The Two Fundamental Principles with regards to worship in Islaam

Shaykhul-Islaam Taqiyyu-deen Ahmad bin Taymiyyah al-Harraani ( رحمه الله تعالى )

These are the two great fundamental principles:

·       Firstly: We worship Allaah alone.

·       Secondly: We do not worship Him except with that which was legislated upon us, and we do not worship Him with innovated acts of worship.

These two foundations are the implementation of “I testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah alone (in Truth) and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah.” 

Allaah, the Most High said:

لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا

“That He may test you which of you is best in deed.”[1]

Curing the Heart

 :
Al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr Al-Asqalaane 

“The heart has been singled out for this because it is the leader of the body, and through the purification of the leader the subjects become purified, and with his corruption they become corrupted. So if you, O’ servant of Allaah, wish to cure your heart, then it is upon you to be truthful with regards to seeking refuge with Allaah and putting your trust in Him, to pray a great deal of supererogatory prayers, to perform the actions of obedience to Allaah frequently, to pray the night prayer while the people are sleeping, and to treat your heart by making it continuously stick to the remembrances, and by befriending only the righteous … and to frequently recite the Qur’aan, and
  ".Allaah will allow all of this to be preserved by him

(Transcribed from the foreword of Diseases of the Heart & Their Cures

by Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله)

Love and hate for the sake of Allaah

Ash-Shaykhul Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) said in his essay on Al-Uboodiyyah:

The true ‘abd however, is the one who is pleased with what pleases Allaah سُبحانه وتعالى and His Messenger; who has hatred for what Allaah and His Messenger صلّى اللَّهُ عليه وسلّم hate; offers walaa’ to the awaliyaa’ of Allaah and holds enmity towards the enemies of Allaah. This is the person who has fulfilled emaan as in the hadeeth:

“Whoever loves for Allaah, hates for Allaah, gives for Allaah and denies for Allaah has fulfilled emaan.”¹

He (صلّى اللَّهُ عليه وسلّم) also said:

“The firmest bond of emaan is love for Allaah and hate for Allaah.”²

Always in Need of The Ever-Merciful

“So the servant is ALWAYS in need of his Lord, from EVERY perspective. This is because He is the object of his worship, and the source of all of his help. So no one can bring him any good except Him, and nothing can better the situation of the servant except His worship. And on top of all of this, the servant is sinning, and there is no way that he can avoid this. So he is always in need, sinning, and he is in need of the One who always Forgives, the One who is Ever-Merciful. The One who always Forgives (al-Ghafoor) will Forgive his sins, and the Ever-Merciful will show him Mercy and bless him and be kind to him. So the servant is eternally between the blessings of his Lord and the sins of his soul.”

Ibn Taymiyyaah [d. 728H/1328CE]

Sins are like Chains & Locks...

 

“Sins are like chains & locks preventing their perpetrator from roaming the vast garden of tawheed & reaping the fruits of righteous actions.”

Imaam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullaah)

[Majmoo’ al-Fatawa (14/49)]

Beware of the living & gathering places of Jinn

Where do the Jinn live?

 

The jinn live upon the same earth as humans do.

Most of them can be found among the ruins and dilapidated areas, as well as the places where there are many impure things, such as, bathrooms, hashish dens, garbage dumps, the places of the camels, cemeteries.

What can my enemies do to me?

“What can my enemies do to me? I have in my breast both my heaven & my garden. If I travel they are with me, never leaving me. Imprisonment for me is a chance to be alone with my Lord. To be killed is martyrdom & to be exiled from my land is a spiritual journey…”

Imaam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah), [al-Wabil as-Sayyib p. 69]

A calamity that makes you turn to Allaah is better for you than …

Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

“A calamity that makes you turn to Allaah is better for you than a blessing which makes you forget the remembrance of Allaah…”

Slave of Desires

  

“If one attains (what he desires), he is pleased & if he is unable to attain it, he becomes discontented.  Such a person is a slave ['abd] to the things he desires.  He is a slave of it, since true slavery & servitude are the enslavement & servitude of the heart.”

-Ibn Taymiyyah [d. 728H/1328CE]

[Ibn Taymiyyah's Essay on Worship, pp. 100-101]