(10/5/16) - The Sickness and The Cure - الدَّاء و الدّواء - Class 5

بِسْم الله الرحمن الرحيم

This book was written as a response to the question of a man, who said that he was afflicted with something which was spoiling his Dunya and Aakhirah, and the more he fights it, the more it gets worse. He didn't reveal the sickness itself.

Ibn AlQayyim started mentioned the cure before the sickness. And they are:

1) The Qur'an -> الشفاء 

2) Dua -> الدواء

The Difference between Thinking Good and Deception

Many of the ignorants rely on the mercy of Allah, His pardoning, and generosity. And they lost his commands and prohibitions, and forget that He is severe in punishment, and no one can avert the threat of Allah on the criminals. And whoever relies on Allah's pardoning and forgiveness and insists on doing the sin, he's exactly the same as the stubborn person.

Allah said in [15:49-50]:

Fear motivates us. If someone tells us "If you don't do such and such.....this will happen" it'll motivate us to work more than hope.

Deception is persisting in the sin and feeling like it's okay, Allah will forgive me. And it's the hypocrites that have this characteristic; they said in [9:61]: 

They thought that the Prophet ﷺ listened to everything they say, overlooked all their mistakes, didn't scold them, and accepted all their excuses, so they can get away with what they're doing. They've deceived themselves.

And in the Qur'an, Allah mentioned the word "غرور" with regards to the Shaytan and the Dunya:

In [3:185]:

In [4:120]:

It's considered foolishness to expect mercy from one whom you're not obeying.

There are people who just wish for forgiveness until they leave this world without repenting. And they say: "I'm thinking good about Allah"

He's lying. If he thinks good about Allah, he'll do good deeds.

التوبة requires work and action. In [20:82]:

But these people just merely wished for forgiveness and Paradise, as if they were just day dreaming about it. If someone wants Allah to forgive him, he'll work for it. 

So the difference between good thinking and deception are actions. 

Examples of this: 

"On Judgment Day, a man will be brought and thrown into Hell. As a result of this, his intestines will come out of his belly, and he will run in circles, holding his intestines like a donkey running a mill. 

His companions in Hell will say to him, “O so and so, what is this? Did you not ask people to do good and avoid evil?”
He will say, ‘That is true. However, I told others to do good but did not do it myself, and I forbade them from doing evil, but did it myself.’" [Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim]

This person made Da'wah and would tell the people 

what to do. He was teaching them in life, but he's in 

the HellFire, because he used to preach, but not act 

upon it. This is deception. Just because you're telling 

the people, doesn't mean you're going straight to 

Paradise. You have to act upon your knowledge. 

Don't teach unless you're practicing it yourself.

The Prophet ﷺ said: 

 إِيَّاكُمْ وَمُحَقَّرَاتِ الذُّنُوبِ فَإِنَّهُنَّ يَجْتَمِعْنَ عَلَى الرَّجُلِ حَتَّى يُهْلِكْنَهُ

"“Beware of minor sins. Verily, they gather upon a man until he is destroyed.” [Ahmed]

And he ﷺ said:

إِيَّاكُمْ وَمُحَقَّرَاتِ الذُّنُوبِ كَقَوْمٍ نَزَلُوا فِي بَطْنِ وَادٍ فَجَاءَ ذَا بِعُودٍ وَجَاءَ ذَا بِعُودٍ حَتَّى أَنْضَجُوا خُبْزَتَهُمْ وَإِنَّ مُحَقَّرَاتِ الذُّنُوبِ مَتَى يُؤْخَذْ بِهَا صَاحِبُهَا تُهْلِكْهُ

“Beware of minor sins like a people who descend into the bottom of a valley, so one comes with a stick and another with a stick until they have fire to cook their bread. Verily, when a person is held accountable for these minor sins they will destroy him.” [Ahmed]

Don't underestimate the small sins. And this is a deception. You think it's small, and that Allah will forgive you, but they gather until they destroy you.

Big sticks of Bukhoor don't burn like small sticks do. Don't ever overlook the small sin.

That's why the Prophet ﷺ said:

“إن العبد ليتكلم بالكلمة ما يتبين فيها يزل بها إلى النار أبعد مما بين المشرق والمغرب"

"A person utters a word thoughtlessly (i.e., without thinking about its being good or not) and, as a result of this, he will fall down into the fire of Hell deeper than the distance between the east and the west." [Agreed upon]

The Prophet ﷺ said:

" مَنْ كَانَتْ عِنْدَهُ مَظْلَمَةٌ لأَخِيهِ فَلْيَتَحَلَّلْهُ مِنْهَا، فَإِنَّهُ لَيْسَ ثَمَّ دِينَارٌ وَلاَ دِرْهَمٌ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُؤْخَذَ لأَخِيهِ مِنْ حَسَنَاتِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ حَسَنَاتٌ أُخِذَ مِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَخِيهِ، فَطُرِحَتْ عَلَيْهِ "

Allah's Messenger ﷺ said, "Whoever has wronged his brother, should ask for his pardon (before his death), as (in the Hereafter) there will be neither a Dinar nor a Dirham. (He should secure pardon in this life) before some of his good deeds are taken and paid to his brother, or, if he has done no good deeds, some of the bad deeds of his brother are taken to be loaded on him (in the Hereafter)." [Bukhari] 

This is another example of deception. On one side he's doing all these good deeds, on the other he's backbitted a person, wronged another, etc. and all of his good deeds are destroyed.

Not feeling like we have a problem is a problem in itself. الغرور is when a person is sick, but doesn't feel like he's sick. He's fooling himself.

Some of those who are deceived are deceived by all the blessings Allah gave them and not changed and think this is out of the love of Allah for them, and that they'll be given better in the hereafter. And this is from deception. 

Allah said in [30:7]:

They measure everything by the Dunya and by the blessings they see in it. 

E.g. He has a nice house, he thinks he has it because Allah loves him, and he'll get better in the next life.

But the people of Paradise don't think like this. In [52:26-27]:

And the Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah gives worldly things to those whom He loves and those whom He does not love, but He gives religion and true faith only to those whom He loves, so he who is given religion by Allah has been loved by Him"

Some of the Salaf said, "If you see Allah showering you with blessings over blessings and you are committing sins, then beware, this is استدراج (step by step deception of blessings, until you fall into the punishment and destruction)"

And some of the Salaf said, "It may be that a person is taken into destruction by the blessings of Allah and he doesn't know, and it may be a person is deceived by the covering of Allah of him and he doesn't know, and it may be a person is tested with praise of the people and he doesn't know"

Allah said in [82:6]:

When Allah showers you with blessings, it's not because you're good, but because He is generous. And even when people praise you, it's because Allah is covering your mistakes from them. If everyone knew the reality of everyone else, no one would want to even look at each other. We are all sinners and  full of faults. So don't believe people when they praise you. And the Shaytan brings the memory of their praise again and again. They see you one way, but they're only impressed by Allah covering your sins. It's like the filters of a picture. We know how the real picture looks like, don't be deceived by all the filters and editing. 

The People who are most Deceived 

The most deceived of people are those who are deceived by this Dunya. They prefer it over the hereafter and are pleased with it over the hereafter. Some of them even say, "The Dunya is like cash, and the hereafter is something delayed, and the cash is better than that"

In [75:20-21]:

That's a big deception. When you're pleased with the Dunya over the hereafter. 

Sometimes we go to a shop and buy something, and as soon as we buy it, we see something better or for a better deal.

Or sometimes we just eat something because we're hungry, and later someone brings delicious food, and we have no room in our stomach, and we regret eating the first meal. 

This happens to us a lot. 

Why? 

This is an آية from Allah, to show us what this world is like.