WhyAllahletsHisenemiesafflictHisfriends

A question every sufferer of sihr, ‘ayn or oppression eventually asks: why would Allah allow His enemies any power over His friends? Ibn al-Qayyim answers it directly in Shifā’ al-‘Alīl.

The wisdoms in the trial

What wisdom is there in the enemies of Allah being given rein over His friends, making them taste suffering? How many dazzling wisdoms, he answers:

1. 1It produces what Allah lovesthe servitude of patience, of striving, of bearing harm in His cause, of being pleased with Him in ease and hardship alike, and of standing firm in His worship while the opposition is strong, armed and prevailing
2. 2It refines His friendsburning off the residue of human nature and the pull of disposition, as they spend themselves for Him under their enemies’ harm
3. 3It separates the truthful from the pretenderthe one who wants Him and worships Him in every state, from the one who worships “on an edge”
4. 4It opens the rank of shahādahmartyrdom, among the highest of ranks; and nothing is dearer to the Beloved than a lover spending his very self for His pleasure and striving against His enemy

How much blessing, mercy and wisdom is in that giving of rein! Whoever wants to see it should study the closing passage of Āl ‘Imrān — from “Similar situations passed on before you” (3:137) through “That is only Satan frightening his allies, so fear them not, but fear Me, if you are believers” (3:175) to “Allah would not leave the believers in that state you are in until He separates the evil from the good” (3:179). That separation is one of the wisdoms of the trial. And without it:

• the virtues of patience, pardon, forbearance and swallowed anger would never appear, for things show their beauty through their opposites;
• the sweetness of victory and triumph would never be tasted;
• and the enemies would never earn their crushing and humiliation. The trial drew out into action what lay stored in His friends, so they earned their honour with Him, and what lay stored in His enemies, so they earned their punishment. In both parties it made His wisdom, might, mercy and favour visible: and He is the Mighty, the Wise.

The wisdom of taklīf

A deeper question follows: what wisdom is there in imposing obligations (taklīf) on the two weighty creations, jinn and mankind, and exposing them to punishment and hardship? Ibn al-Qayyim answers: without taklīf, the creation of man would be pointless and idle, and Allah is exalted far above that:

أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَٰكُمْ عَبَثًۭا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ

A-fa-ḥasibtum annamā khalaqnākum ʿabathan wa-annakum ilaynā lā turjaʿūn

"Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?" — Sūrah al-Mu'minūn 23:115

“Does man think that he will be left neglected?” (Sūrah al-Qiyāmah 75:36) — al-Shāfi‘ī explained “neglected”: neither commanded nor forbidden. To leave man idle like the beasts would contradict wisdom, for he was created for the perfection possible to him: to know his Lord, love Him, and stand in His servitude — “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (51:56); creation happened “that you may know that Allah is over all things competent and has encompassed all things in knowledge” (65:12). This knowledge and this servitude are the purpose of creation and command, and man’s greatest perfection; out of Allah’s care and mercy He exposed him to that perfection and prepared its means, outward and inward.

The whole of taklīf turns on Islam, īmān and iḥsān, and all of it comes back to thanking the Giver: magnifying Him, honouring Him, treating Him as He deserves. His favours remembered and thanked, not denied; He obeyed, not defied; remembered, not forgotten. And the obligations themselves clothe the servant in every beautiful character trait and train him out of every ugly one — noble character, good deeds, truthful speech, kindness to creation — while exposing him to an everlasting reward and the neighbourhood of his Lord in the abode of permanence. Which of the two befits wisdom: this, or turning him loose like horses and mules, eating, drinking and mating like the beasts? “They did not appraise Allah with true appraisal when they said: Allah did not reveal to a human being anything” (Sūrah al-An'ām 6:91).

Taklīf, then, is as beautiful in sound reason as generosity and favour themselves; indeed it is among the most eloquent forms of favour, which is why Allah names it blessing, grace, bounty and mercy, and declares that rejoicing over it is better than rejoicing over the blessings the righteous and the wicked share. Among the verses Ibn al-Qayyim gathers: Ibrāhīm 14:28 (those “who exchanged the blessing of Allah for disbelief” — the blessing being Muhammad ﷺ and what he brought); Āl ‘Imrān 3:164 (“Certainly did Allah confer favour upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger…”); al-Jumu‘ah 62:2–4; al-Anbiyā’ 21:107 (“And We have not sent you except as a mercy to the worlds”); Yūnus 10:58 (“In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy — in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate”); al-Mā’idah 5:3 (“This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you”); al-Baqarah 2:231; al-Hujurāt 49:7–8 (“…Allah has endeared to you the faith and made it pleasing in your hearts… as bounty from Allah and favour”); al-Nisā’ 4:113 (“…and Allah’s bounty upon you is ever great”).

Is real blessing and bounty anything but this, its fruits in hearts and bodies, in this world and the next? Is there anything, in sound minds and upright fitrah, more beautiful, or more fitting to the perfection of the Lord, His names and His attributes? (Shifā’ al-‘Alīl, vol. 1, p. 266)