Ibnul Qayyim (Rahimahullaah) mentioned in his book “Madarij-as-Salikeen”, based on the statement of Al-Harawi who passed away in the year 481 H after the Hijrah, that the believer is journeying to Allaah (Ta’ala), and while he is on his journey to Allaah, he has to fulfill degrees of servitude. In his book, he divided the way to Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) to one hundred stations; like how people take their provision in every station when they are traveling. Similarly, he resembled the believer; that while he is on his journey to Allaah (Ta’ala) in this life, he has to fulfill the degrees of servitude, and he called it ‘Madaarij’, i.e. ‘stations’.
From among one of the degrees of servitude which the believer must fulfill, is the degree of “Ta’dheem Hurumaat Allaah” venerating Allaah’s Sanctities, or Allaah’s Sacred Ordinances.
There are eight bases to fulfill this station or this degree of venerating Allaah’s Sanctities.
1) The first basis is the obligation of venerating or magnifying Allaah’s Sanctities. The Sanctities of Allaah include everything that Allaah (Ta’ala) made sacred which one should not violate, and that what Allaah (Ta’ala) orders us to respect, maintain, revere, and venerate. Accordingly, Allaah’s Sanctities include many things, such as the rights of Allaah and the rights of the people, times, places, orders, prohibitions, promises, and also threats and warnings which Allaah mentions in His Book, and all that Allaah (Ta’ala) orders us to do and to abstain from. All these things are called Hurumaat Allaah (the Sacred Ordinances of Allaah).
Venerating the Sanctities of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) is obligatory, based on Allaah’s Statement in Surat Al-Hajj (22:30). Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) says:
وَمَن يُعَظِّمۡ حُرُمَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ فَهُوَ خَيۡرٞ لَّهُۥ عِندَ رَبِّهِۦ
“and whoever honors the sacred things of Allaah, then that is better for him with his Lord.”
Allaah said “خيرٌ”, which is an indefinite noun with nunation (i.e. it has Tanween) which indicates great, abundant goodness. This means that whoever does not honor and respect Allaah’s Sanctities or Ordinances, then he will not attain this goodness, which indicates the obligation of magnifying and honoring Allaah’s Sanctities.
2) The second basis in this station is to know that Allaah’s Sanctities are not particular to His prohibitions. Many people are mistaken about this matter and think that Hurumaat Allaah only means His prohibitions that Allaah forbade us from.
This is a deficient understanding or deficient meaning for Hurumaat Allaah, because Hurumaat Allaah includes everything sacred that Allaah ordered us to respect, as mentioned in the previous point.
For example, some of the jurists say that during Ramadan, even though a traveler is permitted to break his fast, if he reaches home and settles, he should abstain from eating, although his abstaining from eating will not benefit him because he has to make up that day later on. However, his abstinence is a way of venerating the month of Ramadan, which Allaah (Ta’ala) magnified, so the person should also magnify this month.
Another example is that some of the ‘Ulama mentioned some recommended manners of reciting the Qur’an, like facing the Qiblah, being in a state of purity and using the Siwak before recitation. These are all to show veneration and to magnify what Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) has magnified, because the Qur’an is Allaah’s Speech. So one should prepare himself for it, prepare the place and the mouth for the recitation of the Qur’an. This is how the Salaf used to magnify the ordinances of Allaah.
Imaam Maalik (Rahimahullaah), used to wear his best clothes and his best perfume before he related a Hadeeth or sat with the people to relate the Hadeeth. Also, Imaam Al-Bukhaari (Rahimahullaah) used to prepare himself by performing Wudu’ and praying two Rak’ah before placing any Hadeeth in his book. This indicates venerating what Allaah has made sacred and magnified.
3) The third basis is that venerating the Sanctities of Allaah is based on two matters:
- At-Tawfiyah (fulfillment) and
- Al-Hifdh (preservation)
This answers the question- How can one venerate the Sanctities of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall)?
The two ways of veneration are At-Tawfiyah and Al-Hifdh. At-Tawfiyah means that the worshipper carries out an act of worship in the best way; fulfills its pillars, obligatory acts, its manners, its Sunan. He magnifies and glorifies it and magnifies the means which lead to it, and he loves it and its means and tries his best to attain them.
