“And from the strangest of affairs is that you know Allaah but you do not love Him…
And that you hear His Call but you delay in answering it…
And that you know the great benefit in dealing with Allaah but you choose to deal with other than Him…
And you know the great amount of anger that Allaah has, but you still choose to go against Him…
And that you taste the severest pain/discomfort in disobeying Allah but you do not choose to relieve this pain by obeying Him...
And that you taste the imprisonment of your heart by speaking about other than Him, but you do not choose to free your heart and bring it to relief by speaking about Him...
And you taste the punishment that comes with having your heart attached to other than Him, but you do not flee from this to the most blessed of acceptance and to the most benevolent of welcomes in turning towards Him…
And what is stranger than all this… is the knowledge that you have, that you MUST have Him, and that you are in dire need of Him…
And even though part of you desires Him, and wants to turn to Him, yet you turn away from Him,
Yet part of you is still longing for Him.”
-Ibnul Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah (Al-Fawa'id)
Subject: "And from the strangest of affairs..." 
Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:04 pm