“Among the subtle secrets behind relief being coupled with the intensification of distress is that when anguish grows severe and immense, and reaches its utmost limit, despair arises of its removal from the direction of created beings, and one’s attachment falls solely upon the Creator.

Whoever severs himself from reliance upon creation and attaches himself to the Creator alone—Allah responds to him and removes his affliction.

For true reliance consists of cutting off all forward-looking expectation of others by despairing of created beings altogether.”

«الْبِدْعَةُ فَاشِيَةٌ وَأَهْلُهَا أَعِزَّاءُ!»

“Innovation has spread, and its people are powerful!”
He replied:

فَقَالَ: «أَمَا عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ إِذَا أَرَادَ قَطْعَ ‌بِدْعَةٍ ‌أَظْهَرَهَا؟»

“Do you not know that when Allah wills to uproot an innovation, He brings it into full view?”

📚al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā. Tartīb al-Madārik wa-Taqrīb al-Masālik li-Maʿrifat Aʿlām Madhhab Mālik. Vol. 4, p. 72. Rabat: Wizārat al-Awqāf wa-l-Shuʾūn al-Islāmiyyah bi-l-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah, 1st ed.

“Today we live in a time when tribulations have closed in on us from every side. Our youth are left bewildered, surrounded by trials like patches of a pitch-black night. A person wakes up holding one view and goes to sleep holding another, scarcely able to recognize what is right in what he hears and sees, or in what he reads.

One of the most important realities our youth must understand is that the people around us generally fall into two types. The first is the jealous person—one who resents you for the many blessings you enjoy: well-being, steadfastness upon the Sacred Law, security and stability, and a wholesome life. Everyone who possesses a blessing is bound to be envied. The second type is the one who feels sincere emulation and good envy toward you regarding these same blessings.

The heart of the matter is this: envy is to wish that a blessing be taken away—whether it disappears and comes to oneself, passes to someone else, or vanishes altogether. Good envy, on the other hand, is to wish to have something similar to what you have, without wanting that blessing to be taken from you.

We must clearly grasp this distinction and keep it firmly in mind so that we deal with others wisely and with insight, and so that we can tell the difference between a true friend and an enemy. Trials and hardships are precisely what reveal the sincere friend and expose the pretended one.

The poet spoke the truth when he said:

May Allah reward hardships with every good,
for through them I came to know my enemy from my friend.

This blind tribulation has uncovered realities that were long hidden in people’s hearts. It has also exposed mistaken ideas held by some—ideas they could not openly promote except in times like these dark days.

We now find ourselves in a state of confusion, driven by unchecked desires. Everyone chooses a side and goes in whatever direction he wishes, for whatever purpose he desires. Pens are writing, broadcasts are airing, recordings are being made, and lectures are being delivered—each vessel pouring out what it contains.”

As a result, our youth keep reading from one source, listening to another, and paying attention to yet another, left confused and unsettled by it all.”

«فَإِنْ عَدَلَ عَنِ الْأَحَقِّ الْأَصْلَحِ إِلَىٰ غَيْرِهِ لِأَجْلِ قَرَابَةٍ بَيْنَهُمَا، أَوْ وَلَاءِ عَتَاقَةٍ، أَوْ صَدَاقَةٍ، أَوْ مُرَافَقَةٍ فِي بَلَدٍ، أَوْ مَذْهَبٍ، أَوْ طَرِيقَةٍ، أَوْ جِنْسٍ؛ كَالْعَرَبِيَّةِ وَالْفَارِسِيَّةِ وَالتُّرْكِيَّةِ وَالرُّومِيَّةِ؛ أَوْ لِرِشْوَةٍ يَأْخُذُهَا مِنْهُ مِنْ مَالٍ أَوْ مَنْفَعَةٍ؛ أَوْ غَيْرِ ذٰلِكَ مِنَ الْأَسْبَابِ؛ أَوْ لِضَغَنٍ فِي قَلْبِهِ عَلَى الْأَحَقِّ، أَوْ عَدَاوَةٍ بَيْنَهُمَا؛ فَقَدْ خَانَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالْمُؤْمِنِينَ».

