One theme which defines prison life is that of opposing forces.
From the moment they first slap on the handcuffs, you enter into what’s officially known in legal jargon as an ‘adversarial relationship’ with your captors. This continues in the courtroom, and onwards to prison. Here, guards oppose prisoners, prisoners oppose other prisoners, and guards sometimes oppose other guards.
This extends to societies, to governments, and to the entire planet. The world is a series of opposing forces against & amongst one another.
It extends to the sky above the planet, in which darkness & light incessantly repel one another at any given place & time.
It extends back in time to the moment Iblis first laid envious eyes on our father Adam.
It extends inwardly, as opposing forces incessantly battle one another within you. As you read this, just your blood is caught between opposing forces such as acidic & basic pH, systolic & diastolic pressure, glucose & insulin, and others – each hanging in a delicate balance precise enough to prevent disease.
And it extends all the way to your heart, as as-Sa’di wrote that “the sound heart is free of shirk, doubt, love of evil, and insistence on bid’ah & sin. Once you free your heart from these, you’ll automatically possess their opposite: sincere devotion, knowledge, certainty, love & attraction towards good, a love & longing consistent with the love of Allah, and a desire consistent with what has come from Allah.”
Ibn Muflih wrote that adversarial relationships are “from Allah’s wisdom. It’s known that when He tests you, He also helps you: He tests you with disease and helps you with the cure; He tests you with sin and helps you with tawbah; He tests you with filthy spirits (shayatin) and helps you with pure ones (Angels); He tests you with prohibitions and helps you by permitting their opposite.”
Your heart is constantly caught between these forces of disease & cure, as the Prophet (sall Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said that “Allah didn’t create a disease except that He created its cure along with it.” In one narration, he added: “Whoever knows it knows it, and whoever doesn’t doesn’t.”
Allah then scattered those cures about, leaving us to discover them in the most unlikely places: sunlight hits your skin, causing it to produce the vitamin D that metabolizes calcium; the vitamin K needed for your blood to properly clot is produced by bacteria in your intestines; there’s even a commercially available diabetes treatment originally extracted from the venom of a Gila monster.
The ruling on treating the body’s diseases has always been disputed over by scholars: some practically obligated it, some simply preferred it, some said it doesn’t matter either way, and some preferred avoiding it altogether in favor of patience. But because “if it’s corrupted, the entire body will be corrupted” in this world, and everyone is ruined {“except those who come to Allah with a sound heart”} (26:89) in the next, no such dispute exists regarding the heart.
So when Mu’adh bin Jabal was asked for advice on his deathbed, he asked to be sat up and then said three times: “Knowledge & Iman are in their places. Whoever seeks them will find them.” He was teaching them that like all cures, Allah scattered these about for them to seek. And they went to the ends of the Earth doing so, as Masruq once travelled to Basrah seeking the meaning of a single ayah of the Qur’an. When he arrived, he was told: “The one who knows it has gone to Sham.” So he rode from southern Iraq all the way north to Sham and learned it. And ‘Ikrimah said: “I spent fourteen years seeking the name of the man referred to in the ayah {“and whoever leaves his home migrating to Allah and His Messenger…”} (4:100) until I finally found it.”
These were the best generations of Islam, who saw jahiliyyah as a disease to eradicate from the world through the Qur’an, {“a cure for what is in the hearts…”} (10:57) Explaining this, as-Sa’di wrote that “the cure of the Qur’an means that it cures the heart of doubts, ignorance, corrupt ideas, terrible deviance, and despicable intentions. It contains knowledge that’s so certain that it sweeps away all doubt & ignorance. It contains lessons that sweep away every desire contradicting Allah’s commands. And it contains a cure for the body’s pains & ailments.”
Before him, ash-Shawkani wrote that it’s a cure “because from it, you obtain the proper beliefs while seeing how baseless the false ones are.” Elsewhere, he wrote that “the scholars have two opinions regarding how it cures. Some said that it cures the heart by sweeping away ignorance & doubt and uncovering the matters that teach us about Allah. Others said that it cures physical ailments as a ruqyah, a means of protection, etc. There’s no reason why we can’t accept both meanings.”
Before him, Ibn Kathir wrote that “it sweeps away the diseases of the heart such as doubt, nifaq, shirk, confusion, and inclination towards falsehood. The Qur’an cures all of that. It’s also a mercy from which you obtain Iman & wisdom & a desire for good. But this only applies to those who believe in & follow it – only for them is it a cure & mercy. As for the kafir who wrongs himself, listening to the Qur’an will only distance him and increase his kufr. The problem lies within the kafir, not the Qur’an.”
Many claimants to Islam today reverse that last sentence, showing a willingness to abrogate as much of the Qur’an as they think will satisfy their masters, who until today demand that we {“bring a Qur’an other than this, or alter it.”} (10:15)
Indeed, every cure is opposed by a disease. But despite the forces coalesced against it, the Qur’an will never be altered, Allah has scattered it into the most unlikely places, and He’s made it easier than ever to learn. The Salaf would spend years and travel up & down continents seeking out a single piece of knowledge you can now instantly access from your smartphone. Even in prison – in a land ‘Ikrimah didn’t know existed – it took me seconds to find in a book the answer he’d spent fourteen years seeking: Damrah bin Jundub. He was an elderly man living in Makkah when he heard the ayah threatening those who choose to live amongst the enemy. So he told his sons: “Carry me! I’m not weak, and I can find my way. I won’t spend another night in Makkah!” So they carried him and headed to Madinah. But on the way, he realized that he was about to die. So he grabbed one hand with the other while saying: “O Allah! This bay’ah is to You, and the other is to Your Messenger.” He died before he could reach the Dawlah in Madinah, but while trying his best to implement the Qur’an.
