Guidance for those who strive for voluntary acts but fall short in obligatory ones
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The questioner: There are some Muslims who strive to perform the sunnah and voluntary acts but fall short in performing the obligatory ones. What is your guidance in this matter?
A: This is a great error. It is obligatory for the Muslim to pay attention to the obligatory acts, to care about them more, to strive to perform what Allah has made obligatory upon him, and to avoid what Allah has forbidden. If, in addition to that, he is granted the care to perform voluntary acts, that is good upon good. However, the obligatory acts require more care, such as the obligatory prayer, zakah, fasting in Ramadan, and other obligatory acts. He must beware of laziness and negligence in any of them. As for voluntary acts, their matter is broader. If Allah makes it easy for him to perform a voluntary act, praise be to Allah; otherwise, there is no blame on him.
It is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:Mishkat al-Masabih 2266 Al-Bukhari narrated it in his Sahih. This great hadith indicates the prohibition of harming and opposing the believers, because the believers are the awliya (close friends of Allah), as Allah the Exalted said: [Yunus 10:62] the ones who believed and were mindful of Allah [Yunus: 62 - 63]. So every believer is one of the awliya of Allah, and it is obligatory to support him and love him for the sake of Allah, and it is forbidden to oppose him or wrong him in any kind of wrongdoing or harm.
A: This is a great error. It is obligatory for the Muslim to pay attention to the obligatory acts, to care about them more, to strive to perform what Allah has made obligatory upon him, and to avoid what Allah has forbidden. If, in addition to that, he is granted the care to perform voluntary acts, that is good upon good. However, the obligatory acts require more care, such as the obligatory prayer, zakah, fasting in Ramadan, and other obligatory acts. He must beware of laziness and negligence in any of them. As for voluntary acts, their matter is broader. If Allah makes it easy for him to perform a voluntary act, praise be to Allah; otherwise, there is no blame on him.
It is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:
If anyone is hostile to a friend of mine, I have declared war against him. No one draws near to me with anything dearer to me than what I have made obligatory for him. If my servant keeps drawing near to me with supererogatory acts I shall love him, and when I love him I shall be his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps and his foot with which he walks. If he asks from me I shall certainly give him and if he seeks refuge in me I shall certainly give him refuge.
من عادى لي وليا فقد آذنته بالحرب، وما تقرب إلي عبدي بشيء أحب إلي مما افترضته عليه، وما يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به، وبصره الذي يبصر به، ويده التي يبطش بها، ورجله التي يمشي بها، ولئن سألني لأعطينه ولئن استعاذني لأعيذنهUnquestionably, [for] the allies of Allah there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاءَ اللَّهِ لا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.