Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "Do not exaggerate in your religion beyond the truth"
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Ma'idah 5:77] Is it permissible to exaggerate in the truth?
Answer:
There is no exaggeration in the truth; exaggeration is not the truth. The truth is moderation; the truth is moderation. The Christians exaggerated in their religion until they confined themselves to monasteries, and they exaggerated regarding persons. They exaggerated regarding al-Masih (Jesus) until they took him as a god and a lord for themselves, and they exaggerated regarding their scholars until they took the rabbis and the monks as lords besides Allah. So they exaggerated regarding persons and they exaggerated in their religion. Exaggeration is prohibited, whether in persons or in religion, and also in judgment. One should not judge people like the Khawarij, who declare as disbelievers the one who commits a major sin that is less than shirk (associating partners with Allah). This is exaggeration in judgment, in rulings, and we seek refuge in Allah from that.
Honorable Shaykh, Allah the Exalted said:
O People of the Scripture, do not exceed limits in your religion beyond the truth
يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ غَيْرَ الْحَقِّAnswer:
There is no exaggeration in the truth; exaggeration is not the truth. The truth is moderation; the truth is moderation. The Christians exaggerated in their religion until they confined themselves to monasteries, and they exaggerated regarding persons. They exaggerated regarding al-Masih (Jesus) until they took him as a god and a lord for themselves, and they exaggerated regarding their scholars until they took the rabbis and the monks as lords besides Allah. So they exaggerated regarding persons and they exaggerated in their religion. Exaggeration is prohibited, whether in persons or in religion, and also in judgment. One should not judge people like the Khawarij, who declare as disbelievers the one who commits a major sin that is less than shirk (associating partners with Allah). This is exaggeration in judgment, in rulings, and we seek refuge in Allah from that.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل ومن كيده : أنه يُحسّن إلى أرباب التخلي والزهد والرياضة العمل بها — islamhouse.com (1:12:04)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.