From a Man’s Perfecting His Religion is Leaving Alone that Which does not Concern Him

By Shaykh Husayn al-‘Awaayishah

It is imperative for us to build levels of knowledge and action upon a firm, strong foundation, and that is the saying of the Messenger of Allaah (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), “From a man’s perfecting his religion is his leaving alone that which does not concern him.” [1]

In Fayd-ul-Qadeer the author writes: “It is understood from this that from a man’s deficiency in his religion is his indulging in that which does not concern him. This includes everything of secondary importance, whichever form it may take. What should concern him is all that relates to the essentials of his livelihood, that which fulfils his need for sustenance, clothing, keeping himself chaste thereby, and the like thereof from the necessities of life, excluding those things relating to his own personal pleasures. He should be concerned with all that relates to his salvation in the Hereafter, that being Islam, Eemaan and ihsaan. In this way he stays safe from ruin, all forms of evil and argumentation. This is part of perfecting his religion, firm establishment of his piety and keeping away from following his desires. Whereas striving to accomplish other than this is loss of irreplaceable valuable time, in doing what he was not created for. So whoever worships his Lord, with realisation of his closeness to his Lord and of his Lord’s closeness to him, has perfected his religion, as has preceded.”

It is further stated in Fayd-ul-Qadeer: “Part of that which does not concern the worshipper is his learning fields of knowledge of lesser importance whilst leaving knowledge of greater importance, like the person who abandons knowledge which causes benefit to himself and engages himself in learning that which he could correct others with, like for example, the knowledge of how to debate, excusing himself for that saying, ‘My intention is to benefit the people.’ Yet if he was truthful, he would have busied himself with correcting himself and his heart, by removing bad characteristics, like jealousy, showing off, pride, haughtiness towards others and other destructive attributes. They say, ‘Debating is equivalent to a quarter of Islam and others say: half of it and some say: all of it.”

Islam consists of acting as well as abstaining. By relinquishing all that does not concern him and leaving that which is of no importance to him and that which does not benefit him, a person perfects his religion. The only way that this abandonment is accomplished is by having a full realisation that, “From a man’s perfecting his religion is his busying himself with that which concerns him,” and what is of concern and importance to him is based upon levels and grades of importance, in beliefs, faith in the unseen and in hurrying to do good deeds mentioned in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah. By that he would have striven to act upon everything that he has been ordered with and would have abandoned everything prohibited. This is Islam, and depending on how well these things are accomplished, determines the position of the worshipper with Allaah (subhaanahu wa ta’aala), and Allaah knows best.

If we understand these two important principles, we are able to derive other principles from them, and we would come to know that there is no way of recognising what “concerns us and what doesn’t concern us” except through knowledge, which necessitates properly understanding the principle: “The more important takes precedence over that which is less important.” From here we would move on to acting upon the principle of “determining the most important.” In this way knowledge, speech and studies are purified so that the unimportant, the prohibited and the corrupted are removed, so that all that is left being the beneficial pure things like remembrance of Allaah, Sunnah, fiqh…

In the same way bad actions, characteristics and mannerisms are sifted out so that every attribute denounced in the Book and the Sunnah is removed and what remain are the beneficial, worthy actions like reciting the Book of Allaah, studying together the Sunnah of the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), enjoining the good, forbidding the evil…

This is the way the Muslim arranges and plans his affairs, portraying them in the form of everything good and beneficial whether it be intention, speech or action, avoiding everything detestable, hating that for himself as mentioned in the hadeeth, “Verily Allaah the Mighty and Majestic is Generous, He loves generosity and noble character and hates the despicable character.” [2]

Footnotes:

[1] Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah and others. It is also found in Sharh ‘Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah, no. 268
[2] From as-Silsilah as-Saheehah, no. 1378. Al-Manaawee says in Fayd al-Qadeer: “This noble character is the manners and attributes ordained in the religion, not those deemed noble in worldly affairs, for the elevated in them are in actual fact despised.”

Transcribed [by islamictexts.wordpress.com] from: Adorning Knowledge with Actions, Pgs. 32-34, by Shaykh Husayn al-‘Awaayishah, Translated by Abu Ishaaq ibn Muhammad Ahsan-Shah, Published by Al-Hidaayah Distribution & Publishing