12. KNOWLEDGE NECESSITATES FEARING ALLAH
When the knowledge (ilm) of a person is perfected, he does not attribute the achievement to himself but rather acknowledges the grace of Allah upon him to facilitate this for him. Some of what prevents the intelligent to even see himself as the achiever or even to be proud of such achievements are: he was guided to perform this [good] deed,
“…but Allah has endeared the faith to you and has beautified it in your hearts.” [al-Hujdrdt (49: 7]
If good deeds he performed was compared to the blessings [Allah bestowed upon him] he will not even fulfil a fraction of them, and when realising the greatness of the One he served, he will disparage his deeds and worship— that is if he is assuming his worship and deeds are free of defects or heedlessness (ghafla).
Thus being in a state of heedlessness, he should beware of His response and be concerned of the blame he may receive for short comings and so should overlook whatever achievements he may have.
You should ponder the state of those who are superior; the Angels who exalt and worship Him all day and all night without any shortcomings in what they do, said, “we did not worship you the rightful worship we were supposed to do, and [Prophet] Ibrahim (‘alayhi assalam), the one whom Allah called His Khalil, said:
“And Who, I hope will forgive me my faults on the Day of Recompense, (the Day of Resurrection).” [al-Shuara’ (26): 82]
And there is no clearer evidence then when he patiently overcame the trial of being thrown in fire and willingly accepting to hand his own son to be sacrificed. The Messenger of Allah said, “None of you shall be saved due to his good deeds!” The Companions asked: ‘Even you?’ He said: “Even me unless that Allah engulfs me with His Mercy.”
It is reported that Abu Bakr (radiy Allahu ‘anhu) said to the Prophet, “My wealth and myself are all for you, O Messenger of Allah!”
And ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (radiy Allahu ‘anhu) said, ‘If I had all what is on earth, I would have sacrificed it to avoid the terror [after death] before I come to know of it.’
And Ibn Mas’ud (radiy Allahu ‘anhu) said, ‘I wish I would not be resurrected after I die.’
While ‘A’ishah (radiy Allahu ‘anha) used to say, ‘I wish I was totally forgotten.’
And that is the case of all the pious intelligent ones, so may Allah be pleased with all of them.
It was reported from a group of righteous people from the children of Ism’ll that indicated their lack of understanding about what I have just explained because they noticed their deeds [instead of noticing the grace of Allah upon them that guided them to do their good deeds]. They acted as if they did a favour with all of that; among such reports is the story of the worshipper who worshipped Allah for five hundred years on an island and gave away in charity a pomegranate every night and asked Allah to take his soul while he is prostrating to Him. And when he was resurrected, Allah told him, “Enter Paradise by My Mercy” but he objected and said, “I want to enter it by my deeds,” so all his deeds were gathered and weighted against one of the graces of Allah upon him and yet his deeds weighted less, so then he said, “O mv Lord! I enter it by your Mercy!”
The same is the case of the people who were locked in the cave as one of them interceded with a deed that he should be ashamed of mentioning as he intended to fornicate but then he feared on himself the punishment of fornication so he abandoned it!
O I wonder! What favour he shows when he stopped doing a deed because he feared the punishment?
If it was a lawful deed that he avoided, I would understand! But, if he could understand the shame of his low endeavour, it would have occupied him from humiliation as [Prophet] Yusuf (‘aayhi assalam) said,
“And I free not myself (from the blame). Verily, the (human) self is inclined to evil, except when my Lord bestows His Mercy (upon whom He wills). Verily, my Lord is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Yusuf {12): 53]
While the other one let his children suffer hunger until dawn just so he could let his parents drink, though what he did was harmful to the children, but indeed understanding is rare to find! Their actions seem as if they were saying they did well; grant us what we ask, as if they are asking for the reward of what they did.
If sound understanding was not rare to find, you would have not found a person who thinks of himself as being superior over those of his kind, and you would have found the more perfect ones fearful of belittling their own deeds, as they fear not showing enough gratitude to thank Allah for what He favoured them with.
This understanding will bring the head of arrogance to the floor and force people to show humility [before their Lord]; this you should contemplate as it is a fundamental principle.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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