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Dead Hearts

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Dead Hearts
bhaloo
12/26/04 at 00:09:37
[slm]


Dead Hearts
Imam Ibn ul Qayyim al Jawziyyah

© AlJumuah, Vol 8 Issue 4


While thousands of Muslims are killed all over the world, and while tens of
thousands are imprisoned and tortured for calling to the path of Allah and
for enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, most Muslims remain
remarkably silent and have no worry except for the material things of life.
Their hearts have been filled with the love of this life and the
forgetfulness of the Hereafter.

Allah says in the Qur'an: "You will indeed find them, of all people, most
greedy of life, even more than those who do not believe in Resurrection.
Each one of them wishes he could be given a life of a thousand years. But
the grant of such life will not save him even a little from due punishment.
For Allah sees well all that they do" (Al Baqarah, 2:96).
Many Muslims today have become so much attached to their life that their
desire is to dwell among their family, house, money and commerce. They have
forgotten that matters of the Hereafter should come before matters of this
life and that we must strive to follow the orders of Allah, not just those
we find easy and convenient to follow. Some Muslims today claim that it is
better to perform extra prayers and extra fasting rather than enjoin the
good and forbid the evil or defend the lives of weak Muslims. Such people
would even blame the Muslims who strive to perform these obligations.

This is what Ibn al-Qayyim had to say about such people: ''The Shaitan has
misled most people by beautifying for them the performance of certain
voluntary acts of worship such as voluntary prayers and voluntary fasting
while neglecting other obligatory acts of worship such as enjoining the good
and eradicating the evil, to the extent that they do not even make the
intention of performing them whenever they are able to. Such people are
considered by the scholars to be on the bottom of the scale of religion: For
the essence of our religion is to perform what Allah ordered us to do. The
one who does not perform his obligations is actually worse than the one who
performs sins. Anyone having some knowledge about the revelation of Allah,
the guidance of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, and the life of
the companions would conclude that those who are pointed at today as the
most pious people are in fact the least pious. Indeed, what kind of piety is
there in a person who witnesses Allah's sanctities being violated, his
religion abandoned, the Sunnah of His Messenger shunned, and yet remains
still with a cold heart and a shut mouth' Such a person is like a dumb
Shaitan! In the same way the one who talks falsehood is a speaking Shaitan.
Isn't the misfortune of Islam due only to those who whenever their life and
food are secure, would not care about what happens to the religion? The best
among them would offer a sorry face. But if they were challenged in one of
the things their heart is attached to like their money, they would spare no
efforts to get it back. These people, besides deserving the anger of Allah,
are afflicted with the greatest calamity without even knowing it: They have
a dead heart. Indeed the more alive a person's heart is, the stronger its
anger for the sake of Allah and the more complete his support to Islam and
Muslims." (A'alaam al-Muwaqqi'een, volume 2, page 176).


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