“If someone (charged with authority) turns away from choosing the one who is most entitled and most suitable and instead selects someone else—because of kinship between them, or a bond of former manumission, or friendship, or shared ascription to a land, a school of thought, a path (tarīqah, such as a Sufi order), or an ethnicity such as Arab, Persian, Turkish, or Roman; or because of a bribe he takes from him in wealth or some personal benefit; or for any other such motive; or due to malice in his heart toward the one who is truly deserving, or enmity between them—then he has indeed betrayed Allah, His Messenger, and the believers.”

📚¹ Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Siyāsah al-Sharʿiyyah fī Iṣlāḥ al-Rāʿī wa-l-Raʿiyyah (Riyadh: Dār ʿAṭāʾāt al-ʿIlm; Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 4th ed., 1440/2019), 9.

Self-accountability is of two kinds: one before action, and one after it.

As for the first type, it is for a person to pause at the very outset of his resolve and intention, and not to rush into action until it becomes clear to him that proceeding is more weighty and preferable than refraining.

Al-Ḥasan said: “May Allah have mercy on a servant who pauses at the moment of intention: if it is for Allah, he proceeds; and if it is for other than Him, he holds back.”

Some of the scholars explained this further, saying:

(1.) When the soul inclines toward a certain action and the servant resolves to do it, he must first pause and examine whether that action lies within his capacity or whether it is beyond his power and unattainable. If it is beyond his capacity, he must not proceed.

(2.) If it is within his capacity, he pauses once more and considers: Is doing it better than leaving it, or is leaving it better than doing it? (Meaning: he weighs the harms and benefits) If leaving it is better, he abandons it and does not proceed.


(3.) If doing it is better, he pauses a third time and reflects: Is the motive behind this action seeking the Face of Allah and His reward, or is it the pursuit of status, praise, or wealth from the creation?

If it is the latter, he must not proceed—even if it would lead him to his desired outcome—lest the soul grow accustomed to associating others with Allah. For to the degree that acting for other than Allah becomes easy upon the soul, acting sincerely for Allah becomes burdensome, until it eventually becomes the heaviest of all actions.

(4.) If the motive is sincerely for Allah, he pauses yet again and considers: Is he supported in this matter? Does he have helpers who will assist and aid him if the action is of the kind that requires such support?

If he has no helpers, he restrains himself—just as the Prophet ﷺ refrained from jihād in Makkah until he acquired strength and supporters. But if he finds that he is aided in it, then he is granted victory.

⭐️Success is not missed except through the absence of one of these qualities; otherwise, when they are all present together, success does not elude him.

These, then, are four stations upon which a person must take his soul to account before acting:

1️⃣ not everything a servant wishes to do lies within his capacity; 2️⃣ nor is everything that lies within his capacity better to do than to leave undone; 3️⃣ nor is everything that is better to do than to leave undone performed sincerely for Allah; 4️⃣ and nor is everything that is done for Allah accompanied by assistance and support.

When a person takes his soul to account in light of these matters, what he should advance toward and what he should hold back from becomes clear to him. Then let him proceed with what has become clear to him.”

هٰذَا الحَدِيثُ مُشْتَمِلٌ عَلَى خَبَرٍ صَادِقٍ، وَإِرْشَادٍ نَافِعٍ. أَمَّا الخَبَرُ، فَإِنَّهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَخْبَرَ أَنَّ النَّصَّ شَامِلٌ لِأَكْثَرِ النَّاسِ، وَأَنَّ الْكَامِلَ — أَوِ الْمُقَارِبَ لِلْكَمَالِ — فِيهِمْ قَلِيلٌ، كَالْإِبِلِ الْمِائَةِ؛ تَسْتَكْثِرُهَا، فَإِذَا أَرَدْتَ مِنْهَا رَاحِلَةً تَصْلُحُ لِلْحَمْلِ وَالرُّكُوبِ، وَالذَّهَابِ وَالإِيَابِ، لَمْ تَكَدْ تَجِدْهَا.

This ḥadīth comprises both a truthful information and a beneficial directive.
As for the information: the Prophet ﷺ informed that this description applies to most people, and that the one who is complete—or close to completion—is rare among them, like a hundred camels: though they are many, when you seek among them a mount suitable for carrying loads, riding, and repeated journeys, you scarcely find one.

