Virtues of the righteous
Virtues of the righteous
CHAPTER 17
SCRUPULOUSNESS (WARA`)
The essence of scrupulousness (wara`)
Know that scrupulousness in observing the prescriptions of religion lies in the rejection of whatever is dubious (shubha).
The question of what is doubtful in religion lies in the prohibition of that about which there is no clarity and of which the true essence is not fully understood.
The significance of scrupulousness in religion is explained in the words of the spiritual mentor Abu al-Hasan, “Protect your heart from desires for the worldly, love for women and indulgence of passions. Be content with all what God Almighty has apportioned to you.If you have found this in a way with which the Almighty will be pleased, then express gratitude to Him. But if you received it in a way that could cause the Creator’s anger, then be patient about it.” Love for Allah is an axis around which all good deeds revolve. The fortifications of all of this are four: true scrupulousness, good intention, sincerity in deeds and companionship with knowledge. But these four features will not be perfected in you, if you do not maintain a connection with a righteous brother in faith or a sheikh who guides you.
Beware - and beware again - of accepting anything worldly from people other than what is explicitly permitted by the Sharia. Beware - and beware again - of reaching out your hand to the worldly and that which qadi (judges) are accustomed to accept in an unlawful way. Satan has adorned them as impurity disguised as gold and poison coated with sugar. Eating from deadly poison with the taste of delusional sugar and choosing evil impurity in the hope of imaginary gold, are the acts of an absolutely ignorant and outright fool.
Truly, the belongings of this world are negligible. Most of the worldly disappears and only a meager part remains; and this is tainted. Almighty Allah said (meaning), “Eternal life is better and it is enduring.” (Sura Al-A`la, ayah 17) Its term is eternal and infinite.
A sheikh said to a student who had taken some money from the people, “O my son, the followers of Sufism unanimously agreed that manliness, courage and chivalry are necessary requirements if you are on the path of Almighty Allah. However, you preferred humiliation, cowardice and faint-heartedness. You did not even realise the value of chivalry. You have committed deeds that led to ignominy and embarrassment. Why were you not ashamed to take some coins from such a person? Even though you knew that, although the noble Sharia does not welcome the rejection of gifts, I do not accept them, except for minor things such as cakes and the like which people are ashamed to return! Even then, I reciprocate - in some small way that I can manage. You completely tore away the veil of modesty and you were not even ashamed of the most despicable people!”
O my son, I prefer to be like a mountain tur, rejecting what people may have in their hands and turning away from it. I do not want to be like a goat, accepting people’s benevolence in the form of worldly possessions, which for Almighty Allah do not have the weight of a mosquito’s wing - even if all worldly riches were to be combined.”
Ibrahim ibn Adham said, “Obtain your livelihood according to the principles permitted by the Sharia. Then there will be no need for you to observe additional fasts during the day and to stay awake at night in worship.”
Scrupulousness does not negate the enjoyment of God’s blessings
True scrupulousness neither contradicts nor conflicts with enjoying the favours of God Almighty, for scrupulousness is exhibited in what is forbidden and what is abominable. Scholars said, «It is the duty of a murid to be scrupulous about what is forbidden and suspicious and the mainstay of all this is in being scrupulous about one’s morsel of food. If the consumer of the lawful wanted to disobey, he would not be able to do so, and if the consumer of the unlawful wanted to obey, he too would not be able to do so.»
It should be noted that leaving what is permitted is not related toscrupulousness, as is transmitted in the hadith: «When a man vowed to fast while standing in the sun without shade, the Messenger of God ﷺ commanded him to sit in the shade and to complete his fast.» The Prophet ﷺ commanded him to complete what came from obedience to God and to abandon what is not considered obedience. O, if only the observer of scrupulousness, rejecting that which is permitted, were to remain in purity and safeguard it! Alas, on the contrary, he becomes a sinner, because he does not apply to himself that which is prescribed by the Sharia. He believed in outweighing what is well-arranged in the Sharia and this is clearly misguided.
The Prophet ﷺ loved sweetmeats with honey and ate meat, especially the foreshank, and he soaked raisins and dates in a drink and perfumed himself with musk.
Beautiful words about scrupulousness
1. One of the scholars noted, «Scrupulousness (wara`) is giving up dubious things.»
2. It was also said, “Scrupulousness in the external sense is that there be no outward movement except for God Almighty and scrupulousness in the internal sense is that nothing other than Almighty Allah enters your heart.”
3. Sufyan al-Thawri remarked, «I have never seen anything easier than scrupulousness: whatever your nafs devises, abandon it.»
4. It was advised, «Guard your tongue from praise just as you guard it from censure.”
5. When a certain theologian was asked, “What is the foundation of religion?” he answered, “Scrupulousness.” And when they asked him, “What is the ruin of religion?” he answered, “Greed.”
6. They also related, «Almighty Allah sent down a revelation to the prophet Musa, «The ones nearest to Me have reached their position only through scrupulousness and abstention.»
7. Abul-Fawaris al-Kirmani explained, «The sign of the fear of God is scrupulousness and the sign of scrupulousness is in abandoning all that is dubious.»
8. It was also said, «Avoid falsehood, disloyalty and blasphemy and then do whatever you want.»
9. The righteous said, “Whoever lowers his gaze from the forbidden and restrains himself from the suspicious and keeps his inner life under vigilant awareness of God and his outward appearance by following the Sunna of the Prophet ﷺ and makes himself accustomed to consuming lawful food, his intuition will not be mistaken.»
10. Shaqiq said, “The four most worthy moral qualities of a person are: being meek in anger, generous in poverty, truthful in all circumstances and scrupulous in solitude.”
11. Some of the theological scholars observed, “A person’s scrupulousness will not be improved upon until he considers ten things to be mandatory: (1) Guarding the tongue against blasphemy; (2) refraining from ridiculing others; (3) avoidance of mistrust; (4) lowering the gaze from the forbidden; (5) sincerity of the tongue; (6) acknowledgment of Allah’s mercy, so as not to admire oneself and one’s own merits; (7) spending one’s money on that which in truth and not in falsehood; (8) rejection of ambition and arrogance; (9) conservation of the prescribed prayers and striving to perform them with Muslims collectively and (10) constant and strict adherence to the path of the people of the Sunna.»
