The Meaning of the Words of Shaykh al-Islam: “How often do souls do what they desire, thinking that they are doing it in obedience to Allah”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner asks: What is meant by the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) in the Fatawa, where he said: “How often do souls do what they desire?”
The Shaykh:
You see, with you, you see.
The questioner:
How often do souls do what they desire, thinking that they are doing it in obedience to Allah.
The Shaykh:
Yes. The ignorant person does something and thinks it is obedience to Allah, when it is not obedience to Allah; it is not prescribed. He does something he thinks is prescribed, when it is not prescribed, so it is not obedience to Allah. The criterion is not the desires of the souls or the wishes of the souls; the criterion is the evidence. Whatever the evidence indicates is obedience, he does it; whatever the evidence indicates is not obedience, he does not do it; and whatever has no evidence for it, he does not do it as obedience to Allah. Obedience must have evidence. Yes. You.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner asks: What is meant by the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) in the Fatawa, where he said: “How often do souls do what they desire?”
The Shaykh:
You see, with you, you see.
The questioner:
How often do souls do what they desire, thinking that they are doing it in obedience to Allah.
The Shaykh:
Yes. The ignorant person does something and thinks it is obedience to Allah, when it is not obedience to Allah; it is not prescribed. He does something he thinks is prescribed, when it is not prescribed, so it is not obedience to Allah. The criterion is not the desires of the souls or the wishes of the souls; the criterion is the evidence. Whatever the evidence indicates is obedience, he does it; whatever the evidence indicates is not obedience, he does not do it; and whatever has no evidence for it, he does not do it as obedience to Allah. Obedience must have evidence. Yes. You.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [1082- 4717] معنى كلام شيخ الإسلام(ما أكثر ما تفعل النفوس ما تهواه ظانة أنها تفعله طاعة لله) — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.