The notions and devilish insinuations

Since 2012-11-22

The root of every theoretical or optional act is the notions and ideas, because they originate in the visions, and the visions call the wills; which in turn lead to the occurrence of the action. Then, the repetition of the action produces the habit.

All Praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I bear witness that there is no God except Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him along with all his family and companions.

 
Imam bin Al-Qayyim (may Allah almighty mercy him) said in his book, Al-Fawâ`id:
 
The root of every theoretical or optional act is the notions and ideas, because they originate in the visions, and the visions call the wills; which in turn lead to the occurrence of the action. Then, the repetition of the action produces the habit.
 
Hence, the rightness of these levels is a result to the rightness of the notions and ideas; on the other hand, the corruption of these levels is a result to the corruption of the notions and ideas. The notions could be right by monitoring its Lord and God seeking His satisfaction and love. Indeed; every rightness, guidance and success is from Him; His protection to His servant is the perfect protection; on the other hand, His servant’s avoiding Him is the complete perversity and misery. Whereupon; the servant gains good and right guidance according to the limits of proofing the essence of his idea in the light of His bounties, monotheism, ways of knowing Him, ways of worshiping Him, and thinking in Him as if He is with him, sees him, monitors him and knows his notions and intentions. By then; he feels shame and deem Him far above seeing something he does not like it to be seen by a creature like himself, or seeing in himself a notion he may be displeased by Him because of it.
 
When he thinks in his Lord, at this state; He would uplift him, make him closer to Him, grant His bounties to him, select him, and support him. And according to this; the servant avoids filth, evil notions, and mean ideas. On the other hand; the more he avoids Him, the close he is to the filth and low things; moreover, he gets away from any perfection and gets close to every mean thing.
 
Therefore; the man is the best creature as long as he seeks nearness with his Creator, adheres to His orders and prohibitions, seeks His satisfaction, and defeats his own whims for His sake.
 
On the other hand; he is the worst creature as long as he avoids Him, does not have his heart moved for seeking His nearness, and does not obey Him or seek His satisfaction. Actually; when he chooses to seek nearness with Him and likes Him better than himself and his whims; he would have made his heart, mind and faith above himself and his Satan; rather, his rightness defeated his error and his guidance defeated his whims. On the other hand; when he chooses to get away from Him, he would have made himself and his devil above his heart, mind and rightness.
 
Furthermore; you should know that the notions and ideas lead to thinking, which in turn takes them to remembrance. Then; remembrance takes them to the will that turns them to the limbs and actions. Then; they get planted and turn to be a habit. Hence; taking them back to their roots is easier than cutting them after their strength and completeness.
 
Surly; it is well known that the man is not given the rein of the notions or the strength to cut them; they attack him strongly. However; the strength of faith and mind works for him, as well as his running away is from his own self. The companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said: “O Messenger of Allah; Verily, we perceive in our minds that which every one of us considers it too grave to express.” He (the Prophet) said: “Did you really perceive it?” They said: “Yes.” Upon this he remarked: “That is the faith manifest.” [Reported by Muslim 132]
 
«إنا نجد في أنفسنا ما يتعاظم أحدنا أن يتكلم به. قال: وقد وجدتموه؟ قالوا: نعم. قال: ذاك صريح الإيمان» رواه مسلم 132
 
And in another narration: “Praise be to Allah Who has reduced his whispers to (be just) evil prompting.” [Reported by Abu Dâwûd 5112 and authenticated by Al-Albani]
 
«الحمد لله الّذي رد كيده إلى الوسوسة» رواه أبو داود 5112 وصحَّحه الألباني
 
Verily, Allah Almighty has created the self like a millstone never quits; it has to grind something. If grain is put in it, it grinds it; also, if dust or pebbles are put in it, it grinds them. Whereupon; the ideas and notions that move in the self is like the grain that is put in the millstone, which never quits. It must have something to be put in it; the millstone of some people grinds wheat which produces flour that benefits them along with others. However; the majority of people grind sand, pebbles, hay and such things. Then; when the time of baking comes, they discover the reality of their pulverized materials. Whereupon; if you pushed away the notion that comes to you, you would push what is next to it. On the other hand; if you accepted it, it would turn to be wandering thinking that uses the will which supports the notion in using the limbs; otherwise, they would return both to the heart with wish, desire and directing it toward their will.
 
Verily, it is well known that setting the notions right is easier than setting the ideas right. On the other hand, setting the ideas right is easier than setting the wills right, while setting the wills right is easier than correcting the wrong of the deed. At the same time; correcting the wrong of the deed is easier than quitting a habit.
 
Hence; the best remedy is to be busy by thinking only in whatever benefits you, not in what does not benefit you. Indeed; thinking in whatever does not benefit is the gate to every evil. Also; whoever thinks in whatever does not benefit him, he would surly miss what benefits him; furthermore, he would be distracted by the useless things from what is useful for him. Therefore; thinking, notions, intention, and will deserve (more than you) to be set right ; because, they are your essence that take you far or close to your God and Lord Whom you will never gain happiness unless He is close to you and is pleased with you. On the other hand; the pure misery lies in your going away from Him and having Him displeased with you. Actually; the person that is low and mean in his notions and thinking is surly the same in his other affairs.
 
Moreover; you should never enable Satan to control the house of your ideas and will; otherwise, he would spoil it in a way that makes it difficult to set it right again. Furthermore; he would cast the devilish insinuations and evil ideas upon you and makes a curtain between you and the ideas that benefit you. In fact; it is you who initially supported him against yourself, by enabling him to control your heart and ideas.
 
Actually, the resemblance of you with Satan is like an owner of millstone grinding good grain in it; then a man came to him with a heap of dust, dung, coal and scum to grind it in his millstone. If the owner of the millstone drove him away and did not enable him to throw his heap in the millstone, he would continue grinding what benefits him; otherwise, he would spoil the whole milled grain.
 
What Satan casts in the mind things like ‘thinking of existence and how would it have been if it was different than the state it was in, and what hadn’t been created how would it be like if it was created’, sins and prohibited deeds, illusions, rigmaroles, and issues the person could never understand (for their being concealed from the knowledge of people). Satan casts the person in such notions, in which he will never come to a goal or end; he makes these notions the field of his thinking and the theater of his interest.
 
The perfect way to set this right:
 
In the field of sciences and perceptions, you should make your mind busy with knowing what you should know about monotheism and its rights. In the field of death and whatever after it, you should be busy with entering Paradise or Hellfire along with the blights of deeds and the ways of getting rid of them. In the field of wishes and wills, you should be busy with willing whatever will benefit you and abstain from willing whatever will harm you.
 
Verily, it is known for the sane people wishing betrayal and making it the object of thinking and heart harms the heart more than betrayal itself; especially if the heart neglected it after committing it. Because, wishing it makes the heart busy and filled with it besides making it his will and desire.
 
Surly, you know that if a king has in his entourage someone wishes to betray him and his heart and thinking is filled with this wish, the king would hate and detest him severely and punish him once he discovers that. Rather; he would hate him more than hating someone not close to him, committed some crimes but he likes the king and does not wish betrayal or loves or cares for it. The first person neglects the betrayal because of lacking the strength to fulfill it, although his heart is filled with it. On the other hand, the second person commits it unwillingly; he neither desires it nor insists on it. Therefore; the second person is better and his aftermath is safer than the first one.
 
In short: The heart is never free from thinking; it either thinks in the affairs of Hereafter, the affairs of the worldly life, or the devilish insinuations and nullified wishes and predestined issues.
 
 
Compiled by: The scientific department in Al-Watan House
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