Pleasures when they are a bridge to good intentions
Dr.. Hamed bin Ahmed Al-Iqbali
Calculating instincts.. pleasures when they are a bridge to good intentions
The sensual pleasures that result from the psychological instinct are neither blamed nor praised for themselves, because they are not perfection that everyone strives to achieve, nor are they a deficiency that one disavows. A person acquires it by seeking knowledge and wisdom, and this is the most honorable pleasure if it is for the sake of God’s pleasure, love and intimacy with Him.
But these pleasures such as eating, drinking and marriage change their ruling and their reward if the intention of the owner is to seek reward and reward from God Almighty, so it becomes as if it is a righteous deed in the rule of Sharia , and in the honorable hadith his saying, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, to his companions: “In the marriage of one of you is charity.” They said: O Messenger of God Would one of us fulfill his desire and have a reward for it? He said: Have you seen that if he fulfilled his desire in a forbidden way, he would have sinned? Likewise, if he fulfilled his desire in a lawful manner, he would have a reward.” ([1] ) To him, he will be rewarded for that, so enjoying the wife, whether with the intention of distancing himself from the forbidden or fulfilling her duty, entered his companion into the desired acts of obedience, and the people of knowledge liked to have an intention in everything, even in eating.
Al-Nawawi says, according to this principle, “If a person does something that is based on permissibility and intends by it for the sake of God Almighty, he will be rewarded for it, and that is like eating with the intention of piety to obey God Almighty, and sleeping to rest in order to rise to worship active ([2]) Rather, some scholars went to the apparent meaning of this hadith indicating that The reward is for a man to have sex with his wife even without invoking the intention, and they measure that with the farmer in the land that he plows and sows, and by that he obtains the wages of the people, animals and birds that eat from it.
So what is permitted must be its ultimate goal of obedience to God, Glory be to Him - if he is seeking reward through it - so that his loves and desires are in accordance with the loves and desires of his Creator , may He be glorified and exalted. Worshiping God alone has no partner, and He is His God whom He worships, and He does not worship anything but Him, and He is dearer to Him than everything else, for His will ends with His willing the face of God, so He will be rewarded for His permissibility, which He intends to seek help in obedience” ([3]) and the honorable hadith came to confirm This rule is “If a Muslim spends on his family, hoping that it will be charitable for him” ( [4] ) so that he intends by this work to acquire the reward and reward from God Almighty, so he does not enter into it who spent it stunned. As al-Nawawi decided : to remember that he must spend on the wife, children of his children, the slave and others who must be spent ( [5] ) and Ibn Taymiyyah reasoned Receiving the reward for a person’s maintenance on himself and his dependents - and that it is better than his spending on those who are not obligated to spend on him - that this is obligatory, and the servants do not draw closer to God by performing what was obligated upon them ( [6] ), so the performance of duties and following the legal orders in that became more rewarding than performing the recommended and recommended actions .
The degrees of moral intent vary from low to high according to the heart and practical dealing with the pleasures and benefits of life. It may go down to the depths of beasts, for the one who dumps on pleasures. And from that is his dealings with money, which the Arabs consider the fairness of the soul, because it has its strength, because he did not ask, may God bless him and grant him peace for something, but he gave it to him. ( [7] ) And after the first comes an honorable one: the owner of the good effort that is compulsion, and had it not been for this hardship and this prohibition, he would have risen to the height of morals ( And they do not spend except while they are reluctant ) (Repentance: 54) Then comes the third: the owner of the good effort that emanated from his psychological nature, not consideration Then comes the person with the superficial attitude who works according to his enlightened desires subject to the mind. As for (the lowest levels of the ladder) comes the person with material gain who does not count in any moral sense, and whose orphan goal is to enjoy the good enjoyment of life, whether by playing or eating.” ( [8] ) Consider how the degrees differed according to each behaviour. The more a person overcomes his whims and his devil, and his desire is in accordance with the legitimate will, he walks with it and stops with it, the more honorable his rank and his condition is better, and the degrees keep falling until there is nothing left of the will like a mustard seed of goodness.
It is not a matter if the fortunes of the soul coincide with the motives of the right, as it happens in permissible pleasures, it is not necessary that the fortunes of the soul be accused in all its conditions, as it may sometimes agree with the legitimate command, and for this reason some scholars made it in the rule of acceptable, and that the one who does it will be rewarded for it with a reward from God Almighty, and they inferred This is what he, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “And you do not spend an expenditure seeking the face of God Almighty except that you will be rewarded for it, even a morsel you put in your wife’s mouth”) [ 9 ] Mostly in the case of foreplay, and self-lust has a clear entry into that, and yet if there is the intent to seek reward, it will happen to him by the grace of God.” ( [10] ) So the introduction to this lust or love of playfulness and foreplay carried in its folds approval from the law and a reward for it as long as it was in The framework of seeking divine acceptance and satisfaction, and this confirms that compliance with the reasons for instinct through moral obligation definitely leads to a good intention.
So seeking the immediate, worldly fruits and looking at them does not contradict good intentions, and the obligation came that the believer is required to follow the objectives of the Lawgiver in terms of interests, but it did not prevent him from looking forward to the good that results from these actions that he worships. It is intended for the legislator and is required of the accountant because it suits his condition, and his work in this way corrects his affairs and preserves him in this world and the hereafter. As long as we mean the purposes of the Lawgiver resulting from the actions” ( [11] ).
What this means is that the fruit that a person reaps as a result of his inclination to this goal is okay, and it does not contradict with the most important goal, and for example: that the connection with the poor and the kindness to parents be emotional love, and helping the needy is a moral instinct, as these are related to these actions and do not intersect with their greater purpose, which is Getting closer to God and complying with His command, and what the Muslim seeks to do are the commanded purposes and not the effects that he left behind and resulted from.
[1] - Sahih Muslim, Book of Zakat, Hadith No. 1006.
[2] - An-Nawawi, Sharh Muslim, 11/78.
[3] - Ibn Taymiyyah, Total Fatwas, (7/43)
[4] - Sahih Muslim, Chapter: The virtue of spending and giving charity to relatives and the husband, Hadith No. 1002
[5] - Al-Nawawi, Sharh Muslim, (7/89)
[6] - Ibn Taymiyyah, The Answer to the Egyptian Objections, 94-95.
[7] - Sahih Muslim, Book of Virtues, Hadith No. 2312.
[8] Daraz-488-493
[9] - Sahih Muslim, 1911.
[10] - Ibn Hajar, Fath Al-Bari, (1/ 137).
[11] - Al-Ashqar, The purposes of those charged with worshiping the Lord of the Worlds, p. 399.
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