بسم الله والحمد لله
والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله ، وبعد
﴿فَلَا تُزَكُّوا
أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ﴾
{So ascribe not purity to
yourselves. He knows best him who fears Allaah and keep his duty to Him.} [Surah
al-Najm (53): 32]
The Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم said: “Three things destroy (a
man): The greed that is obeyed, the desires that are followed and a person
being amazed with his own opinion.” [Silsilah Al-Ahaadeeth
al-Saheehah (1802/4/412-416) and graded as “Hasan li ghairihee” (accepted due
to supporting chains). This has been reported from Anas bin Maalik, Ibn
`Abbaas, Abu Hurairah, `Abdullaah Ibn Abu Aufaa and Ibn `Umar رضي الله عنهم]
The Arabic phrase in the Hadeeth:
إعجاب المرء بنفسه
can also be translated as to mean: “a person who has high opinion about himself”.
In other words: a person who has pride, self-conceited, having the impression
that he can never be wrong, etc.
Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله said: “al-`Ujb (pride, self-amazement, haughtiness) destroys
the (good) deed the way al-Riyaa (showing off) destroys it.”
[Madaarij al-Saalikeen (1/515)]
Shaikh Ibn al`Uthaymeen رحمه الله said in his Tafseer
about this verse:
﴿فَلَا تُزَكُّوا
أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ﴾
{So ascribe not purity to
yourselves. He knows best him who fears Allaah and keep his duty to Him.} [Surah
al-Najm (53): 32]
Meaning: Do not acclaim your goodness by saying: ‘I did
such-and-such; I prayed, I gave charity, I fasted, I strived (in the path of
Allaah), or I made Hajj.’ Do not say such things. You want to boast about your
(good) deeds to your Lord? This is not allowed.
So if a person asks: ‘Did not Allaah تعالى say:
﴿قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ﴾
{Indeed whosoever purifies himself shall achieve success.}
[Surah al-A`laa (87): 14]’
Answer: No doubt! But the meaning of “whosoever purifies himself” is: ‘The one who
does good deeds by which he wants to purify himself (from sins).’ And “whosoever purifies himself” does not mean that
one (seeks) commendations and praises because he has done such and such. Rather
it means that one does good deeds to purify himself (from sins). There is no
contradiction between the two verses. Therefore we say: ‘Whoever purifies
himself so that his good deeds are mentioned, then he has not purified himself;
whoever purifies himself so that he is commended for his good deeds has not
purified himself.’
So there is a difference between the two: 1) the
praiseworthy purification, when a person does good deeds seeking purification
for himself (from sins); and between: 2) the blameworthy purification, when a
person seeks to boasts about his deeds to his Lord (and to the people) and
seeks commendations as if he is doing a favor to Allaah. He says: ‘I prayed, I
gave charity, I fasted, I did Hajj, I was obedient to my parents’ – and other
such statements. It is not permissible for the person to ascribe purity to
himself.
And in this there is refutation of those Soofees, those
who claim that they are “Imaams” (like qutub, abdaal, sultaan al-awliyaa etc.) and
claim purity for themselves and say: ‘We have reached the stage wherein we are
not obliged to obey (Allaah) anymore. We have reached the kingdom of heavens
(i.e. higher status), so we are not obliged to pray or give charity or fast and
nothing is prohibited for us anymore.’ These people have completely gone out of
Islaam. That is why we say: ‘These people who claim purity for themselves are
the furthest from (ever) being pure; because they are those who, due to their
(good) deeds, think highly about themselves and through which they want to
show-off to Allaah عز وجل, and they claimed for
themselves the status which Allaah تعالى
did not give them.’
﴿فَلَا تُزَكُّوا
أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ﴾
{So ascribe not purity to yourselves.
He knows best him who fears Allaah and keep his duty to Him.} [Surah
al-Najm (53): 32]
As if He تعالى
is saying: Why do you ascribe purity for yourselves? Do you wish to inform
Allaah of what you are upon (or what you are doing)? The answer is: No. That’s
why He تعالى said:
﴿هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ
اتَّقَىٰ﴾
{He knows best him who
fears Allaah and keep his duty to Him.} [Surah al-Najm (53): 32]
Meaning: If you fear Allaah and keep your duties to Him,
then (know) that Allaah already knows about you, there is no need for you to
say to Allaah: ‘I did such and such.’ And in this there is indication that
articulating the intention at the time of doing some acts of `Ibaadah is one of
the ways of claiming purity (and which is wrong). If one intends to make
ablution, he should not say: ‘O Allaah! I intend to make ablution.’ Some
scholars have said to make it silently, between you and yourself. They try to
justify this by saying: ‘this is in order to make the tongue follow the heart.
The intention is with the heart but nevertheless say it with the tongue (also):
‘O Allaah! I intend to make ablution.’ And when you want to pray, say: ‘O
Allaah! I intend to offer the Dhuhr or `Asr prayer.’ This is how some of the
scholars have said, but these scholars are further away from the correct
understanding. This is wrong and this analogy is in opposition to the Text (the
Qur’aan and the Sunnah). The Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم did not legislate for his Ummah to articulate the intention –
neither in the Saheeh (authentic) Hadeeth nor in the Dha`eef (weak) one. Once
an illiterate person in Masjid al-Haraam heard a person, after the Aqaamah
(call for the prayer), as saying: ‘O Allaah! I intend to pray 4 Rak`aat (units)
of Dhuhr prayer in the Masjid al-Haraam.’ When he was about to start the
prayer, the (illiterate) man said to him: ‘There is still more (that you should
have said).’ He said: ‘What is remaining?’ He said: ‘You haven’t said the date.
And also say: In this day. You have mentioned the place and mentioned the
action, so you have to mention the date as well. So say: On such a day, in such
a month and in such a year.’ The man warned that person and said: ‘Do you want
to teach your Lord about your intention?’ Allaah knows best about your
intention:
﴿يَعْلَمُ خَائِنَةَ الْأَعْيُنِ
وَمَا تُخْفِي الصُّدُورُ﴾
{Allaah knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the
breasts conceal.} [Surah Ghaafir (40): 19]
Similarly, when a person gets up in the night for Suhoor
and he intends to fast, he should not say: ‘O Allaah! I intend to fast this
day’, because this is a Bid`ah.
Regarding Hajj, can a person say: ‘O Allaah! I intend to
perform `Umrah’, or ‘I intend to perform Hajj’, or ‘I intend to perform Qiraan
or Tamattu`’?
Answer: Don’t say this. Even when you take the bath and
put on the Ihraam, don’t say: ‘O Allaah! I intend to perform `Umrah’, or ‘I
intend to perform Hajj.’ The Talbiyah will be sufficient for you, as you are
going to say: ‘Labbaika `Umrah’, if you are planning for `Umrah; or ‘Labbaika
Hajja’, if you are planning to perform Hajj; or ‘Labbaika `Umratan wa Hajja’,
if you are planning for Qiraan.’ There is no need to articulate the intention.
In every type of `Ibaadah, there is no need to articulate the intention. That
is why Allaah عز وجل said:
﴿هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ
اتَّقَىٰ﴾
{He knows best him who fears Allaah and keep his duty to
Him.} [Surah al-Najm (53): 32]
--end of quote.
And
Allaah is the One who grants success.
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