The Keys to Good and the Keys to Evil
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim
Narrated by al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ on the authority of Wahb ibn Manabbih (رضي الله عنه), that he was once asked: “Is not the testification that there is nothing worshipped in truth except for Allāh the key to Paradise?” He replied: “Of course, but there are no keys without teeth, such that if you bring a key with teeth, its doors shall open for you. Otherwise, they will not.”1
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim comments:
The Keys to Good
Such did Allāh create, for all aspirations, keys that are the means for its attainment. He has made the keys to ṣalāh one purifying oneself, as he (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “The key to ṣalāh is purification.”2
Just as He has made the key to Ḥajj the donning of the iḥrām.
The key to piety is truthfulness.3
The key to Paradise is acting in accordance with the testification of Allāh’s oneness.
The key to seeking knowledge is showing exemplary conduct and goodness when asking and also when listening.
The key to gaining victory and being successful is having patience.
The key to being blessed with abundance is showing gratitude for what you already possess.
The key to gaining closeness to Allāh, being among His close friends and allies is the constant remembrance of Him.
The key to prosperity is having God-consciousness.
The key to true guidance is combining fear of Allāh’s punishment and hope for His reward.
The key to being answered by Allāh is by invoking Him.
The key to truly desiring the life of the hereafter is by showing asceticism of this worldly life.4
The key to having true īmān is contemplating that which Allāh has invited His servants to contemplate.5
The key to entering upon Allāh [in Paradise] is submitting and surrendering one’s heart to Him by loving and hating, and engaging and leaving off actions—all for Him alone.
The key to a humble active heart is true contemplation of the Qurʾān, humbling oneself in the latter parts of the night, and abandoning sin.
The key to being shown His mercy is showing goodness in both His worship and striving to be of benefit to His servants.
The key to sustenance and provision is pursuing them actively, while seeking forgiveness from Him and showing God-consciousness.
The key to true power and might is by showing obedience to Allāh and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
The key to preparing for the hereafter is paying little attention [to the beauty of this world].
The key to all goodness is showing desire for that which is with Allāh and the reward of the hereafter.
The Keys to Evil
The key to all evil is loving this world, showing attentiveness to it [over the hereafter].
This is a sphere of knowledge that is great, from among the most beneficial variants of knowledge. It is knowing the keys to goodness and the keys to evil. One is not guided to awareness of them, nor paying due care and attention to them except one who is the recipient of a massive allotment of guidance. For Allāh—the Glorified, the High—has made a key to every good and evil thing in existence, to which one may enter upon it. Just as He has made polytheism, arrogance and complete opposition to what His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has been raised with—while being mindless of remembering and acting in accordance with it—representative of the keys to the Fire.
Just as intoxicants are the key to misdeeds and sin.
And music is the key to fornication.
And allowing oneself to gaze upon that which is ḥarām for him is representative of the keys to obsessive infatuation and seeking to act out that which is ḥarām.
And allowing oneself to be lazy and in a state of perpetual rest has been made a key to failure, completely devoid of goodness and success.
Allowing oneself to engage in disobedient acts has been made a key to disbelief.
Lying has been made a key to hypocrisy.
Greed and aspiring for what others have been given is a key to selfishness, cutting the ties of kinship, and acquiring wealth unlawfully.
Opposing that which has been brought by the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has been made a key to innovation and misguidance.
These matters are not truly comprehended and acknowledged except by one with true insight, true introspection of what he harbours within himself. Fully aware of the good and evil in existence. It is, thus, most befitting that the servant of Allāh is fully acquainted with these keys, and what each of them ultimately leads one to. And with Allāh is his true guidance and equitable treatment. To Him belong all praises and thanks, grace and bounty. He cannot be questioned as to what He does, while they will be questioned (about what they did).
Endnotes:
[1] Authentic: narrated by al-Bukhārī: 29.
[2] Authentic: Narrated by al-Tirmidhī: 3 and Abū Dāwūd: 61. Graded authentic by Shaykh al-Albānī in al-Sirāj al-Munīr: 1006 and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ: 5885.
[3] Referencing the ḥadīth: “Indeed, truthfulness guides one to piety and piety guides one to Paradise.” Authentic: narrated by al-Bukhārī: 6094 and Muslim: 2607.
[4] See article: Understanding Zuhd (Asceticism) in Islām by Imām Ibn al-Qayyim and Imām Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn
[5] Translator’s note: Referencing the many verses in the Qurʾān in which Allāh invites His servants to take thought in various contexts. This may be summarised in the saying of Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn (رحمه الله): “Among the realities we have been invited to take thought regarding are the signs of Allāh—the Exalted in Might—in existence and those that are legislated. As for those in existence: that is, His creations and the wisdoms and great secrets he has originated therein. As for His legislated signs, they are His legislated laws which He has set for His servants, such they are appropriate and applicable to all places and times. That is, their implementation is most appropriate and applicable to all places and times…We also take thought regarding the names and attributes of Allāh such that one ponders His name and the attribute derived from it.” See Tafsīr al-ʿUthaymīn: 260.
Source: Ḥādī al-Arwāḥ: 138-140
Translated by: Riyāḍ al-Kanadī