وَهٰكَذَا النَّاسُ كَثِيرٌ، فَإِذَا أَرَدْتَ أَنْ تَنْتَخِبَ مِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَصْلُحُ لِلتَّعْلِيمِ أَوِ الْفَتْوَى أَوِ الإِمَامَةِ، أَوِ الْوِلَايَاتِ الْكِبَارِ أَوِ الصِّغَارِ، أَوِ الْوَظَائِفِ الْمُهِمَّةِ، لَمْ تَكَدْ تَجِدْ مَنْ يَقُومُ بِتِلْكَ الْوَظِيفَةِ قِيَامًا صَالِحًا. وَهٰذَا هُوَ الْوَاقِعُ؛ فَإِنَّ الإِنْسَانَ ظَلُومٌ جَهُولٌ، وَالظُّلْمَ وَالْجَهْلَ سَبَبٌ لِلنَّقَائِصِ، وَهِيَ مَانِعَةٌ مِنَ الْكَمَالِ وَالتَّكْمِيلِ.

Such, too, are people: they are numerous, yet when you seek among them those fit for teaching, issuing legal verdicts, leading in prayer, administering major or minor appointments, or fulfilling essential posts, you scarcely find one who discharges that role in a sound and upright manner. This is the reality, for the human being is unjust and ignorant; and injustice and ignorance are causes of deficiency, barring one from both being ideal self and the ability to make others reach their ideal selves.

وَأَمَّا الإِرْشَادُ، فَإِنَّ مَضْمُونَ هٰذَا الْخَبَرِ إِرْشَادٌ مِنْهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِلَى أَنَّهُ يَنْبَغِي لِمَجْمُوعِ الأُمَّةِ أَنْ يَسْعَوْا وَيَجْتَهِدُوا فِي تَأْهِيلِ الرِّجَالِ الَّذِينَ يَصْلُحُونَ لِلْقِيَامِ بِالْمُهِمَّاتِ، وَالأُمُورِ الْكُلِّيَّةِ الْعَامَّةِ النَّفْعِ.

As for the directive: the substance of this report is the Prophet’s ﷺ guidance that the Muslim community as a whole ought to strive and exert themselves in preparing men who are fit to undertake critical responsibilities and matters of comprehensive, public service.

وَقَدْ أَرْشَدَ اللَّهُ إِلَى هٰذَا الْمَعْنَى فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: {فَلَوْلَا نَفَرَ مِنْ كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِنْهُمْ طَائِفَةٌ لِيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الدِّينِ وَلِيُنْذِرُوا قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ [التَّوْبَةِ: 122]. فَأَمَرَ بِالْجِهَادِ، وَأَنْ يَقُومَ بِهِ طَائِفَةٌ كَافِيَةٌ، وَأَنْ يَتَصَدَّى لِلْعِلْمِ طَائِفَةٌ أُخْرَى، لِيُعِينَ هٰؤُلَاءِ هٰؤُلَاءِ، وَهٰؤُلَاءِ هٰؤُلَاءِ. وَأَمْرُهُ تَعَالَى بِالْوِلَايَاتِ وَالتَّوْلِيَةِ أَمْرٌ بِهَا، وَبِمَا لَا تَتِمُّ إِلَّا بِهِ مِنَ الشُّرُوطِ وَالْمُكَمِّلَاتِ.

Allah has directed to this meaning in His saying: {So why did not a group from every faction among them go forth, so that they might gain understanding of the religion and warn their people when they return to them?} (al-Tawbah 9:122). Thus, He commanded jihād, to be undertaken by a sufficient group, and likewise that another group devote themselves to knowledge—so that each supports the other. His command regarding governance and appointment is a command for their establishment, and for all the conditions and complementary requirements without which they cannot be fulfilled.

