Human Being Has a Great Capacity For Self-Delusions

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Human Being Has a Great Capacity For Self-Delusions

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

There are two things one should be take heed of if one wishes to attain success and felicity:

1) To know the details of the means of attaining good and evil, and to be
clear about these through witnessing them in the world around, through
one's own experience and that of others, as well as through reports one
has heard about earlier and latter nations. One of the most effective
means for attaining this is pondering over the Qur'an, for along with
the sunnah, it clearly explains the paths to good and evil. If you turn
your attention to them, they will suffice you. They will inform you of
Allah's treatment of the obedient, and of the sinners. Moreover, apply
what you read to practical experience, and you will see the
illustration of this - that Allah is true, the Messenger is true, the
Qur'an is true, and that Allah fulfills His promise. History contains
details of the paths to good and evil mentioned in the Qur'an and
sunnah.

2) Beware of deceiving oneself with regard to these paths. This is very
important, for the servant knows that sin and heedlessness are harmful
to him in his world and the Hereafter, and yet he may deceive himself:

Through relying on Allah's pardon and forgiveness, by procrastination of
repentance, by performing istighfar only verbally, by doing good deeds
[after impetuously sinning], by knowledge, by justifying his sins by
the argument of destiny, by citing examples of people committing
similar sins, or by following in the footsteps of ancestors and elders.

Many people think that they can perform some sin, and then if they say
"Astaghfirullah" the sin will disappear. Or, they may deceive
themselves with ahadith such as: "Whoever says "SubHaanallaahi
wa-biHamdih" one hundred times in a day, his sins are taken off from
him, even if they be like the foam of the ocean." Or "A servant
committed a sin and then said, 'O Lord! I have committed a sin, so
forgive me,' and so he was forgiven . . . . then Allah says, 'My
servant knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sins, and takes [to task]
for them. I have forgiven My servant, so let him do as he wishes.'"

Such people cling to the texts of hope, and hold fast to them with both
hands, and put [all] their reliance in them, such that if they are
reprimanded for committing some sin, they will recite all that they
known about Allah's mercy and forgiveness. Some went to excessive
limits in this, such that they claimed that to remain free of sins is
being ignorant or under-estimating Allah's mercy and pardon. Some
deceived people cling to the notion of fatalism; that the servant has
no free-will and that he is compelled to commit sins. Other cling to
the notion of irja' (false hope), claiming that faith is merely
affirmation, and that deeds are neither a part of faith nor have any
effect upon it. According to their claim, the iman of the most sinful
of believers is just like the iman of the angels Gabriel and Michael. Some
are deceived by their fathers and elders, thinking that they have a
rank before Allah, such that they would not leave them to perish. They
take this by analogy from the behavior of worldly kings, who might
grant a favor or pardon to someone based on the merits of his father or
relatives. Such people are used to being taken out of difficult
situations by their fathers, and are under the impression that this may
happen in the Hereafter too.

Others deceive themselves by reasoning that Allah has no need of punishing
them since He gains nothing from it, and He does not lose anything by
showing them mercy. Such a person may say, 'I am in dire need of His
mercy, and He is not at all needy of [anything]. if a poor, thirsty
person were in dire need of a drink of water from someone in whose
premises there flows a river, he would not be denied it, and Allah is
more generous, and more expansive in mercy.'

Others are deceived by ridiculous misinterpretations/ misunderstandings, e.g.:

"Your Lord will give you, so that you become pleased." [Surah Duha, 5] he
says: I am not pleased to enter the Fire. This is despicable ignorance,
and clear lies, for he should be pleased by what Allah is pleased by,
and it is not against Allah's pleasure to punish the oppressors,
wrong-doers, evil-doers, traitors and those persistent on major sins.
"Allah forgives all sins." [Surah Zumar, 93]

This is also despicable ignorance, for this verse refers to those who
repent; otherwise it would imply invalidation of the verses threatening
punishment for the sinners. This is specified by another verse,

"Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, and He forgives
anything beneath that to whomever He wills." [Surah Nisa,48] Also,
"None will burn in it except the most miserable one who rejected and
turned away [from the truth]." [Surah Layl, 15-16].

This is a specific fire from among the various levels of Jahannam, and moreover the fact
that only the rejecters will burn in it does not rule out that others
may enter it. "[Hell] has been prepared for the unbelievers." [Surah
Baqarah, 24]. The fact that it has been prepared for the unbelievers
does not rule out that sinful Muslims may also be punished in it, just
as the fact that Heaven "has been prepared for the pious" [Surah
Aali-`Imran, 133] does not rule out that people with the smallest grain
of faith may enter it even if they were not pious.

Some are deceived by fasting the days of `Ashura and `Arafah, such that some
may even say that the fast of `Ashura' expiates the whole year, and the
fast of `Arafah remains as a surplus of reward. Such people have failed
to realize that the fast of Ramadan and the 5 daily prayers are greater
and more noble than the fasts of `Arafah and `Ashura, and that [it is
understood that] sins are [only] forgiven as long as major sins are
avoided. So, [fasting] from one Ramadan to another, [praying] from one
Jumu`ah to the next, act in a mutually strengthening manner to achieve
forgiveness of minor sins, provided major sins are avoided. So, how
then can an optional fast expiate every major sin of a person while he
still persists upon the sins, and has not repented from them? Also, it
is possible that these two optional fasts expiate all sins in totality,
but that this has certain prerequisites and conditions, such as
avoidance of major sins, or that the expiation is achieved in
conjunction with other good deeds, much the same as the 5 daily prayers
and the fasting of Ramadan expiate minor sins in conjunction with the
avoidance of major sins.

