3. TEN DEGREES OF GUIDANCE (2)

3. TEN DEGREES OF GUIDANCE (2)

          After mentioning the four degrees of guidance Ibn al-Qayyim in hisمَدَارِجُ السَّالِكِيْن  (Steps of Divine Seekers) he continues with the remaining degrees as follows:

          The fifth degree is ifhām (الإفْهَام, deep understanding, and quick thinking). It is a gift from Allah, light emanated into his heart, so that he understands what others do not, such as the one given to Prophet Sulaymān (Solomon) a.s. When a person complained to Prophet Dāwūd (David) a.s. in the case of the field in which the sheep of certain people had pastured at night (Q. 21:78). The grown grapes and bunches were spoiled by the sheep. Prophet Dāwūd ruled that the owner of the grapes should keep the sheep. But Prophet Sulaymān suggested  “Give the grapes to the owner of the sheep and let him tend them until they grow back as they were, and give the sheep to the owner of the grapes and get benefit from them until the grapes had grown back as they were. Then the grapes should be given back to the owner, and the sheep should be given back to their owner.”[1] This is what Allah meant when he said:

فَفَهَّمْنَاهَا سُلَيْمَانَ... (الأنبياء:79)

“And We made Sulaymān to understand

(the case)…” (Q. 21:79).

This story was reported by Bukhārī and Ibn ‘Abbās. We see here how the owner of the sheep repaired the damage of the grapes by tending them until they grew as before. In the meantime the grapes owner got benefit from the milk of the sheep while tending them. They exchanged jobs, so that none of them got two jobs nor lost his job.

          Another example of the ifhām given to Prophet Sulaymān a.s. is the ḥadīth narrated by Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet s.a. said:

There were two women who each had a son. The wolf

 came and took one of the children, and they referred

their dispute to Prophet Dāwūd. He ruled that the child belonged to the older woman. They left, and Prophet

Sulaymān called them and said: “Give me a sword and

I will divide him between the two of you.” The younger

woman said, “May Allah have mercy on you! He is her

 child, do not cut him up!” So he ruled that the

 child belonged to the younger woman.

(Reported by Bukhārī, Muslim, Nasā’ī and Ahmad)

          Among the companions of the Prophet it was his cousin ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās who was endowed with this ifhām in spite of his young age. ‘Umar invited him one day into his gathering with old men, and asked them what Allah meant when He said:

إذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ وَالْفَتْحُ . وَرَأَيْتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ اللَّهِ أَفْوَاجًا.

 فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ إِنَّهُ كَانَ تَوَّابًا.(النصر:1-3)

When there comes the help of Allah and the Conquest,

So glorify the praises of your Lord, and ask His forgiveness. Verily, He is the One Who accepts the repentance

 and Who forgives. ((Q. 110:1-3)

Some of them said that they were commanded by Allah to praise Him and seek His forgiveness when He helped them and gave them victory, and others remained silent.  When ‘Umar asked Ibn ‘Abbās he explained: “When there comes the help of Allah and the Conquest” means that “that is the sign of the end of your life.” ‘Umar approved his explanation and said: “I do not know anything about it other than what you have said.”

          The sixth degree of guidance is called al-bayān al-‘ām (البَيان العام, general clarification). It is the demonstration of the truth to make it distinct from falsehood through clear evidence, testimony and information, so that it becomes witnessed by the heart, like the eyewitness of seen objects. This is Allah’s evidence towards His creatures, so that He would not punish any person except that he had reached it. Allah said in the Qur’ān:

وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُضِلَّ قَوْمًا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَاهُمْ حَتَّى يُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ

مَا يَتَّقُونَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ (التوبة:115)

 And Allah will never lead a people astray after

 He has guided them until He makes clear to them

as to what they should avoid. Verily, Allah is

All-Knower of everything (Q. 9:115)

This straying is punishment for rejecting the bayān and not acting accordingly.

          Ibn al-Jawziyyah states further that a person who perceives and knows this bayān  he will understand the secret of qadr (divine decree); doubts and obscurities will disappear from him, and he will understand the wisdom behind Allah’s straying Whom he wills. People who turn away from the bayān  which is the right path, Allah also will turn their hearts away (Q.; 61:5), which is a kind of disbelief because of their obstinacy. When they say that their hearts are wrapped, Allah set a seal upon their hearts because of their disbelief, and this is called disbelief because of the sealing of their hearts.

          Guidance though bayān which is clear evidence would not be actualized or accomplished unless it is followed by another guidance, namely tawfīq, Allah’s blessing with successfulness. Allah says:

وَأَمَّا ثَمُودُ فَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ فَاسْتَحَبُّوا الْعَمَى عَلَى الْهُدَى فَأَخَذَتْهُمْ

صَاعِقَةُ الْعَذَابِ الْهُونِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ (فصلت:17)

 And as for [the tribe of] Thamūd, We offered them

 guidance, but they chose blindness in preference to

 guidance: and so the thunderbolt of shameful suffering

 fell upon them as an outcome of all [the evil]

 that they had wrought (Q. 41:17)

          This bayān is divided into two categories: clarification through āyāt (Qur’anic verses, sign, miracle, wonder) heard and recited (i.e., Qur’anic verses), and āyāt seen and witnessed by people (i.e., signs, miracles, and wonders of creation). Both of them are evidence indicating the Oneness of Allah, His Names, Attributes, His perfection, and the truthfulness of what it conveys about Him. Therefore, Allah calls people through the recited āyāt (.i.e., Qur’anic verses) to ponder the witness āyāt (i.e., the wonders of creation), and many other things.