For example, there are many means for acquiring knowledge. A person who really magnifies the knowledge, will do his best to take the means to achieve it, such as having a good intention and Ikhlaas, taking care of his heart, and so on.
Another example is the Salaat. The Salaat is one of Allaah’s Sacred Rights and Ordinances. One will love and magnify the Salaat and hasten to offer it in its stated time, fulfill its pillars, obligatory acts, and the Sunan manners. Also, if he is going to the Masjid, he will go early. He will be keen to take all the means that will help him to offer the Salaat in the way pleasing to Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall). He loves the places where the Salaat are established, like the Masajid, and he loves every means which lead to establishing the Salaat. All these are indications of Ta’dheem As-Salaat (revering the Salaat).
Similarly, with regards to Allaah’s prohibitions, one hates what Allaah prohibits and tries to avoid them, like the Fawahish (great sins of every kind), illegal relations, etc. He hates and tries to avoid the means to it. All this indicates Ta’dheem Hurumaat Allaah.
The Salaf used to magnify Allaah’s Ordinances by following the manners, like Imaam Maalik and Imaam Bukhaari (Rahimahullaah) used to magnify the Sunnah and Hadeeth of the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). Many Salaf used to magnify the recitation of the Qur’an by preparing and perfuming the place where they prayed and faced the Qiblah. Although they knew that these are all considered manners, they wanted to fulfill At-Tawfiyah and the rights of that ordinance or act of worship.
The Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was extremely keen to offer the Witr prayer even while traveling, and this indicates his magnification for this act of worship. And whenever he did any act of worship, he (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) used to maintain it, perform it perseveringly because of his Ta’dheem and love for that act of worship and the love for Who ordered it. This included all acts of worship.
Another example is dutifulness to parents. One has to magnify this command of Allaah and the means that help him to fulfill this command. One should attain and fulfill them in order to perform them in the best way.
Similarly, the Sadaqah (spending in charity), making Da’wah (calling people to Islam), acquiring knowledge, and so on. One should magnify all these acts of worship and fulfill their rights.
Many of the Salaf used to magnify knowledge to an extent that they used to respect even the parchment papers that they used to write on, which were called Saha’iful ‘Ilm, because they included respectful speech. They used to put them in a high place and not on the ground so that the people would not step on them. All this indicates honoring and magnifying the religion of Allaah.
This is the first way to magnify the Sanctities of Allaah. The second way is preservation. The person should be very keen in his ‘Ebadaat (worship) and preserve his Niyyah (intention) before carrying out the Commands of Allaah and minding His prohibitions. Likewise, he should recall his intention during the action and after finishing the action. He should protect his Niyyah from Riya’, Sum’a (making people hear about his good deeds), ingratitude to Allaah (Ta’ala) and self-conceit, such that he will not see his deed that he is doing as something great, or feel that they are a favor to Allaah. Allaah is greater and deserves even more than what the slave is doing. The slave should also protect the actions of the heart from diversion, hypocrisy, Riya’ and so on. He has to protect his Tawakkul, his reliance and seeking help from Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall), such that it will not be blemished with Shirk or associating others with Allaah.
4) The fourth foundation or basis of magnifying Allaah’s Ordinances is that it refers to or stems from revering Allaah.
In other words, whoever magnifies, venerates, loves and fears Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall), he will magnify Allaah’s Commands and prohibitions, His Akhbaar (i.e. what He had informed us of news of ancient people, etc.) and what Allaah mentioned of what He loves and what He hates, etc.
Therefore, in order to complete or perfect this degree of magnifying Allaah’s Sanctities, it is very important that the person should have enough knowledge about Allaah’s Names and Attributes in order to magnify and love Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall).
Magnifying Allaah’s Ordinances is not established only on fear of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall). Rather, it requires two main actions of the heart; one is fear and the other is love. So whoever fears Allaah and loves Him, he will magnify the Commands of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall). He knows that Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) deserves to be glorified by His Essence, and that whatever Allaah commands with is something great, because Allaah is Great. And whatever Allaah forbids from is great because the One Who prohibits is Great. So whatever Allaah loves and hates should be great in one’s heart because the One Who loves it and hates it is Great. In this way we understand that Ta’dheem Hurumaat Allaah is really a branch that stems from Ta’dheem Allaah (Allaah’s Glorification).
