreed things in the world, at death and through the terrors of the barzakh and resurrection — none can aid that but God, and whoever truly seeks His aid is aided, as in 'strive for what benefits you, seek God's help and do not flag'; 'victory is with patience' covers both jihads, the outward enemy and the inward — the patient triumphs and the fretter is captured or slain — and Ibn al-Mubarak's saying 'whoever is patient, how little he needs to endure, and whoever frets, how little he enjoys', followed by 'relief is with affliction' and 'with hardship is ease'.Taqwa (God-consciousness)
That the servant sets between himself and what he fears a guard to shield him — his taqwa of his Lord being a guard against what he dreads of His anger, displeasure and punishment, namely doing His obedience and avoiding disobedience; this is Ibn Rajab's root definition in the commentary on 'fear God wherever you are'; taqwa is ascribed to God's name as the guarding against His wrath — the greatest of what is guarded against — and to His punishment like the Fire and His time like the Day of Resurrection; complete taqwa includes doing the obligations and leaving the forbidden and the doubtful, its highest degree adding the recommended and leaving the disliked; among the early generations: Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz held taqwa is not fasting the day or praying the night but leaving what God forbade and performing what He imposed, Talq ibn Habib that it is working in obedience upon light from God hoping His reward and leaving disobedience upon light fearing His punishment, Abu al-Darda' that its perfection is guarding to an atom's weight until some of the lawful is left as a screen from the unlawful, al-Thawri that they were called muttaqun for avoiding what need not be avoided, and Ibn Masud glossed 'fear God as He should be feared' as being obeyed and not disobeyed, remembered and not forgotten, thanked and not denied; taqwa is God's counsel to the first and the last and His messenger's bequest to his community — he counselled the commander of every expedition with it, told Abu Dharr 'I counsel you with taqwa, for it is the head of the whole matter', and the pair 'taqwa of God and good character' is what most admits people to Paradise.Wara' (scrupulosity)
Stopping at doubtful matters, guarding against them, and leaving what causes unease for what does not; this meaning appears in Ibn Rajab's commentary on two of the Forty hadiths: al-Nu'man ibn Bashir's 'the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear and between them are doubtful matters' with 'whoever guards against the doubtful has cleared his religion and honour', and al-Hasan ibn Ali's 'leave what makes you doubt for what does not', whose meaning Ibn Rajab says reduces to standing fast at the doubtful and avoiding it; it is supported by a weak report from Wathila ibn al-Asqa' in which, asked who is scrupulous, the Prophet answered 'the one who stops at the doubtful', and by another weak report that 'the scrupulous Muslim leaves the lesser sin for fear of the greater' and that the heart is agitated by the unlawful and rests in the lawful; among the sayings of the early generations he cites Ibn Masud's 'why turn to what troubles you when four thousand things around you do not?' and Umar's 'leave both usury and suspicion', meaning what you suspect to be usury even without certainty.
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