Imaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may
Allaah have mercy on him) stated:
If you ponder over the seven categories
of people whom Allah will shelter under the shade of His Throne – on a day in
which there will be no other shade except His shade – you will recognize that
they only attain that shade by opposing base desires. The powerful and capable
leader will not be able to do justice, except by opposing his desires; the
youth who prefers the worship of Allah to the callings of juvenility would not
have been able to do that if he did not go against his desires.
The man whose heart was attached to the
mosques was only able to bear that by countering his desire that was calling
him to places of pleasure. The one who spends and conceals his charity from his
left hand would not have been able to achieve that if not for his subdual of
his desires. The one that was invited by a beautiful and noble woman but he feared
Allah and opposed his desires.
Resistance to his desires made the one
who remembered Allah in seclusion and shed tears due to the fear of Allah
attain that. Therefore, the heat of the standing, its perspiration and
intensity will not be a problem to them on the Day of Resurrection while the
companions of desires suffer from heat and sweat in excess, and they will be
waiting to enter the prison of desires after that.
We ask Allah to protect us from the
desires of our souls that command evil; and may He make our desires follow what
He loves and He is pleased with, for He has power over everything and worthy of
response.
Source: Rawdah al-Muhibbeen wa Nuzhah
al-Mushtaaqeen, by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, translated by Abdus-Samee
Abdus-Salaam.