In the Qur’an, Allaah has sworn by many things, and all that Allaah took an oath by are considered great matters because Allaah is Great. Allaah’s Speech is Great, its greatness is from the greatness of Allaah (Ta’ala). Therefore, the one who really glorifies Allaah and accordingly magnifies His Ordinances is the one who knows Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall).
5) The fifth foundation or basis: What nullifies or violates the veneration of Allaah’s Sanctities is two things: opposition or breach and boldness.
Whoever breaches the sanctities of Allaah is one of two persons- One is a man who transgresses or violates Allaah’s prohibitions and sanctities while he is afraid of Allaah. He opposes Allaah’s laws or commits a sin while in his heart he has a feeling of fear and reverence for Allaah (Ta’ala), because he knows that this is Haraam (forbidden), and he knows that he is opposing Allaah’s command. This is like the slave who commits a sin while knowing that he is a sinner. So fear and reverence for his Master is established in his heart. He has great fear, as much as he reveres Allaah (Ta’ala).
The other person is he who breaches the sanctities of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) boldly, with negligence, carelessness and is not afraid. This is a very serious state. Even though both persons are violating the sanctities of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) and both are breaching the Ta’dheem of Allaah’s Commands and prohibitions, the second one is really in a great danger because he is violating the sanctities of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) while he is not afraid, being careless and always making excuses for himself. He is not regretful, rather he is bold in committing the prohibitions. Undoubtedly, whoever commits a sin of this kind is in a more grievous state in the Sight of Allaah (Ta’ala), and Allaah does not love that at all. This person has many diseases or sicknesses of the heart, such as feeling secure from Allaah’s plot. He is feeling secure from a bad end, belittling the sanctities of Allaah (Ta’ala) and is bold in transgressing Allaah’s limits.
The true believer should stay away from both states, although the first one is less in gravity than the second. Rather he should be venerating Allaah’s Sanctities.
6) The sixth basis is that the amount of veneration of Allaah’s Sanctities is as much as the person stays away from self-desire or self-inclinations. This indicates that the degree of veneration of Allaah’s Sanctities is linked to how the person looks at himself and how he deals with his self, which is persistently commanding evil. This is the soul which is between his two sides, the evil of which the Shari’ah commanded to seek refuge from. This is because our souls, our self is the most dangerous enemy to us. The human soul has inclinations, it loves haughtiness, loves or seeks pride, seeks to oppose the commands, loves the hastened enjoyment of the Dunya and abandons the hereafter. It has doubts, weakness in certainty, hope and reliance in other than Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall), and even love for other than Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall). If a person rids himself of all these inclinations (desires), then he has really venerated Allaah’s Sanctities. The heart will not magnify Allaah’s Sanctities unless and until it gives up self-desires and self-content. Therefore, in many texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah, the Shari’ah (Islamic Law) forbids us from following self-desires. So a man falls into shortcoming regarding his Ta’dheem Hurumaat Allaah and gives himself excuses, and whoever gives himself excuses did not really magnify Allaah’s Sanctities, rather he magnified his own self and his desires. So whoever thinks good of himself, or thinks good of his deed as a great action, then he has admired himself, venerated his deed and relied on himself. Each person should know the reality of his own self, as Allaah said in Surat Al-Ahzaab (33:72), man is ignorant and wrongdoing, unjust (to himself). It takes the person to destruction.
One should try his best to desist and refrain from falling into these destructions. One has to direct his own self towards the Shari’ah of Allaah (Ta’ala) and Allaah is the One Who is conferring His favors upon His servants. He is the One helping His slaves because humans are weak and incapable. They are not able to do anything until Allaah helps them. They are in need and Allaah is Rich. Had Allaah not enriched them, they would not have been able to spend or do anything, so they have to know the reality of their own-selves and know who is Allaah, and if they do, then they will really magnify Allaah and His Ordinances as they should be.
7) The seventh basis is about the means that increases the Ta’dheem Hurumaat Allaah like studying the Hadeeth, the narrations of promises. This basis indicates that when a person reads more and more Ahadeeth that talk about the virtues of certain deeds, or learn the Ahadeeth that promise many rewards, he will increase his magnification of Allaah’s Sanctities.