وَقَدْ أَرْشَدَ اللَّهُ إِلَى هٰذَا الْمَعْنَى فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: {فَلَوْلَا نَفَرَ مِنْ كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِنْهُمْ طَائِفَةٌ لِيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الدِّينِ وَلِيُنْذِرُوا قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ [التَّوْبَةِ: 122]. فَأَمَرَ بِالْجِهَادِ، وَأَنْ يَقُومَ بِهِ طَائِفَةٌ كَافِيَةٌ، وَأَنْ يَتَصَدَّى لِلْعِلْمِ طَائِفَةٌ أُخْرَى، لِيُعِينَ هٰؤُلَاءِ هٰؤُلَاءِ، وَهٰؤُلَاءِ هٰؤُلَاءِ. وَأَمْرُهُ تَعَالَى بِالْوِلَايَاتِ وَالتَّوْلِيَةِ أَمْرٌ بِهَا، وَبِمَا لَا تَتِمُّ إِلَّا بِهِ مِنَ الشُّرُوطِ وَالْمُكَمِّلَاتِ.

Allah has directed to this meaning in His saying: {So why did not a group from every faction among them go forth, so that they might gain understanding of the religion and warn their people when they return to them?} (al-Tawbah 9:122). Thus, He commanded jihād, to be undertaken by a sufficient group, and likewise that another group devote themselves to knowledge—so that each supports the other. His command regarding governance and appointment is a command for their establishment, and for all the conditions and complementary requirements without which they cannot be fulfilled.

فَالْوَظَائِفُ الدِّينِيَّةُ وَالدُّنْيَوِيَّةُ، وَالأَعْمَالُ الْكُلِّيَّةُ، لَا بُدَّ لِلنَّاسِ مِنْهَا، وَلَا تَتِمُّ مَصْلَحَتُهُمْ إِلَّا بِهَا، وَهِيَ لَا تَتِمُّ إِلَّا بِأَنْ يَتَوَلَّاهَا الأَكْفَاءُ الأُمَنَاءُ. وَذٰلِكَ يَسْتَدْعِي السَّعْيَ فِي تَحْصِيلِ هٰذِهِ الأَوْصَافِ بِحَسَبِ الاِسْتِطَاعَةِ. قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: {فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ} [التَّغَابُنِ: 16] وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ.

Religious and worldly offices, and overarching communal functions, are indispensable for people, and their welfare is not realized without them. They, in turn, are only realized when entrusted to those who are competent and trustworthy. This necessitates striving to acquire these qualities to the extent of one’s ability. Allah Most High says: “So fear Allah as much as you are able.” (al-Taghābun 64:16). And Allah knows best.

📚ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Saʿdī. Bahjat Qulūb al-Abrār wa-Qurrat ʿUyūn al-Akh’yār fī Sharḥ Jawāmiʿ al-Akhbār. Riyadh: Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Daʿwah and Guidance, 4th ed., 1423 AH, 199.

A far-reaching hope that urges one to acquire what a single lifetime is too short to encompass, and that motivates the pursuit of what cannot be hoped to be attained within the lives of its initiators. Were it not that the later generation benefits from what the earlier one established—until it becomes self-sufficient through it—the people of every age would be forced to create anew what they need of dwellings for habitation and lands for cultivation. In that would lie hardship and the impossibility of realization, in a manner too evident to require explanation.

For this reason, Allah—exalted is He—showed kindness to His creation by granting them expansive hopes, through which He caused the world to be built up, its soundness to become widespread, and its civilization to pass from one generation to another. Thus the second generation completes what the first left unfinished in its construction, and the third repairs what disorder the second introduced, so that its conditions remain cohesive across the ages and its affairs remain orderly over the passage of time.

Had hopes been short—so that each person exceeded no more than the need of his day and did not go beyond the necessity of his moment—the world would pass to those who follow as a ruin, in which they would find neither sufficiency nor the means to meet their needs. It would then pass to those after them in a state worse than that, until no growth could be sustained within it and no continued habitation would be possible.”

“Monuments of immense magnitude cannot be undertaken by a single state alone. The reason for this lies in what we have already explained: construction requires cooperation and the multiplication of human capacity. At times, the sheer scale of a building exceeds what human power—whether singly or even multiplied through organization—can accomplish, as we have stated. It therefore requires the renewal of an equivalent capacity over successive generations until it is completed.

Thus the first of them begins the construction, followed by the second and the third, each having fully marshaled laborers and gathered hands until the intended purpose is fulfilled and the structure completed. It then stands visible to the eye, so that those who come later imagine it to be the work of a single state.

