Purification of the Self and the Concern of the People of the Sunnah for It
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, there is a question that, in my view, we must open our hearts to. Some young people, truly, say that the scholars of the people of the Sunnah and the community do not focus on the aspect of purifying the self, and consequently, a certain harshness is observed in them. Meanwhile, it is observed that some of the people of innovation, such as the Sufis for example, have a passionate emotion, even though they are people of innovation. Is there a fear that we will become people of innovation, or in other words, does purifying the self mean Sufism? How do we answer these devils?
The Shaykh:
This is a generalization; it contains a generalization. If the intention is purifying the self in the sense that one purifies himself and says, "I do this and I do that," this is not befitting. If the intention is the concern for the purification of souls, such as reflecting upon the Qur'an, caring for the Qur'an, and being humble in its recitation, reading books that deal with noble morals and the purification of souls from the filth of innovations, sins, turning away, and heedlessness, this is the truth. It means one should care for this matter. It is necessary for the scholar to care for this matter, while being cautious of the innovations introduced by the Sufis and non-Sufis. As for if there is a third meaning, I do not understand it; it was not grasped. Inform me if it is something other than this. Yes.
The presenter:
It seems that this meaning is, in fact, an aspect.
The Shaykh:
As for the concern for morals, there is no doubt that it is important, and it is worthy of attention for the student of knowledge and the teacher, in that he cares for this and guides the students to care for noble morals, and strives for the morals of acting for the sake of Allah, avoiding showing off and being humble, and strives to find suitable times to account himself, and exerts effort in detecting his faults so that he may rectify them. All of this is the truth. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) cared for this in his book al-Madaraj al-Salikin, and in Ighathat al-Afhan, in Bid' al-Hajatayn, in al-Jawab al-Kafi, and Ighathat al-Muqtah, and others of his works. Likewise, they mentioned these matters and cared for them. The believer should care for them, and especially the scholar who benefits people, reminds them, and calls them to Allah. And so, the students of knowledge should care for this, because this is what brings good and blessing to the scholar and the student, so that he may be a good role model in his morals, his deeds, and his conduct in his home, in his mosque, with his family, and otherwise.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good,
Your Eminence the Shaykh, there is a question that, in my view, we must open our hearts to. Some young people, truly, say that the scholars of the people of the Sunnah and the community do not focus on the aspect of purifying the self, and consequently, a certain harshness is observed in them. Meanwhile, it is observed that some of the people of innovation, such as the Sufis for example, have a passionate emotion, even though they are people of innovation. Is there a fear that we will become people of innovation, or in other words, does purifying the self mean Sufism? How do we answer these devils?
The Shaykh:
This is a generalization; it contains a generalization. If the intention is purifying the self in the sense that one purifies himself and says, "I do this and I do that," this is not befitting. If the intention is the concern for the purification of souls, such as reflecting upon the Qur'an, caring for the Qur'an, and being humble in its recitation, reading books that deal with noble morals and the purification of souls from the filth of innovations, sins, turning away, and heedlessness, this is the truth. It means one should care for this matter. It is necessary for the scholar to care for this matter, while being cautious of the innovations introduced by the Sufis and non-Sufis. As for if there is a third meaning, I do not understand it; it was not grasped. Inform me if it is something other than this. Yes.
The presenter:
It seems that this meaning is, in fact, an aspect.
The Shaykh:
As for the concern for morals, there is no doubt that it is important, and it is worthy of attention for the student of knowledge and the teacher, in that he cares for this and guides the students to care for noble morals, and strives for the morals of acting for the sake of Allah, avoiding showing off and being humble, and strives to find suitable times to account himself, and exerts effort in detecting his faults so that he may rectify them. All of this is the truth. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) cared for this in his book al-Madaraj al-Salikin, and in Ighathat al-Afhan, in Bid' al-Hajatayn, in al-Jawab al-Kafi, and Ighathat al-Muqtah, and others of his works. Likewise, they mentioned these matters and cared for them. The believer should care for them, and especially the scholar who benefits people, reminds them, and calls them to Allah. And so, the students of knowledge should care for this, because this is what brings good and blessing to the scholar and the student, so that he may be a good role model in his morals, his deeds, and his conduct in his home, in his mosque, with his family, and otherwise.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good,
Source
صفحات من رحلتي العلمية [ صفحات من حياة الشيخ ابن باز ]، صفحات من حياة الشيخ عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز — islamhouse.com (36:46)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.