"If you abjure the major things which you are
prohibited from, We shall expiate you your evil deeds. [Surah Nisa, 31]

Some are deceived by the hadith Qudsi, "I am according to the good
expectation/thought of My servant., so let him think of Me as he
wishes." i.e. that whatever he thinks I will do to him, I will. But,
good expectations can only be with good conduct, for one who does good
expects that his Lord will deal with him well, will not break His
promise, and will accept his repentance. As for the one of evil
conduct, who persists upon major sins, oppression and other evils, the
desolation of sin, wrongdoing and [other] prohibited things prevent him
from having good expectations of his Lord. This is something we witness
in everyday life. A disobedient employee who has run away with company
property will not have a good expectation of his boss. The evil of
wrong deeds cannot coexist with good expectation. The best in
expectation of his Lord['s mercy] is the most obedient to Him. Hasan
Basri said, "The believer has good expectation of his Lord, so he make
his deeds good. But, the evil person has bad expectation of his Lord,
so he does evil."

How can someone claim to have good expectation of his Lord when he is like
a runaway, and is doing things which displease and anger his Lord, and
has abandoned His orders, and is at war with Him. How can one have good
expectation of his Lord if he thinks that He does not see him?

"And, you used not to conceal yourself, lest your hearing, sight and skin
testify against you, but you thought that Allah does not know much of
what you used to do. And that, your expectation which you entertained
about your Lord, has destroyed you, so you have become among those
lost/ruined." [Surah Fussilat, 23]

So, these people, who thought that
Allah did not know much of what they did, actually had ill- expectation
of their Lord, and that destroyed them. Such people are deceived if
they think they will directly enter Heaven; they are fooling
themselves; Satan is leading them astray and beguiling them.

Guest

Ponder over this.

Consider: how is it possible for one's heart to be certain that one is going to
meet Allah, that Allah sees and hears all that he does, and knows his
secret open affairs, and that he will be made to stand before Allah,
answerable for all his deeds - how can one be certain and aware of all
of this, and yet persist upon things which displease Allah; persist
upon abandoning Allah's orders, neglecting His rights, and yet claim
that he has good expectation of Allah?!!

Abu Umamah Sahl ibn Hanif reports: `Urwah ibn al-Zubayr and I entered upon
`A'ishah and she said : If only you had seen the Messenger of Allah in
one of his illnesses; [when] he had 6 or 7 dinars. The Messenger of
Allah ordered me to distribute them [in charity?], but the pain of the
Messenger of Allah kept me from doing that, until Allah cured him.
Then, he asked me about them: "What have you done? Had you distributed
the 6 dinars?" I said, "No, by Allah. Your pain had kept me from doing
so." He asked for them to be brought [to him], and put them in his hand
then said, "What would be the expectation of Allah's prophet if he met
Allah with these in his possession?"

What, then would be the expectation of the people of major sins, and the
oppressors, if they were to meet Allah with these sins and forfeited
rights of people on their backs? If their claim that they entertained
good expectations that Allah would not punish evil and wrongdoing
people, were to benefit them, then everyone could do as he wished,
doing everything that Allah has forbidden, provided he kept good
expectation of Allah, thinking that the fire will not touch him.
Subhanallah! How deceived can one be? Prophet Ibrahim said to his people,

"Is it a lie, gods besides Allah, that you desire? What then is your expectation of the Lord of the Worlds?" [Surah Saffat, 86]

i.e. what is your expectation of Allah, what do you expect He will do to you if you meet Him having worshipped other than Him?

So, if we reflect over this, we will realize that good expectation of Allah
is equivalent to good deeds, for one is moved to good deeds by good
hope of Allah, that He will reward him for his efforts and accept them.
Otherwise, good expectation along with pursuit of whims and desires and
lusts is incapacity.

In short, good expectation can only occur if the means for salvation are pursued.
Pursuit of the means to destruction cannot accompany good expectations.

Someone might claim: It might, based on the expansiveness of Allah's mercy and
forgiveness and generosity, and that His mercy exceeds His wrath, and
that punishing does not benefit Him, nor does forgiveness harm Him. The
reply is: Allah is indeed most generous and merciful, but this is in
the appropriate place. Allah is also described as possessing wisdom and
might and inflicting retribution, seizing with might, and punishing
those deserving punishment. So, if the good expectation is based merely
on some of Allah's attributes, then the righteous and the evil, the
believer and the unbeliever, would equally be candidates for it. But,
the names and attributes of mercy do not benefit the unbeliever or
similarly one who has neglected his duty and exposed himself to Allah's
curse. Rather, good expectation of Allah is for one who repents,
regrets his sins and desists from the. This is good expectation,
whereas the first is deception.

"Those who believe, and those who perform hijrah and jihad in the path of
Allah - they are hopeful of Allah's mercy." [Surah Baqarah, 218]

So, these people are the ones who can be truly hopeful of Allah's mercy; not the evil and sinful people.

"Then, your Lord is, to those who make hijrah after they have been persecuted,
and then perform jihad and are patient/steadfast - indeed, your Lord
is, after that, Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. [Surah Nahl, 119]

So, the knowledgeable one is he who puts hope in its correct place, whereas the deceived one is he who puts it elsewhere.

Source: Al-Jawab al-Kafi li-man sa'al `an al-Dawa' al-Shafi
Translator: Suheil Laher
Courtesy Of: Islaam.com

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