3. FOLLOW THE QUR’AN AND SUNNAH AND DO NOT BLINDLY FOLLOW MEN
The whole issue revolves around the intellect. When the intellect is mature, its possessor does not act upon a deed unless he has the strongest evidence for it. The outcome of the intellect is to understand the statement and glimpse at the objective of the matter.
One who has understood the objective and acted upon the proof, he is like one who builds a strong foundation of a building.
I have seen many people who do not act upon any proof, but they act upon a deed blindly, and in most cases their only proof is customs (and practises). This is a worst case scenario!
I have seen many people not following a proof by establishing it, similar to the Jews and the Christians who follow their forefathers and they do not look up to the Law that they have received to find out whether an act is correct or not. Likewise, they establish the existence of the Creator but do not distinguish between what is ought to be attributed to Him and what is not ought to be. They attribute to Him having a son! And they do not accept the permissibility of His changing of the Law!
These people have not given a proper thought into establishing the existence of a Creator and what attributes He should possess, neither have they thought hard about the reality of the prophesies. Thus, their actions go to waste, just like he who builds a building on sand.
Upon similar principle are people who worship, adopt abstinence and are out their bodies by acting upon fabricated reports, and they do not ask the scholars about their validity.
Among such people are those who understand the evidence yet fail to understand the objective of the evidence where it is meant to apply. From this strand is a group of people who hear criticisms about the world, and so they let it go and adopt abstinence, failing to understand its objective.
They assume that the world is evil in and of itself, thus the self should renounce it, therefore they carried upon themselves a burden above what they could bear and punished their selves in every manner. Refusing to take its fortunes— being ignorant of the Prophetic saying: “Verily yourself has a right upon you.”
Among them are those whose personal state drove them to give up obligatory acts of worship, losing body weight and weakening their strength. All this happens because of weak understanding about the objective and short-sightedness about the meaning.
As it is narrated from Dawud al-Ta’i that he used keep water in a vessel below the earth. He would drink, while the vessel would be hot.
He once said to Sufyan, ‘If you eat tasty food, and drink cold water, then when will you love death and proceeding to Allah?!’
This is an utter ignorance (jahl) about the objective, because hot water can cause diseases in the body and does not quench the thirst. We have not been commanded to punish ourselves in this way. We have however, been told to give up things that Allah has prohibited and which the selves are prone to doing.
It is reported in a Sahih hadith that when the shepherd milked the animal, on the road of migration, Abu Bakr (radiy Allahu ‘anhu) sprinkled water on the drinking vessel until its bottom became cooler. He then gave the Messenger of Allah water to drink and placed a spread for him under the shade of a rock.
Fresh sweet water would be fetched for the Prophet. It is narrated from him that he said, “If you have any water remaining from overnight in a skin, [then give us to drink], otherwise we will sip (from a streamlet).”
Had Dawud al-Ta’i (may Allah have mercy on him) understood that bettering the fodder for the she-camel is important to be able to undertake journey, he would have never done that!
Do you not see Sufyan al-Thawri, who was full of knowledge (shadid al-marifa) and God-consciousness (kaw’f), yet he would eat tasty foods and would state, ‘If the animal is not treated kindly, it will not function.’
Perhaps some of those who are reading my statement will think that I am showing hostility against the ascetics (zuhhad)!
I would like to answer them, by saying, “Be with the scholars and look at the ways of al-Hasan al-Basri, Sufyan, Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Ahmad and Imam Shaffi. These are the provenances of Islam.
Do not follow in your religion someone who possesses little knowledge (qilla al-ilm), even if his piety (taqwa) is stronger. Entrust his affair to the fact he was capable of doing that and do not follow him in things you are unable to do. Our affairs are not under our authority and our souls are a trust kept with us. If you refuse to accept what I have elucidated, then you belong to a people who have been critical of me.
This is just an indication towards the objective, and if I was to comment further will it only lengthen.
(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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