For example, there is a Hadeeth of the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) which means that if a person offers two Rak’ah voluntary prayer, approaches Allaah with his heart and face, prevents his heart from being distracted from the beginning of the Salaat till the end, all his past sins will be forgiven. After learning this, how will a person magnify this matter? He will try his best to offer this two Rak’ah without distractions, approaching Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) with his heart, and he will be struggling hard against himself in order to attain this reward, and he will do this with the rest of his Nawafil (voluntary) prayers.
Another example, when one hears the statement of the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), that the reward of Hajj Mabroor is only Jannah (Paradise), so this person will do his best in order to make his Hajj Mabroor, Hajj accepted by Allaah, such that Allaah will reward him with Jannah.
For example, the statement of the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), that whoever says “Laa ilaaha illa-Allaah” with certainty in his heart, he will enter Paradise, so the person who learns this will be very keen to reach to that degree of certainty in his heart.
This is regarding the Ahadeeth which talk about rewards. There are Ahadeeth which talk about warnings or punishments, like the statement of the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), that the gossiper or the one who causes enmity between people will not enter Paradise. Of course, this is something very scary and something one should be afraid of and train himself to stay away from backbiting and gossiping and free himself from this evil conduct.
Similarly, the statement of the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), that a word a man may carelessly utter can make him enter Hellfire a distance that equals to that between the east and the west, or the Hadeeth which says that whoever abandons ‘Asr prayer then all his deeds will be rendered fruitless, and the Hadeeth which says that whoever abandons the Salaat has disbelieved, and the Hadeeth which says that whoever goes to a fortune teller and believes him, then he has disbelieved in what was brought down to Prophet Muhammad (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), and the Ahadeeth which mentions about Allaah (Ta’ala) declaring His Noble Self free of needs and the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) saying: ‘He is not one of us who does such and such action’, and so on. When a person studies such Ahadeeth, his Ta’dheem for Hurumaat Allaah will increase.
8) The eighth basis, the obstacles which prevent one from magnifying Allaah’s Sacred Ordinances. From the main obstacles, is feeling secure from Allaah’s plot and the evil thoughts. Know that for every degree or station of Eeman on the journey to Allaah (Ta’ala), there are many obstacles the Shaytaan uses in order to spoil that station or degree for the slave. Also for the station of Ta’dheem Hurumaat Allaah there are many obstacles. Mainly, they are two. The first one, as Ibnul Qayyim (Rahimahullaah) mentioned, is to feel secure from Allaah’s plot, and that is when a person performs acts of worship and reaches to the state that he is pleased with his deeds, admires his Da’wah, his knowledge, his uprightness, his Salaat, his Du’aa, his Qur’an and so forth, he may be afflicted and the Shaytaan may overpower him from one side to make him feel secure of Allaah’s punishment and plot. The Shaytaan will make him feel that he is far away from the plot of Allaah, and his feeling secure can result in him not fearing the bad end. The Shaytaan will also make him feel that he has a high position because of his Da’wah, his knowledge, status, so that Allaah will not punish him. The remedy is that the person should frighten himself with the bad end, because deeds are considered by their ends, as it is mentioned in a Hadeeth by Prophet Muhammad (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), that a person may do deeds of the people of Paradise so much so that there is only a distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written surpasses him and he starts doing the deeds of the people of Hell and he will enter Hellfire. So, people should not feel secure; nobody knows what their end will be. Therefore, most of the Du’aa of the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), who was the Prophet of this Ummah, was: “Yaa Muqallib Al-Qloob Thabbit Qalbi Alaa Deenik (O the Turner of the hearts, keep my heart firm on Your religion)”. So no one should feel secure due to his good deeds, his knowledge or his Da’wah.
Examples of obstacles:
From among the obstacles, is to feel pleased with one’s deeds. This is also one branch of feeling secure from Allaah’s plot. It is normal to feel good whenever one does good deeds in the religion of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall). However, the Shaytaan takes advantage of that feeling and makes the person divert towards boldness in committing sins. For example, in some situations when a person is doing good deeds and following Allaah’s Commands in all his affairs, he may give himself an excuse to commit some prohibitions. He feels that he has many good deeds so why not. This is something simple and Allaah is Forgiving and he is a good person, a Da’iyah, a student of knowledge so Allaah will forgive him. The person thinks that he has really served Allaah so these little prohibitions will not affect his relationship with Allaah (Ta’ala). He doesn’t know that he is nullifying his acts of worship because of this feeling that he has.