May Allah be pleased with him & everyone like him… Indeed, as one hadith states, “for the one who recites & implements the Qur’an, it’s like a pouch filled with musk that spreads its fragrance everywhere.”
Ibn al-Qayyim wrote that “fragrances nourish the soul, which is the vehicle of your energy. They expand this energy, benefit the head & internal organs, and bring joy to the heart & soul. They’re the best thing for the spirit and illuminate it more than anything else.” Anatomy & physiology confirm this, explaining that what you smell is directly connected to how you feel because olfactory receptors at the top of your nasal cavity absorb scents, then convert them into nerve impulses that are carried to the limbic system – the part of the brain governing your emotions.
This effect made fragrances one of few things of the dunya beloved to the Prophet. And like all cures, Allah scattered them about, such that musk is obtained from a musk deer’s abdomen, ‘ambar (ambergris) from a sperm whale’s intestines, ‘ud (aloe wood) & kafur (camphor) from their respective plants, and so on.
And because every cure is opposed by a disease, Ibn al-Qayyim wrote that “fragrances possess a special quality: they’re loved by the Angels and detested by the shayatin. The shayatin love repugnant odors more than anything else, as every soul inclines towards what suits it.” This is why prior to their contact with Muslims, the Crusaders had an aversion to smelling good. In a chapter on the Crusades in his ‘History of the World,’ J.M. Roberts wrote that “wherever they encountered Islam, whether in the crusading lands, Sicily or Spain, western Europeans found things to admire. Sometimes they took up luxuries not to be found at home: silk clothes, the use of perfumes and new dishes. One habit acquired by some crusaders was that of taking more frequent baths.”
Defeating the Crusaders in Sham was itself a cure that served to {“heal the chests of a believing people and remove the fury in their hearts…”} (9:14-15) Commenting on this, as-Sa’di wrote that “this is because their hearts are filled with fury & sadness from seeing these enemies wage war on Allah & His Messenger while striving to put out His light, and these are cured when they’re fought & killed. This shows how much Allah loves & cares for the believers, such that He made healing their hearts and removing their fury an objective of the Shari’ah.”
Just as this objective is met through bara’, it’s also met through wala’, as Imam Ahmad said that “I never heard anything that strengthened my heart & reassured me during the Mihnah more than what a poor, blind man said to me: “O Ahmad! If you die, you die as a shahid. If you live, you live worthy of praise.”” Allah has scattered such people throughout your life. Like every cure, you encounter them in the most unlikely of settings. They somehow float into your orbit, affect you, then vanish, as the Prophet said that “souls are conscripted soldiers: the similar attract one another, and the different repel one another.”
And like every cure, this wala’ is opposed by a disease that Ibn al-Jawzi warned about: “If you find yourself repelled by the righteous or attracted to the wicked, find the cause of this and remedy it so that you don’t end up in the wrong group of souls.”
The effects of the bonds you form in this life extend all the way to the next, as al-Hasan al-Basri said: “Befriend as many believers as you can, because they’ll be able to intercede on the Day of Resurrection.”
Only when you reach the Day of Resurrection will you appreciate this, as you watch everyone else turn on one another: {“Close friends will become enemies on that day, except the muttaqin.”} (43:67) Commenting on this, ash-Shawkani wrote that “close friends who loved each other in this life will become enemies once the Hour begins. Their bonds will be severed, and each will be worried about himself. This is because they’ll find that their friendships were based on what have now become causes of punishment, and this will turn them against one another. Allah then exempted the muttaqin, who are close friends in this life & the next. They’ll find their friendships to be a cause of good & reward, so these bonds will remain intact.”
Perhaps those who turn on one another in the next life will then grasp the lesson behind the pattern of opposing forces in this life, as Ibn al-Qayyim wrote that “when you ponder over the creation of opposing forces in this world – how they resist & repel & overpower one another – then Allah’s power, wisdom, and perfection in what He does become perfectly clear to you. You’ll realize that He’s unique in His Lordship & Oneness, that He dominates everything, and that anything can be resisted by an opposing force – except Him.”
All the while, those who grasped this from the start will be lined up to enter Jannah – with no opposition against or amongst them, free of disease, and displaying the very cures that gave them the sound hearts to make it to this point, as the Prophet said that “the first group to enter Jannah will resemble a full moon (i.e., in radiance).
They won’t spit, blow their noses, or defecate…
They’ll be burning ‘ud, and their sweat will consist of musk…
No dispute or animosity will exist between them.
Their hearts will be united as if they’re a single man.
And they’ll be glorifying Allah day & night…”
Written by: Tariq Mehanna
Saturday, the 1st of Ramadan 1438 (28th of May 2017)
Marion CMU
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ 