A Principle Concerning Unity and Splitting - the reason for this and their resultant effects
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Creator: Imam Ibn Taymiyyah
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Identifier: http://www.islaam.com/Article.aspx?id=263
Language: en
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Subject: character
Title: A Principle Concerning Unity and Splitting - the reason for this and their resultant effects
Created on: Thu Jan 24 10:54:35 -0500 2008
Updated on: Thu Jan 24 10:54:35 -0500 2008
Version: 1
Abstract: ... obligatory. Allaah said, "Allaah does not want to place you in difficulty, but He wants to purify you and to complete His Favour on you that you may be thankful." (5:6 – the verse pertaining to wudu) "In it (the mosque) are men who love to purify themselves and Allah loves those who purify themselves." (9:108) "Indeed Allaah Loves those who turn to Him in repentance and He loves those who purify themselves." (2:222) "Take charity from their wealth in order to purify and sanctify them." (9:103) "They are the ones whose hearts Allaah does not wish to purify." (5:41) "Indeed the polytheists are impure and filthy" (9:28) So we find that the concern of many of the legal jurists and the worshipper is only the purification of the body, and he goes beyond the requirement of the sharee’ah with respect to his concern and action. And he leaves what he has been commanded and recommended with respect to the purification of the heart, and he does not understand purification except in this bodily aspect. And we find that the concern of many of the sufis is the purification of the heart only, to the extent that he will go beyond the requirement of the Sharee’ah with respect to his concern and action. And he leaves what he has been commanded and recommended with respect to the purification of the body. So the first group go to the extreme of wasting water and considering to be impure that which is not impure, and staying away from that which has not been legislated to stay away from, this despite their hearts containing different shades of jealousy, arrogance and hatred towards their brothers. In this there is a clear resemblance to the Jews. The other group goes to the extreme of negligence, they go to great extents to safeguard the heart to the point that they consider ignorance of that which is obligatory to know – such as the evil from which it is obligatory to steer clear of – from those things that safeguard the heart (from actually desiring that evil). In this they do not differentiate between safeguarding the heart from desiring evil, and safeguarding the heart through its knowing the evil and its knowing that with which it has been commanded. Then alongside this negligence and ignorance they do not preserve themselves from the impure things and therefore establish the obligatory purification in the way of the Christians. So enmity has occurred between these two groups due to their leaving a portion of what they have been commanded with, and due to their bagy – which is to exceed the correct bounds, either by ignoring or omitting the truth, or by enmity and oppression. Bagy sometimes occurs amongst some people, or sometimes with regards to the rights of Allaah – both of these are implied. This is why He said, "out of mutual jealousy and hatred," for each group was displaying bagy to the other by not acknowledging the others right and not refraining from showing enmity to the other. Allaah said, "Nor were the People of the Book divided until the clear proof came to them." (98:4) "Mankind was one nation and Allaah sent Messengers as ... [Full Article...]
