The Boy and the Filberts

The hawk came forward, after saying salaam and the opening kalimah, he began with saying,

Imagine if I

No longer your lover

Imagine if the earth

Can't turn anymore

Imagine if I

Far apart from you

Imagine when the sun

Can no longer light up the world

Listen, o my dear

Life is not all preserve

Think about it, o my friend

Face everything come to pass

Then he continued, "One morning, there were an oldman and and the young walking on a path in a park. The old man said, 'O young man, listen to this, 'A Boy was given permission to put his hand into a pitcher to get some filberts. But he took such a great fistful that he could not draw his hand out again. There he stood, unwilling to give up a single filbert and yet unable to get them all out at once. Vexed and disappointed he began to cry.

'My boy,' said his mother, 'Be satisfied with half the nuts you have taken and you will easily get your hand out. Then perhaps, you may have some more filberts some other time.'

'O young man!' the oldman continued. 'Al-muhabbah, love, and al-iradah, desire, are the basis of every action and movement. The greatest form of these two is, loving Allah and desiring to worship Him alone, with no partners. The greatest falsehood is, for people to take others besides Allah and love them as they love Allah, and they make them equals and partners.

Al-muhabbah and al-iradah are the basis of every religion, whether the religion is righteous or corrupt. The religion is made up of inner and outer actions, and al-muhabbah and al-iradah are the basis of all of that. Ad-din, religion, is obedience, worship, and manners or characteristics. It is the type of obedience that is permanent, inseparable, and comes about by way of habits and characteristics, unlike a one-off type of obedience. Because of this, religion has been defined as habits and characteristics.

The word “ad-daydan" is used with the meaning of “habit,” such as the saying, “This is his daydani’ i.e., “his permanent habit.” The root verb “daan" can refer to both the conqueror and the conquered, or the ruler and the subject. In terms of the din, as it relates to the obedient, it encompasses the meanings of obedience, worship, humility, and submission.

The word ‘worship,' 'ibaadah, involves complete love and complete submission, and the word 'din' possesses the same meaning. It is that which people submit themselves to openly and inwardly out of love and humility, unlike obedience to a ruler, which could be done just openly.

Every action is born out of love and desire, and every inaction or avoidance of action, is born out of hate and dislike, and every person is a 'hammaam,' 'worker,' and a 'harith,' 'person with intent,' who loves and hates; there is no living person who does not possess these two emotions, and his actions follow his love and his hatred. Some of these affairs, are connected to habits and characteristics, and indeed these affairs indicate something: every person needs a religion or a belief that unites them, because no one can exist on their own and no one can derive benefits and defend against harm on their own. If they gather together and unite, then they need to all participate in attaining things that will be beneficial to all of them, such as seeking rain to fall, and that is based on their love for that. Likewise, they must participate in repelling harm, such as an enemy, and that comes from their hatred. Over time, this common love and hatred in which they all participate becomes their religion.

This is the case for a common, shared love, but in terms of each person’s specific love for food, drink, relations, clothes, etc., then this is a shared love for a type of thing and not a specific thing. In other words, each person cannot seek to benefit from the food, drink, marriage, and clothing that someone else is enjoying; rather, he likes their equivalent types.

The divine affairs are, in reality, the same; for example, the same exact rain that falls in one place cannot fall in another place— it is not the same rain falling, but rather something of the same type. Likewise, the cold wind that chills the body of one person may not be the same wind that chills another. However, the divine affairs occur collectively and universally, so due to this the love and hate for these things are universal and collective, unlike the things connected to actions like food and clothing, as these things may be specific and they may be shared.

Therefore, the things that a people all need must be made compulsory for them, and the things that cause them harm must be made illegal, so that is their religion. This can only come about by way of agreement among themselves, such as a covenant or a bond. This is why it was said in a hadith,

لَا إِيمَانَ لِمَنْ لَا أَمَانَةَ لَهُ وَلَا دِينَ لِمَنْ لَا عَهْدَ لَهُ

"A person with no amaanah (trustworthiness, reliability, loyalty, etc.) has no imaan (belief) ) and a person with no ahd (commitment, oath, covenant, etc.), has no diin (religion).” [Musnad Ahmad, Sahih by Al-Suyuti]

Therefore, this is religion in which all of the Sons of Adam are involved: adhering to obligations and prohibitions, which is the fulfillment of the covenant. This religion may be corrupt and invalid if the covenant is more harmful than beneficial, or it could be a true religion if the benefit is specific or dominant.

The true religion is obedience and worship for Allah. As I clarified, the religion is habitual obedience that becomes a characteristic so that the one who is obeyed is loved and desired, because the basis of that is al-muhabbah and al-iradah. No one has the right to be worshiped or obeyed unrestrictedly except Allah alone, with no partners, and His Messenger must be obeyed, because they command obedience to Allah.

Worship must be for Allah alone with no intercessors, so the slave only worships Allah, as we have clarified many times; and we also clarified that any action that is not done desiring Allah’s reward or to worship Him alone is corrupt not righteous, falsehood not truth, and does not benefit those who perform it.

So if every human being needs to gather into communities, then every community must have obedience and a religion, and every obidience and religion that is made for other than Allah, is null and void.

Every din, obedience, and muhabbah must have two things, the first, is that the religion is beloved and obeyed, and this is the objective and the intent. Secondly, the form of the actions of obedience and worship, and this is the path, the way, the shari'ah, the methodology.

In the hearts of the Sons of Adam, there is love and desire for what they worship, and that is a purification and rectification for their hearts and souls, just as they love and desire food and relationships, by which their lives are rectified. However, their need for worshiping is greater than their need for nourishment, because if they don’t have nourishment their bodies will be harmed, but without worship their souls will be ruined, and the souls can only be saved by worshiping Allah alone without partners. This is the fitrah upon which Allah created us all.

Every community needs duties and laws to which its members adhere, to bring order and safety to their lives. Sometimes these laws are used to take over other groups and conquer them, as the oppressive kings used to do.

If the intention of religion and law was only to bring benefit and defend against harm in the worldly life, then those people have no claim to any reward in the Hereafter. Additionally, if they are using that to overcome and oppress others, like Fir’awn and others, then for them will be the worst of punishments in the Hereafter."

Suddenly, the hawk was silent, without concluding anything, he took his leave, saying salaam then flew away and sang,

Imagine if I

Not loyal to you anymore

Imagine if the eyes

Can't see anymore

Imagine if I

Captivated by others

Imagine if love

Can no longer reconcile the world

Listen, o my dear

Life is not all preserve

Think about it, o my friend

Face everything come to pass

Reference :
- Syaikhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, The Principle of Love and Desire, Authentic Statments Publications

- Rev. Geo. Fyler Townsend, M.A., Aesop Fables, George Routledge and Sons

Bahasa