How does a person feel mindfulness of Allah, and what is the difference between mindfulness of Allah and scrupulousness?
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The questioner : A well-posed question: How does a person feel mindfulness of Allah, how is it attained, and what is the difference between mindfulness of Allah and scrupulousness?
The Shaykh : Yes. This is actually a difficult question. How can a person be mindful of Allah? It is difficult, but the answer is easy: one becomes mindful of Allah by doing what Allah commands and avoiding what He forbids. The most important of this is the prayer and being present in heart during it. All the problems that befall a person, such as intrusive thoughts, whispers, and negligence, are all due to neglecting the prayer[Maryam 19:59], [Al-'Ankabut 29:45]. Try to always be present in heart in your prayer, and you will find that Allah grants you mindfulness of Allah with great ease. This is the most important remedy a person uses. As for the difference between mindfulness of Allah and scrupulousness, there is actually no difference between them, because the definition of scrupulousness is leaving what harms in the Hereafter.
And mindfulness of Allah is leaving what harms in the Hereafter, because mindfulness of Allah is doing the commands and avoiding the prohibitions, and leaving the commands or doing the prohibitions harms the Hereafter. And scrupulousness, as the scholars said, is leaving what harms in the Hereafter. But what is the difference between scrupulousness and asceticism? So-and-so is an ascetic and so-and-so is scrupulous; what is the difference? They said that asceticism is a higher rank than scrupulousness. Asceticism is leaving what does not benefit in the Hereafter, and scrupulousness is leaving what harms. And there is a stage between them: what is neither beneficial nor harmful, the scrupulous person does it, but the ascetic does not, because the ascetic does not do anything except what benefits. I think the time is up, and we do not like to prolong it, because the less time there is, the more present the heart is, and the person does not get bored. We will return, if Allah wills, in good condition on Thursday night. And may Allah’s peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.
The Shaykh : Yes. This is actually a difficult question. How can a person be mindful of Allah? It is difficult, but the answer is easy: one becomes mindful of Allah by doing what Allah commands and avoiding what He forbids. The most important of this is the prayer and being present in heart during it. All the problems that befall a person, such as intrusive thoughts, whispers, and negligence, are all due to neglecting the prayer
But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires
فَخَلَفَ مِن بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ أَضَاعُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَاتَّبَعُوا الشَّهَوَاتِRecite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing
اتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِAnd mindfulness of Allah is leaving what harms in the Hereafter, because mindfulness of Allah is doing the commands and avoiding the prohibitions, and leaving the commands or doing the prohibitions harms the Hereafter. And scrupulousness, as the scholars said, is leaving what harms in the Hereafter. But what is the difference between scrupulousness and asceticism? So-and-so is an ascetic and so-and-so is scrupulous; what is the difference? They said that asceticism is a higher rank than scrupulousness. Asceticism is leaving what does not benefit in the Hereafter, and scrupulousness is leaving what harms. And there is a stage between them: what is neither beneficial nor harmful, the scrupulous person does it, but the ascetic does not, because the ascetic does not do anything except what benefits. I think the time is up, and we do not like to prolong it, because the less time there is, the more present the heart is, and the person does not get bored. We will return, if Allah wills, in good condition on Thursday night. And may Allah’s peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.
Source
اللقاءات الرمضانية لعام 1410هـ - 2 — binothaimeen.net (1:01:45)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.