In the Name of Allaah, Full of Mercy, Ever-Merciful to His
(Believing) Servants
1. This is a book which the Shaikh, the Imaam, the Allaamah,
the Shaikh of Islaam and the Muftee of the Muslims, Abu Abdullaah Muhammad bin
Abu Bakr, better known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah - may Allaah the Exalted have
mercy upon him - sent to one of his brothers. He said:
[The Blessing Lies in Giving Advice and Teaching]
2. Allaah is the One I ask and Whose reply I hope in: that He
is benevolent to the brother in this life and the hereafter, that He brings
about benefit by him and makes him blessed wherever he may be - for verily the
blessing of a man lies in his teaching of goodness wherever he may be and his
giving of advice to everyone he meets. Allaah, the Exalted said, informing about
al-Maseeh (i.e. Eesaa) - upon him be peace -:
And He made me blessed wherever I may be [Maryam 19:31]
Meaning: ‘A teacher of goodness, a caller to Allaah, one
who reminds (others) of Him and who exhorts them to His obedience’. So
this is from the blessing of a man.
3. And whoever is devoid of these (characteristics) is
devoid of blessing and so the blessing of meeting such a person and spending
time with him is removed. In fact, the blessing of the one who meets him and
spends time with him will also be removed because he will waste time in (merely)
talking about occurrences and events and thus corrupt the heart.
4. And every harm that enters upon a servant, its cause
is the heart’s corruption. The corruption of the heart in turn brings
about the removal of the heart’s right upon Allaah, the Exalted, and a
dimunition of its degree and rank in the sight of Allaah. For this reason, some
of the shaikhs advised with their saying: "Be cautious of [the] mixing with
a person which will cause wastage of time and corruption of the heart, for
verily, when time is wasted and the heart is corrupted, all of the affairs of
the servant will be become ruined, and he will be of those about whom Allaah,
the Exalted, said:
And obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our
Remembrance, one who follows his own lusts and whose affair (deeds) has been
lost and wasted. [Kahf 18:28]
[The Punishment for Heedlessness]
5. Whoever reflects upon the nature and the state of creation
will find that - excepting a very small number - all of them are of those whose
hearts are unmindful of the remembrance of Allaah the Exalted, who have followed
their desires and whose affairs and well-being have become a ruin. Meaning, they
have neglected what will benefit them and bring to them their well-being. They
occupy themselves with what does not benefit them - rather, with what brings
upon them harm in this life and the next.
6. It is concerning such people that Allaah - free from all
imperfection - ordered His Messenger not to obey. Obedience to the Messenger
cannot be perfected except with the absence of obedience to such people, because
they only call to that which causes them difficulties and hardships such as
following desires and being heedless of Allaah’s remembrance. When
unmindfulness of Allaah’s remembrance and the home of the hereafter unites
with following of desires, there is born between them both (as a result of
this), every evil and much of that which connects one of them to the other, and
never separates from it.
7. And whoever contemplates over the corruption of the world,
the general and the specific, will find that it emanates from these two
principles.
Ibn al-Qayyim on Dawah, Guidance and the Condition of the Heart