Consider what historians have related regarding the construction of the Dam of Maʾrib: it was begun by Sabaʾ ibn Yashjub, who directed seventy valleys toward it, but death prevented him from completing it, and so it was finished by the kings of Ḥimyar after him. The same has been reported regarding the construction of Carthage and its aqueduct borne upon ancient arches. Indeed, most great structures are of this nature.

This is further confirmed by what we observe in our own time: a single ruler may begin laying out and founding a great structure, but if those who follow him among later rulers do not carry on his work to completion, it remains unfinished and its intended purpose unrealized. It is also evidenced by the fact that we find many great structures whose demolition and destruction exceed the capacity of states, even though demolition is far easier than construction—for demolition is a return to the original state of nonexistence, whereas construction runs contrary to that original state.

Thus, when we encounter a structure that our human strength is too weak to demolish despite the ease of demolition, we know that the power which established it was exceedingly great, and that it was not the product of a single state.”

📚 See: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Māwardī, Adab al-Dunyā wa-l-Dīn (Beirut: Dār Maktabat al-Ḥayāh, 1986), 144.; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn, al-ʿIbar wa-Dīwān al-Mubtadaʾ wa-l-Khabar fī Tārīkh al-ʿArab wa-l-Barbar wa-man ʿĀṣarahum min Dhawī al-Shaʾn al-Akbar (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1st ed., 1401/1981), 1:431.

«وَأَمَّا مَنْ كَانَ فَاقِدًا لِلْجَرَاءَةِ وَالْإِقْدَامِ مِنْ نَفْسِهِ، فَاقِدَ الْجَاهِ مِنَ الْحُكَّامِ، فَيَنْبَغِي لَهُ أَنْ يَجْتَنِبَ الِاحْتِرَافَ بِالتِّجَارَةِ؛ لِأَنَّهُ يُعَرِّضُ مَالَهُ لِلضَّيَاعِ وَالذَّهَابِ، وَيَصِيرُ مَأْكَلَةً لِلْبَاعَةِ، وَلَا يَكَادُ يَنْتَصِفُ مِنْهُمْ. لِأَنَّ الْغَالِبَ فِي النَّاسِ، وَخُصُوصًا الرِّعَاعَ وَالْبَاعَةَ، شَرِهُونَ إِلَىٰ مَا فِي أَيْدِي النَّاسِ سِوَاهُمْ، مُتَوَثِّبُونَ عَلَيْهِ. وَلَوْلَا وَازِعُ الْأَحْكَامِ لَأَصْبَحَتْ أَمْوَالُ النَّاسِ نَهْبًا.»

“As for someone who

lacks courage and initiative

within himself, and who has no standing or influence with those in authority,

he should avoid taking up trade as a profession.

Doing so exposes his wealth to loss and ruin, makes him easy prey for merchants, and leaves him scarcely able to secure justice against them. This is because

what predominates among people—especially the common rabble and traders—is a greedy desire for what lies in the hands of others, along with a readiness to seize it

. Were it not for the restraining power of law, people’s wealth would become outright plunder.“

📚 Ibn Khaldun. al-ʿIbar wa-Dīwān al-Mubtadaʾ wa-l-Khabar fī Tārīkh al-ʿArab wa-l-Barbar wa-man ʿĀṣarahum min Dhawī al-Shaʾn al-Akbar (Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn), vol. 1, ed. Khālīl Shiḥādah, rev. Suhayl Zakkār (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1st ed., 1401 AH / 1981 CE), 495.

«مَا هَؤُلَاءِ بِكَذَبَةٍ، بَلْ أَئِمَّةٌ أَثْبَاتٌ، وَإِنَّمَا الشَّيْخُ تَكَلَّمَ عَلَىٰ حَسَبِ مَا نُقِلَ لَهُ عَنْهُمْ. فَقَبَّحَ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَنْقُلُ الْبُهْتَانَ، وَمَنْ يَمْشِي بِالنَّمِيمَةِ.»

“These men are not liars; rather, they are steadfast imams. The shaykh spoke only in accordance with what had been conveyed to him about them. So may Allah disfigure the one who transmits slander, and the one who walks about spreading malicious gossip.”

📚 See: Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi. Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 14, ed. collective under the supervision of Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 3rd ed., 1405 AH / 1985 CE), 380.