6.5. THE CLASSIFICATION OF PEOPLE IN THEIR GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS AND PATIENCE
THE FIRST CLASS: The people of God-consciousness (taqwa) and patience (sabr); these are the truly happy ones in this world and the hereafter upon whom Allah has bestowed His favour.
THE SECOND CLASS: Those with some taqwa but no sabr.; these are the ones who do the obligatory acts of worship, such as the prayer, and abstain from the unlawful but are taken by great fear and anxiety when afflicted by bodily illness or something else of that sort, or when their wealth and honour is harmed, or when they are threatened by a frightening enemy.
THE THIRD CLASS: People with some sabr but no taqwa’ these are like the shameless sinners who choose to bear the consequences of following their desires. This group includes the thieves and highwaymen who patiently endure the pains that come with illegal seizure and snatching the unlawful as well as the scribes and divan officials who choose to endure the consequences of stealing money by cheating. The seekers of leadership and power endure harm that most people could not bear and those obsessed with lust and unlawful images have patience with the suffering that follows their forbidden actions.
Here we have men who desire high rank or corruption in the land by seeking leadership and power and striving to become rich by transgressing against others and men who pleasure themselves with unlawful images by either looking or touching them. All of them endure various forms of harm with sabr but have no taqwa in their abandonment of the religious commands and their indulgence in sin.
Similarly, one may have patience when afflictions like illness and poverty befall him and be void of all taqwa when healthy and able.
The fourth and worst class: These do not fear Allah when free and able nor have sabr upon being tested. They fit the following words of Allah:
“Indeed, mankind was created anxious: When evil touches him, impatient.” (al-Maarij (70): 19-21)
Such people are most oppressive and tyrannical when free and extremely humble and frightened upon being subdued. If you overpower them, they act humble and hypocritically show deference to you and beg for mercy. In such a condition they will try to repel harm from themselves by telling lies (kadhib), manifesting humility (dhull), and venerating (tazim) the threat.But if they manage to gain the upper hand, they behave like the worst tyrants with the coldest of hearts, having no mercy, kindness, or excuses for anyone. The Muslims have seen this with all those men who drifted far away from faith, like the Tatars whom they fought and others who have proven to be very much like them.
It makes no difference if such men disguise themselves as Mus- lim soldiers, scholars, devotees, merchants, or manufacturers, for what really matters is what they really are: “Allah does not look at your appearances or possessions; He only looks at your hearts and actions.”
If a person’s heart and actions are like those of the Tatars, he is, from this perspective, similar to them and his Islam or the Islam he at least manifests to others is like that of the Tatars. In fact, some other Muslim looking people besides the Tatar soldiers have com- mitted even greater apostasy than the Tatars and are even closer to the pre-Islamic character.
A hadlth in the Sahih states that the Prophet would say in his sermon: “The best speech is the speech of Allah and the best guidance is that of Muhammad.The worst of all matters are the invented ones, and every innovation is misguidance.” Since the best of all speech is the speech of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, we can say that the closer a person is to them and the more his reality resembles them, the closer he is to perfection and the more perfection befits him. Similarly, the further he is from them and the less his reality resembles them, the further he is from perfection and the more falsehood benefits him.
The most complete person is he who obeys Allah the most and has the most patience with afflictions. The closer one follows the commands of Allah and His Messenger, the more his actions agree with what Allah loves and is pleased with, and the greater his patience is with His pre- decree, the more complete and virtuous he is. One is only as faulty as his abidance by these two.
By Shaykhu’l-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah
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