Ten Useless Matters

Sources:

Al-Fawaid: A collection of wise sayings by Ibn Al-Qayyim.

There are ten useless matters that benefit no one:

1. Knowledge that is not acted on.
2. The deed that has neither sincerity nor is based on following the righteous examples of others.
3. Money that is hoarded, as the owner neither enjoys it during this life nor obtains any reward for it in the Hereafter.
4. The heart that is empty; has neither love nor longing for Allaah, and does not want to be close to Him.
5. A body that does not obey and serve Allaah.
6. Loving Allaah without following His orders or seeking His pleasure.
7. Time that is not spent in expiating sins or seizing opportunities to do good.
8. A mind that thinks about what is useless.
9. Serving those who will not bring you close to Allaah nor will benefit you in your life.
10. Hoping and fearing whoever is under the authority of Allaah and is in His hand; has no authority over himself either to do good or bad or to bring about death, life, or to resurrect himself.

However, the greater of these matters are wasting the heart and wasting time. Wasting the heart is done by preferring this worldly life more than the Hereafter, and wasting time is done by having incessant hope. Decay occurs by following one’s desires and having incessant hope while all goodness is found in following the right path and preparing oneself to meet Allaah.

How strange it is when a servant of Allaah has a problem, he seeks the help of Allaah but he never asks Allaah to cure his heart before it dies of ignorance, neglect, fulfilling one’s desires and being involved in innovations. Indeed, when the heart dies, he will never feel the significance or impact of his sins.