The other obstacle is the thought which comes in the form of doubt or in the form of a lust, or a desire. These thoughts indicate that the believer should be very careful because they could spoil his magnification for Allaah and His Sanctities. These are not thoughts which come and pass without any effect on the hearts; they come and turn into a concern, such that the person thinks about it day and night. Then it will turn into a resolution, then become a custom, i.e. the person will be doing it habitually.
The person who is journeying to Allaah (Ta’ala) should be aware that while he is walking to Allaah, he should be magnifying Allaah’s Ordinances.
As a conclusion of this great matter, Ta’dheem Hurumaat Allaah is that which stems from revering Allaah by showing respect and veneration to His Sacred Ordinances, the sacred rights and symbols of Allaah. The rights of oneself, the right of the family, rights of the people all are considered Hurumaat which are required to be fulfilled and respected, especially At-Tawheed, the right of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall) to be worshipped Alone. One should be careful of Shirk. Prophet Muhammad (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) feared Shirk for his Ummah. He (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said that the most thing that he fears for his Ummah is Shirk Al-Khafyy, which is more hidden than a black ant creeping on a black stone, in the dark night. Shirk is hidden to that extent. Shirk violates Allaah’s rights. Even our own self has rights on us, and there are rights of people towards each other. We will be questioned about all these rights on the Day of Judgment. The rights of the husband, rights of the children, rights of the parents, of the sisters, of the brothers. In Surat ‘Abasa (80:34-36), Allaah says about the Day of Judgment:
(یَوۡمَ یَفِرُّ ٱلۡمَرۡءُ مِنۡ أَخِیهِ * وَأُمِّهِۦ وَأَبِیهِ * وَصَـٰحِبَتِهِۦ وَبَنِیه *)
“That day shall a man flee from his brother,
And from his mother and his father…”
Some of the interpreters mentioned the reason why Allaah mentioned the brothers first. That is because they are to whom most people do not give their rights. This is why when we see them on the Day of Judgment, we will run away from them. Then comes the mothers and fathers. So we have to understand that the rights are from the Hurumaat Allaah which we have to magnify and fulfill, and stay away from what will violate these Sanctities of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall). Since the rights are abundant upon us, the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) guided us to a Hadeeth, which is reported by Muslim, 2713a, in which there is a supplication to be said at the time of retiring to one’s bed, which starts with:
اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ السَّمَوَاتِ وَرَبَّ الأَرْضِ وَرَبَّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ
“O Allah! the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the Earth and Lord of the Magnificent Throne,…
At the end of this Du’aa, after imploring Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall), the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) taught us to ask Allaah:
اقْضِ عَنَّا الدَّيْنَ وَأَغْنِنَا مِنَ الْفَقْرِ
‘Remove from us the burden of debt’
‘And relieve us from neediness or from want.’
Debts are among the rights of Allaah and the rights of the creation. So the supplicant is imploring Allaah with His Names and Attributes, to fulfill on his behalf, the rights of Allaah and of the servants of all kinds. Also, in this Du’aa, the person is declaring himself free of his Hawl (strength) and Quwwah (might), i.e. that he has no strength to fulfill these rights, rather the strength and power is from Allaah (Ta’ala). And he is asking Allaah to enrich him and relieve him from neediness and want. So, debt and poverty or neediness, are both great distresses which make the human being sleepless (restless) at night. But if the person will resort to Allaah (Ta’ala) and ask Him to help him after the great implorations, then the person will feel at rest and be tranquil, because he has entrusted his affairs to the One in Whose Hands are all the affairs, with Whom are the keys of the heavens and the earth, and whoever resorts to Him, He will never let him down. So, don’t attach your heart to anyone except to Allaah (Ta’ala).
Accordingly, it is required to venerate and magnify the Sanctities of Allaah (‘Azza wa Jall), and that is good for the slave. Allaah will reward one greatly for that and it will be good for him in this Dunya and the Akhirah. The Sacred Ordinances of Allaah include everything that is sacred, and He instructed us to respect them, including the acts of worship and other matters. So whoever does that will attain Allaah’s love for him, because Allaah loves His Ordinances and this will be a means of drawing closer to Allaah (Ta’ala).
Sources:
Madarij As-Salikeen by Ibn Al-Qayyim
Commentary and explanation of Dr. Aqeel Ash-Shimmeri