This is the bayān sent by Allah to His Messengers and scholars after them. After that, He would guide and misguide whom He wills. He said:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا بِلِسَانِ قَوْمِهِ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ فَيُضِلُّ اللَّهُ

مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ (إبراهيم:4)

And We sent not a Messenger except with the

 language of his people, in order that he might make

 (the Message) clear for them. Then Allah misleads

 whom He wills and guides whim He wills. And

 He is the |all-Mighty, the All-Wise (Q. 14:4)

The seventh degree of guidance is al-bayan al-khāṣṣ (البيان الخاص, the particular clarification). It necessitates particular guidance, together with ‘ināyah (providence from Allah), tawfīq (success granted by Allah), and ijtibā’ (being chosen by Allah), where there is no room for failure in the heart, so that it would always receive guidance. Allah says:

إِنْ تَحْرِصْ عَلَى هُدَاهُمْ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي مَنْ يُضِلُّ

وَمَا لَهُمْ مِنْ نَاصِرِينَ (النحل:37)

If you (O Muhammad) covet for their guidance,

 then verily, Allah guides not those whom He makes to

 go astray (or none can guide him whom Allah sends

 astray). And they will have no helpers. (Q. 16:37)

In this verse, despite the Prophet’s efforts to guide them through general bayān he failed, because of the absence of particular bayān.

          Another example is in the following verse:

إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ

وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ (القصص:56)

 Verily, you (O Muhammad) guide not whom you like,

but Allah guides whom He wills, and He knows best

 those who are the guided.(Q. 28:56)

Here the first bayān which is general is condition (شَرْط), whereas the second one which is particular is requiring, obligating (مُوْجِب) without which guidance would not take place.

          The above verse was revealed after the Prophet had failed in guiding his uncle Abū Ṭālib while he was on his deathbed. He asked him to say: Lā ilāha illallāh (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah) with which the Prophet would defend his case before Allah. But Abū Jahl and ‘Abdullah ibn Umayyah were with him and persuaded him to keep him following the religion of ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib, which he did. Then the Prophet said: “I will keep on asking for Allah’s forgiveness for you unless I am forbidden to do so.” Then the above verse was revealed as well as the following one:

مَا كَانَ لِلنَّبِيِّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُوا لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ وَلَوْ كَانُوا أُولِي

قُرْبَى مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُمْ أَصْحَابُ الْجَحِيمِ (التوبة:113)

It is not proper for the Prophet and those who believe

 to ask Allah’s forgiveness for the idolaters even though

 they be of kin, after it has become clear to them that

they are the dwellers of the (Hell) Fire (because

they died in a state of disbelief) (Q. 9:113)

          These are seven of ten degrees of guidance given by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jaqzijjah. The remaining three will be dealt with in next khuṭbah, in shā’ Allāh (God willing)

                                                (CIVIC, 22 January, 2016)

المراجع:

المكتبة الشاملة

تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ(

تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ((

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(

ابن القيم الجوزية. مدارج السالكين.

Muhsin Khan, Dr. Muhammad. Summarized Sahih Al-Bukhari. Riyadh: Darussalam, 1996

Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1984  

http://www.nabulsi.com/blue/ar/art.php?art=2999&id=150&sid=734&ssid=753&sssid=754

http://siraje.net/2474-2/2474.html   

http://www.alhiwar.net/ShowNews.php?Tnd=26462

 http://jamharah.net/showthread.php?t=22172#.VpycPlLIWpY

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[1] Muhammad Asad gives us details of this story as follows: “According to this story a flock of sheep strayed at night into a neighbouring field and destroyed its crops. The case was brought before King David for judicial decision. On finding that the incident was due to the negligence of the owner of the sheep, |David awarded the whole flock – the value of which corresponded roughly to the extent of the damage – as an indemnity to the owner of the field. David’s young son, Solomon, regarded this judgment as too severe, inasmuch as the sheep represented the defendant’s capital, whereas the damage was of a transitory nature, involving no more than the loss of one year’s crop, i.e., of income. He therefore suggested to his father that the judgment should be altered: the owner of the field should have the temporary possession and usufruct of the sheep (milk, wool, new-born lambs, etc.), while their owner should tend the damaged field until it was restored to its former productivity, whereupon both the field and the flock of sheep should revert to their erstwhile owners; in this way the plaintiff would be fully compensated for his loss without depriving the defendant of his substance. David realized that his son’s solution of the case was better than his own, and passed judgment accordingly; but since he, no less than Solomon, had been inspired by a deep sense of justice, God – in the words of the Qur’ān – ‘bore witness to their judgment.’” M. Asad, The Message of the Qur’an, p. 21, n. 70. Asad said further “that Solomon’s judgment was more profound did not disprove the intrinsic justice of David’s of David’s original judgment or deprive it of its merit.” Ibid., n. 71.