The Fitnah of Shahawaat and Shubuhaat

 

The
Fitnah of "Shahawaat" and "Shubuhaat"

{An excerpt from Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyyah's
book "Ighaathatu' Lahfaan fee Masaayid As Shaytaan", Vol: 2 pg. 239-242}

Translated by Hisham Assing

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The Fitnah of  "Shubuhaat" 

 

Fitnah is of two types: the fitnah of "shubuhaat",
{doubts and misunderstandings}, this one being the greater fitnah of the
two, and the fitnah of "shahawaat" {desires}. It is quite possible that
{these two fitnah} can be present in the abd {servant} at the same time,
or one of them may be within him to the exclusion of the other. 

Regarding the fitnah of shubuhaat {doubts
and misunderstandings}, this is due to having a weak vision and a lack
of knowledge, not to mention if this is accompanied by corrupt intentions
and the goal of fulfillment of ones' desires, and herein lies the greatest
of all fitnah, this is indeed the worst of afflictions. Say what you like
about the deviation of evil motives, the dominant factor in such a person
is his hawa {desires}, and not huda {guidance}, in addition to his weak
vision and the lack of knowledge with which the messenger {sallahu alayhi
wasalam} . Hence, he is like those whom Allah describes:

"They follow but a guess and that which
they themselves desire, whereas there has surely come to them the Guidance
from their Lord!" {An Najm:23}

And indeed Allah {subhaanhu wa ta'la} has
informed us that the following of desires misguides one from Allahs' path,
He says: "O Dâwûd (David)! Verily! We have placed you as
a successor on earth, so judge you between men in truth (and justice) and
follow not your desire for it will mislead you from the Path of Allâh.
Verily! Those who wander astray from the Path of Allâh (shall) have
a severe torment, because they forgot the Day of Reckoning". {Sad: 26}

This is the kind of fitnah which leads
to kufr and nifaaq {hypocrisy}, which is the fitnah of the hypocrites and
ahl'il bidah {the people of innovation}, according to the degree of their
bidah. Thus, the majority of them innovate because of the fitnah of shubuhaat
{doubts and misunderstandings}, whereby they confuse the truth with falsehood
and guidance with misguidance.

There is no salvation from this kind of
fitnah except by exclusively following the messenger {sallahu alayhi wasalam}
by appointing him as the judge in the fine {detailed} matters in the deen
and its simpler ones, the public aspects of his life and the private one,
his beliefs and his actions, his reality and his legislation, thus he takes
from him {the messenger sallahu alayhi wasalam} the reality of emaan and
the legislation of islaam. He also accepts from him {alayhi as salam} what
all he {alayhi as salam} has confirmed from Allah's' names, attributes
and actions, and he does not negate them, in the same manner he accepts
from him {alayhi as salam} the obligation of salah, its' time and the number
{per day}, the percentage of ones' wealth on which zakat is due and those
who deserve it, the obligation of wudu and ghusl {from sexual impurity},
the obligation of fasting in the month of ramadan, etc. Therefore, he does
not see him {alayhi as salaam} only as a messenger in some aspects of the
deen to the exclusion of others, but to the contrary he is the messenger
for everything this ummah is in need of - be it knowledge or actions. So,
he does not accept nor take {anything} except if it is from him {alayhi
as salaam}, for the all guidance surrounds around his statement and actions.
And everything which is outside of his guidance is dalaal {a deviation}.
Thus, if this {principle} is implanted in the heart of  the servant
and he turns away from everthing except this {the messengers' prophetic
guidance}, whereby whenever he judges anything he examines it in the light
of that which the messenger came with, if  it agrees with what he
{alayhi as salaam} came with then he accepts it. And this is not because
that particular person said what he said, but rather {he accepts it} because
it agrees with the message {the sunnah}, and if it contradicts the sunnah
he rejects it, regardless of whoever it came from. And this is what will
save a person from the shubuhaat {doubts and misunderstandings}, and if
he misses this {principle} then fitnah will afflict him in accordance to
the degree he neglected this {principle}.

This fitnah is sometimes as a result of
incorrect understanding, wrong information, the truth being confirmed and
is present, but one was unaware of it so he was not able to get the most
out of it, or sometimes it can simply be that a person has evil intentions
and is just following his desires, thus he becomes from amongst those who
are blinded in their vision and habours evil in intentions.

 The Fitnah of Shahawaat {desires}

Allah has indeed combined in the following
ayat the description of those whom the two types of fitnah have befallen
them:

"Like those before you, they were mightier
than you in power, and more abundant in wealth and children. They had enjoyed
their portion awhile, so enjoy your portion awhile as those before you
enjoyed their portion awhile; and you indulged in play and pastime (and
in telling lies against Allâh and His Messenger Muhammad SAW) as
they indulged in play and pastime. Such are they whose deeds are in vain
in this world and in the Hereafter. Such are they who are the losers".
{At Tawbah: 69}.

So Allah is pointing out to us here what
happens from the corruption of  the hearts and the deen because of 
taking pleasures in their portion {of this world} and indulging in {speaking
about} falsehood, {and this is so} because curropting ones' deen occurs
either by falsehood and engaging in it, or by doing deeds which contradicts
correct action.

As for the first one; it is bidah and what
results from it. And the second one is sinful actions. The first one {bidah}
is consequence of shubuhaat, and the second {sinful actions} is an outcome
of shahwaat. This is why the salaf used to say be aware of two kinds of
people: a person of desires {innovator} whose  desires has misguided
him, and a person of this world (dunya people} whom this world has blinded
him. They also used to say {the salaf}: be careful of the fitnah of evil
scholar and the ignorant worshipper, for indeed their fitnah afflicts everyone
who is misguided. The source of  {all} fitnah is a consequence of
giving precedance to opinions over what Allah has leglislated, and preferance
of desires over intellegence. Thus, the basis of the first fitnah is shubuhaat
and the basis of the second one is shahawaat.

 The Cure for These Two Fitnah

As for the fitnah of shubuhaat this prevented
and cured by possessing "Al Yaqeen" certainty, and fitnah of shahawaat
can be fended off and remedied by "As sabr" patience. This is why Allah
made leadership of this deen by possessing these two qualities, hence He
says:

"And We made from among them leaders,
giving guidance under Our Command, when they were patient and used to believe
with certainty in Our Ayât". {As Sajdaah: 24},
thus this indicates that by having patience and certainty one achieves
leadership in this religion. Allah has also interlined these two characteristics
in surah Al Asr wherein He says:  Except those who believe and
do righteous good deeds, and recommend the truth to each other and recommend
one another to patience." {Al Asr: 3}. Therefore, advising each other
in truth repels "shubuhaat" and recommending patience to each other restrains
one from his deires. So by having patience and a sound intellect {this}
restrains one from the fitnah of "shahawaat", and by possessing a clear
vision and certainity {this} repels the fitnah of  "shubuhaat", wallahulmusta'an.