Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728H) – raḥimahullaah – was asked,1
“Who is it obligatory to hate, or to boycott, or are both of these actions done for Allāh the Exalted? And what is stipulated from conditions upon the one who is hating or boycotting for the sake of Allāh the Exalted? And does the abandonment of greetings (salaam) enter into the boycotting, or not? And if the one being boycotted greets the boycotter, is it obligatory upon him to respond? And does the hatred and boycotting for the sake of Allāh the Exalted continue until it is determined that the attribute due to which he is…
Allāh said:
وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ۚ لَوْ يُطِيعُكُمْ فِي كَثِيرٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْرِ لَعَنِتُّمْ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْإِيمَانَ وَزَيَّنَهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَكَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكُفْرَ وَالْفُسُوقَ وَالْعِصْيَانَ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الرَّاشِدُونَ ﴿٧﴾
“And know that among you is the Messenger of Allāh. If he were to obey you in much of the matter, you would be in difficulty, but Allāh has endeared to you the faith and has made it pleasing in your hearts and has made hateful to you disbelief, defiance, and disobedience. Those are the [rightly] guided.” [al-H…
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said: “Allāh has not allowed man to [ultimately] possess two different hearts within himself. He shall find that whatever wants, desires and beloved things enter his heart, a similar opposing want, desire or beloved thing will entice it. [It is as if] he is a single vessel in the company of a multitude of drinks. So whichever drink he allows to fill his vessel, he will find that he now lacks space to accommodate anything else. His vessel shall only be filled if empty and with what he holds to be the most bounteous of drinks. For if his vessel is already filled w…
Imām ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Saʿdī (d. 1376 AH) said: “[The difference between an individual with īmān and a person who is lacking it] is actualised through experience. If you were to contemplate and analyse the conditions of mankind, you would see a great difference between the example set by the muʾmin who acts in light of his īmān and a person who lacks [īmān]. This dīn encourages, to the highest degree, true satisfaction with the varieties of provision, bounties, and graciousness granted by Allāh.
So when tested with sickness, poverty, or some other [hardship] that can afflict any ind…
Al-Imām Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said: “Mankind’s need for the Sharīʿah far surpasses their need to breathe, much less their need for food and drink. This is because the greatest detriment that could befall them from leaving those things [food and drink] is their physical death and thus the casting out of their souls. Whereas, were they to lose their connection to the sharīʿah, it would stipulate corruption of their very hearts and souls, and [thus] eternal ruin.
Their physical death greatly differs [from this type of ruin]. For mankind has no greater need than to know what the Messenger (ﷺ…
