11. Refuting the people of knowledge:
A person may be incited by Satan to speak badly about the people of knowledge or to try to refute and contradict them. His purpose in doing so is to make himself visible by standing upon their shoulders. He wants people to say that he refuted or dumbfounded a certain scholar. He wants news to spread that he got into a debate with a certain prominent sheikh and overwhelmed him with his arguments.
He might succeed in bringing scholars down only to make himself more famous. While doing so, he might even offer a prayer for them to make a show of his affection and concern. He could say: “So-and-so – may Allah have mercy on him – said this and that.” He may even make a pretense of pity and compassion, saying: “Poor so-and-so, he has been afflicted with holding such an opinion.”
Another approach he may use is to feign a desire not to talk about him. If someone mentions to him the name of a certain scholar, he might say: “I do not wish to get involved with discussing that person” or “Leave him alone. May Allah conceal both his faults and ours.” or “Let us not talk about him. May Allah protect us from speaking badly about someone.” This is a very subtle way of putting that scholar down. Only the astute actually realize what is going on.12. Seeking knowledge to acquire fame:
A person may be incited by Satan to seek religious knowledge and to study it extensively with the sole purpose of becoming a muftî who people will come to with their questions, or a scholar whose name will go down in history, or maybe an Islamic activist who people will rally around.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned that three people would be the first on the Day of Resurrection to be scorched by the Hellfire. One of these three was: “…a man who acquired knowledge and taught it to others, who recited the Qur’ân. He will be summoned and asked what he did during his lifetime. He will say: ‘I acquired knowledge and taught it to others and I recited the Qur’ân for your sake. Allah will tell him: ‘You lie! You only acquired knowledge so people would call you a scholar and read the Qur’ân so you would be acclaimed as a Qur’ân reciter. These things were indeed said about you.’ At this point an order will be given and this man will be dragged on his face and cast into Hell.” The others mentioned in this hadîth were a man who fought in Allah’s cause and a man who gave in charity, both with the intention of showing off.25
A person like this, once he acquires the fame and status that he desires, will be approached with the people’s questions. There will be times where he will not know the answer. At these times where he should admit he does not know, he will instead fear the people and worry about their opinion of him. He will not want them to say: “How come you don’t know the answer and you are supposed to be such a learned person?” For this reason, he will make something up an answer in ignorance. He will in this way misguide himself and others.
Once a man of knowledge ascended the pulpit and was asked a questioned. He answered: “I don’t know.”
One of the people in attendance spoke up and said: “The pulpit is not a place for ‘I don’t know’!”
To this the man of knowledge said: “I have ascended to this position where I am with the knowledge that I possess. If I were to ascend on par with ignorance, I would reach the sky.”
Imam Mâlik once said: “Whenever a scholar abandons saying ‘I don’t know’, then he has met with destruction.”
13. Feigning humility:
Satan may incite a person to make a pretentious show of modesty and humbleness. He will clasp his hands together, raise his shoulders, and lower his head in an insincere and inordinate display of submissiveness. Often the behaviors exhibited in these displays go against the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him).
`Abd Allah al-Qurashî relates that `Umar b. al-Khattâb once saw a young man lowering his head in prayer. `Umar said to him: “Raise your head. Humbleness does not increase on what is actually in the heart. Whenever people make their humbleness visible, they are just making a visible display of hypocrisy. 26
The Sunnah of how the worshipper should carry himself in prayer is well known. The correct thing for the worshipper to do is to focus his eyes on the place where his forehead will go in prostration. His hands should be folded over his chest or his diaphragm with the right hand covering the left. This is the position of the majority of scholars and is related in the hadîth related by Wâ’il b. Hajar, which is the most authentic hadîth in this regard.27 The worshipper should be balanced and moderate in standing, sitting, bowing, and prostrating, as this is the guidance of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Satan might sometime comes to a reciter of the Qur’ân and encourage him to cry during his recitation with the notion of making the listeners feel humbled before his recitation and to inspire them to weep as well. Yet, the larger the congregation, the more he cries, until he comes to a point where he can hardly recite.
Then we have the supplication known as the qunût made by the imam in Ramadân at the end of the prayer. We can see and hear amazing things happening during this supplication. Tears are summoned up and wept out in torrents by a person who may have just finished reading the most powerful, fearsome, and awe inspiring verses of the Qur’ân without being moved in the least. Then when he comes to the supplication of the qunût, we begin to hear loud cries and sobs.
