8.5. CERTAIN WILL AND INABILITY TO ACT
Here Allah negates equality between those who fight in His path and the able who sit down. The equality of those who join battle and those who remain behind due to inability to join is not negated, however, as the sentence indicates that both are indeed equal. The wording is clear: the ulu al-darar are excluded from the unequal, which means that they can be equal with those who fight, even if not in everything. The Prophets words in the Battle of Tabuk agree with this: ‘In Medinah there are men; you have not marched a distance or crossed a valley but they were with you.” They said: ‘And they are in Madinah?’ He replied: “And they are in Medinah, prevented by something.”
Here the Prophet says that those who sit down in Medinah only for a good reason are just like those who are with them in this expedition. It is well-known that each participant in the battle deserves the reward of a fighter according to his intention, so similar is the case with those who remained behind for a good reason.
It occurs in the Two Sahlhs in the hadith of Abu Musa (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) that the Prophet said: “When the servant becomes sick or travels, that which he used to do when healthy or settled down is written for him.”Here we see that if a person does something when healthy or settled down and then stops because of illness or traveling, it is clear that he only stopped because of inability and hardship, not because his intention was wavering. Therefore, his will is as certain as before but he is unable to act.
Here it must be noted that even though a traveler, and in some cases a sick person, is able to act with difficulty, what is defined as ability in the Sharfah is that which can bring about an action without immoderate harm. Allah, Most High, says:
“And (due)to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House for whoever is able to find a way.” (Al-Imran (3): 97)
And
“and he who is unable then the feeding of sixty poor Persons..” (al-Mujaadilah (58): 4)
Ability in the legal sense is not just capability to act regardless of one’s state, but rather there must be no harm, even moderately.
Also related to the topic at hand is the Prophets statement: “Whoever equips a soldier has fought in batde, and whoever takes good care of his family for him has fought in batde.” He also said: “Whoever helps a fasting person break his fast gets the reward with the fasting person with no decrease in his reward.”
Joining battle requires fighting with one’s person and fighting with money. If one person sacrifices his person and another his money, and both have certain will, both are soldiers with their certain will and utmost effort. A soldier also needs someone to take good care of his family, so the one who does that is also considered a soldier.Similarly,fasting necessitates abstinence from food and drink and also eating the evening’s meal which concludes the fast; if one cannot eat in the evening, he cannot fast.
The Prophet has said in a sahih hadith: ‘When a woman spends from the money of her husband without causing harm thereby, she gets the reward of her spending and her husband gets the same. Neither decreases the reward of the other.”
It also occurs in the hadith of Abu Musa (radiyAllah ‘anhu): “The trustworthy treasurer who gives according to his orders fully and completely with a kind heart is one of the spenders on charity.This was related by Bukhari and Muslim. This is the case because the trustworthy treasurer only gives according to his orders fully and completely with a kind heart due to the same type of certain will that his supervisor has, and since he does what he is able, he is considered as being among the charitable.
The Prophet says in the hadith of Abu Kabshah al-Anmari which was related by Ahmad and Ibn Majah: ‘The world is only for four: a man whom Allah has given knowledge and wealth and who uses them for obedience..A man said: ‘If i had what such and such has, i would do what he does.’ The Prophet said: ‘They get the same reward.’Tirmidhi related the hadith in its entirety and said: ‘It is a hasan sahih hadith.’
This equality in reward and sin concerns those who say that while meaning it and whom Allah knows to have certain will to act when able. If the state of a person is like this, he gets the same reward or punishment as those who actually act. This is not the case with everyone who says: “If I had what such and such has, I would do what he does;” it is only the case when there is certain will that neces- sitates the occurrence of action and ability. Many people say things like this with determination, but when they have the chance to act their determination disappears. Such is the case with most people who make promises and then break them.
Not everyone who has certain resolve before ability to act and before the removal of preventive factors can keep that resolve when ability comes to play alongside the preventive factors. Allah, Most High, says:
“And you had certainly wished for death (i.e., martyrdom) before you encountered it, and you have (now) seen it (before you) while you were looking on.” (Al- Imran (3): 143)
And
“O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do?’’(al-Saff (61): 2)
And
‘And among them are those who made a covenant with Allah,(saying), If He should give us from His bounty, we will surely spend in charity, and we will surely be among the righteous.’ But when He gave them from His bounty, they.”(al-Tawbah (9): 75-76)
The hadlth of Abu Kabshah (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) regarding intentions is like the hadith of the card (bitaqa) which is about words. The latter is a hadith related by TirmidhI and others from ‘Abdullah Ibn ( Amr who narrates from the Prophet: “On the Day of Resur- rection, Allah spreads for a man from the Prophet’s nation ninety- nine records, each of which extends as far as the eye can see. He is then asked: £Do you deny any of this? Have I wronged you?’ and he says: ‘No, Lord!’ Then he is told: “You shall not be wronged today.’ A card that contains the divine unity (tawhid) is then brought and placed in a scale while the records are put on another. As a result, the records are raised up and the card is heavy, ”This is because of the truthfulness (sidq), sincerity (ikhlas), purity (safaf and good intention (hasan al-niyyah) that accompany this sentence, for even though the apparent side of words and acts of worship is similar, there can be great disparity between them, depending on the states of the hearts.
Similar to this hadlth is the hadlth about the prostitute who gave a dog something to drink and was thereby forgiven. This was because of the pure intention and mercy that she had in her heart at that moment.
This is also like the Prophet’s words: ‘A servant might utter something that pleases Allah, having no idea that it could reach where it reaches thereby, Allah writes his acceptance for him till the Day of Resurrection. Similarly, a servant might utter something that dis- pleases Allah,having no idea it could reach where it reaches thereby,Allah writes his displeasure for him till the Day or Resurrection.
By Shaykhu’l-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah
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