The Treatise on the Good Manners of the Spiritual Disciple's Wayfaring


Extract from The Treatise on the Good Manners of the Spiritual Disciple's Wayfaring

God the Exalted has said (who is more truthful than He!), Whoever desires the immediate, We shall hasten what We will of it to whomever We will; then We shall appoint for him Hell, in which he will be plunged, blamed, and defeated. And whoever desires the Hereafter and earnestly strives for it, and he is a believer -- these shall have their strivings rewarded (QURAN, 17:18-19). The immediate as mentioned here is this fleeting world. Therefore, the one who [merely] desires this world, let alone actively pursues it, ends up in the Fire, blamed and belittled. Should not a man of reason beware and turn away from it?

The Hereafter here means the Garden [or Heaven]. It is not enough to merely desire it in order to gain it. Faith and good works are both necessary, as is indicated in the passage, and earnestly strives for it, and he is a believer. The strivings to be rewarded are those deeds that are accepted by God, thereby deserving praise and such great rewards without limits nor endings -- all by the grace of God and His mercy.

The complete loser is the seeker of this world, whose end was described in the Quran. His desire for the world is so powerful that it causes him to forget and deny the Hereafter. He is a disbeliever, and he will be in Hell forever. The one who acknowledges the Hereafter but does not strive for it is astray and yet another loser. The Messenger of God, may blessings and peace be upon him, has said, "Deeds depend on intentions; each man receives according to what he has intended. He whose migration was for the sake of God and His Messenger, then he has migrated for God and His Messenger. He whose migration is for worldly things that he wishes to acquire or for a woman he wishes to marry, then he has migrated for that which he had intended."

The Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, thus informed us that [one's] deed is only as valid as the intention behind it, and that people are rewarded according to their intentions. When the [intentions] are good, they receive nothing but good. When these are evil, they receive nothing but evil. He whose intention is good, his deed then is inevitably good, and he whose intention is malicious, his deed is inevitably malicious, even if it appears good outwardly, as in the case of a man who behaves in a righteous way only to appear righteous in the eyes of people.

The Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, also informed us that he who acts for the sake of God by following in the footsteps of the Messenger of God, may blessings and peace be upon him, his reward is with God, who will be pleased with him and make his last abode His Garden -- near Him and in the company of the best of His people. Those whose intentions are directed toward other than God and who act as such, their rewards are with those to whom their intentions are directed, those they performed for, those who can neither benefit nor harm them or anybody else, those who can causes neither life, death, nor the resurrection. The Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, elected to speak of "migration" by way of providing an example. As it is well known to people of understanding, rules such as these can be generalized to all the laws of Islam.

It is God whom I ask to benefit me, you, and all other brothers with what He will inspire in me of this matter and allow me to reach. He is my sufficiency and the best of Guardians.

- Imam Abdallah Ibn Alawi al-Haddad, Two Treatises of Imam al-Haddad

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subhanAllah