Ibn Jawzî devotes a chapter to this type of showing off in his superb book entitled Talbîs Iblîs (The Devil’s Deception). He writes:
Chapter: The Devil’s deception through false humility, lowering of the head, and establishing law
If fear embeds itself in the heart, the body will show it. Such a person will not even be able to conceal his feelings. What is reprehensible is for a person to make an effort to show humility, induce crying, and visibly hang his head in order to appear like an ascetic and have people come up to him to take his hand or kiss it or beseech him to pray for them. He prepares himself for supplicatio n as if he can bring down an answer from heaven.
We have mentioned how Ibrâhîm al-Nakha`î, the prominent student of the Companions, used to detest it when people asked him to make a prayer for them. Some people display so much fear that it makes them very shy and submissive, unable to raise their faces to the sky. This is not a virtue, because there is no humility greater than that shown by Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him). In Sahîh Muslim, there is the hadîth of Abû Mûsâ al-Ash`arî where he says that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) used to often raise his head to the sky. 28 This hadîth shows that turning one’s face to the sky is a recommended practice for the sake of drawing lessons from the signs in its creation. Allah says: “Do they not look at the sky above them, how We made it and adorned it and there are no flaws in it?” [Sûrah Qâf : 6] He also says: “Say: Look at what is in the heavens and on Earth. ” [Sûrah Yûnus:10 101]. This shows the falsehood of those Sufis who go years without ever looking at the sky out of what they claim to be a show of humility.
Abû Salamah b. `Abd al-Rahmân said: “The Companions of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) were neither deviant nor were they like dead people. They used to recite poetry in their gatherings and talk about the times of ignorance. However, if you were to attack any one of them in matters of religion, his eyes would become like those of a madman.”
Kahmas b. al-Husayn relates that a man in the company of `Umar breathed sighing breaths as if he was trying to show grief, so `Umar struck him. `آsim b. Kulayb al-Jarmî relates: “My father met with `Abd al-Rahmân b. al-Aswad who had a habit of walking along the side of the wall out of false humility. My father said to him: ‘What is it with you that you walk against the wall like that? I swear by Allah, when `Umar walked, he planted his feet firmly on the ground. He made his voice heard when he spoke.”
Abû Khaythamah relates that al-Shifâ bint `Abd Allah saw some young people walking meekly and speaking slowly. She asked them: “What is this?” They replied: “We are ascetics.”
To this she said: “I swear by Allah, when `Umar spoke he made himself heard, and when he walked he walked briskly, and when he hit someone, he inflicted pain. And he was an ascetic for real.”29
14. Overemphasizing certain conspicuous works, even to the point of going against the Sunnah:
Some people become fixated on a certain type of work to the point where Satan can incite them on account of it to go against the Sunnah or to violate Islamic law. Take jihad for instance, since some of our young people today have become very interested in it. No doubt it is a great act of devotion. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “There are one hundred levels in Paradise that Allah has prepared for those who engage in jihad for the cause of Allah. The distance between any two levels is like the distance between the sky and the Earth.”30 He also said that the pinnacle of Islam is jihad in the way of Allah. 31
Allah makes jihad the greatest of works when he says: “Do you consider the giving of drink to the pilgrims or the maintenance of the Sacred Mosque equal to the service of those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and strive[A] with might and main in the cause of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah; and Allah guides not those who do wrong. Those who believe and emigrate and strive with might and main in Allah’s cause with their wealth and their lives have the highest rank in the sight of Allah. They are the people who shall achieve success. Their Lord gives them glad tidings of mercy from Himself, of His good pleasure, and of Gardens for them wherein are delights that endure. They will dwell therein forever. Verily with Allah is a great reward.” [Sûrah al-Tawbah:19-22]
The gate of jihad is one of the great gates of Paradise, but jihad has its causes, its rules, and its conditions. A person who wishes to participate in jihad should learn the laws regarding it. He should learn how, where, and when to engage in jihad. He should know under whose banner he should fight. Moreover, such a person must first engage in a personal jihad to purify his intention. How many people are killed in the ranks of the believers and Allah alone knows their intentions. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever fight so that the word of Allah is the highest word, he is the one who has fought in the cause of Allah.”32
A man had fought along with the Prophet (peace be upon him) until he was slain. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “I saw him in the Hellfire.”33 Later, he then mentioned that he saw the man being punished in a cloak that he had stolen.
Then there is the case of another man who fought alongside the Prophet (peace be upon him). He was severely wounded and in agony, so he placed the base of his sword on the ground and its point against his chest. Then he killed himself by falling upon it until it came out through his back. The Prophet (peace be upon him) informed his Companions that that man was in the Hellfire.Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we purify our intentions and acquire the requisite knowledge before engaging in such work.
We have seen the children of the Islamic Awakening going fourth in ranks into the fiercest of fighting. They have demonstrated the utmost heroism, bravery, and mastery over the world. We saw the young men who had lived lives of recreation and comfort, pull themselves away from it suddenly, departing their lives of leisure and luxury and the places of fun and games, looking for death in the cause of Allah in the mountains and ravines of places like Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya, and Bosnia. We have books and cassettes filled with their many heroic stories.
This shows the truth of what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said when he informed us that jihad would be going on until the Final Hour, despite all the changing circumstances and despite how much the Muslims might lag behind in the world. He said: “There is no emigration after the conquest of Mecca but there is jihad and intention. If you are called upon to fight, the go forth.”34
At the same time, it should be known that jihad requires the express permission of one’s parents. Some of our young men, unfortunately, leave for jihad without first receiving their permission[B]. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) was asked which deed was most beloved to Allah, he said: “Prayer on its time.” Then when asked what came next, he said: “Honoring one’s parents.” Then when asked what came next, he said: “Jihad in Allah’s cause.”35
The Prophet (peace be upon him) placed honoring one’s parents before jihad. Once a man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and sought his permission to participate in jihad. The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked him if his parents were living. When the man replied in the affirmative, the Prophet (peace be upon him) told him: “Your jihad is in serving them.”36
On another occasion a man approached the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah! I have come because I want to go in jihad along with you and seek the countenance of Allah and the abode of the Hereafter. I have come and left my parents weeping.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Go back to them and make them laugh just as you have made them weep.”37
Satan entices people to go against Allah’s Law in this way. For instance, he tricks some people by beautifying a given Islamic duty, though other Islamic duties may be more serious, goading him on with it until he abandons those more important duties. He might deceive a person into thinking that some work is an individual duty on every Muslim, when in fact the decision to engage in such duties is one of those difficult matters that requires the discretion of qualified people of knowledge. This person may even be deceived into condemning those who do not participate in the same works.
It is possible for one of these people to start talking to others about his experience while engaged in jihad, mentioning things that he saw and did and talking about miracles that he had experienced, though such events may never have actually taken place. I saw someone who had his hand bound up and who claimed that he had been shot in the hand during a battle. When his matter was investigated more closely, it turned out that it was all a charade.
The scholars of the early generations – the Salaf – were the strictest people in guarding against the tendency to show off, especially when it came to jihad.
`Abdah b. Sulayman al-Marwazî relates: “We went on an expedition against the Romans. One Roman came forth who was very strong and severe. No Muslim could draw near him without being struck down by his sword. The Muslims became very afraid of him. Then a shrouded man went to attack that Roman, striking him with his sword until he cut through him. He then hurried back to the military camp. I followed him and opened his shroud to find that it was none other than the great philanthropist and eminent scholar of Hadîth and Law, `Abd Allah b. al-Mubârak! He became very angry about what I did and said:
‘Even you defame us!’” (`Abd Allah b. al-Mubarak meant by this that the man made his dentity and his deeds known to the public) Look at how he tried to conceal his good deeds. See as well how `Abd Allah b. al-Mubârak was able to join together many types of good works, like acquiring knowledge, fighting in jihad, and spending in charity.
15. Making a show of religious zeal:
A pious person begins to talk about sinners. He speaks at length, describing, nit picking, and bewailing. He might even go so far as to curse people and threaten them. He exaggerates matters to the extreme as if he is trying to say: “I am very zealous about the sanctity of the religion, righteously indignant when it comes to my Lord, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the believers” . What he does not realize is that the way he is showing off is a far graver sin than many of those that he is discussing and condemning so viciously.
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