Qaseedah Burdah: Chapter 2, Part 2

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

اللهم صل وسلم على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين

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فَلاَ تَرُمْ بِالمَعَاصِي كَسْرَ شَهْوَتِهَا
إِنَّ الطَّعَامَ يُقَوِّي شَهْوَةَ النَّهِمِ
So do not intend breaking the desires of the nafs through sins
Certainly food strengthens the desires of a gluttonous person

وَالنَّفْسُ كَالطِّفِلِ إِنْ تُهْمِلْهُ شَبَّ عَلَى
حُبِّ الرَّضَاعِ وَإِنْ تَفْطِمْهُ يَنْفَطِمِ
And the nafs is like a child, if you leave it (to continue drinking milk) it will grow up upon
The love of suckling, but if you wean it, it will be weaned

فَاصْرِفْ هَوَاهَا وَحَاذِرْ أَنْ تُوَلِّيَهُإِ
نَّ الهَوَى مَا تَوَلَّى يُصْمِ أَوْ يَصِمِ
So redirect its desires (towards good) and beware that the desires do not overpower/beware of befriending the nafs
Whenever desires overpower/are befriended, it kills or makes your character defective

وَرَاعِهَا وَهيَ فِي الأَعْمَالِ سَائِمَةٌ
وَإِنْ هِيَ اسْتَحلَتِ المَرْعَى فَلاَ تُسِمِ
Guard it (the nafs) while it is grazing in actions
If it enjoys the grazing land then do not let it graze freely

كَمْ حَسَّنَتْ لَذَّةً لِلْمَرْءِ قَاتِلَةً
مِنْ حَيْثُ لَمْ يَدْرِ أَنَّ السُّمَّ فِي الدَّسَمِ
How often the nafs beautifies a deadly pleasure for a person
In such a way that he does not know that the poison is in the fat

وَاخْشَ الدَّسَائِسَ مِنْ جُوعٍ وَمِنْ شِبَعٍ
فَرُبَّ مَخْمَصَةٍ شَرٌّ مِنَ التُّخَمِ
And fear the tricks/schemes of hunger and satiation (overeating)
For many a times hunger is more dangerous than indigestion

وَاسْتَفْرِغِ الدَّمْعَ مِنْ عَيْنٍ قَدِ امْتَلأَتْ
مِنَ المَحَارِمِ وَالْزَمْ حِمْيَةَ النَّدَمِ
And shed tears from those eyes which have become filled
With forbidden things, and hold firm to the diet of regret (tawbah)

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The nafs is like an infant. If restrictions are placed on it, it becomes straight. If left astray, it becomes difficult to control later, just as a horse left to stray will drop its rider. It is thus controlled by a bridle.It is difficult if not impossible to squash our desires completely. We should redirect evil inclinations to good actions. Umar’s رضي الله عنه anger against Islam was redirected to the enemies once he embraced Islam. The same happened with Khalid bin Waleeed’s رضي الله عنه military skill.

We think: I’ll do this wrong just one more time. But we are deceiving ourselves. The more we feed the nafs, the stronger it grows. Like a person who has a rash only gets temporary relief by scratching. By sinning one will never be satiated. One sin leads to another. The root of the sin will become entrenched in the heart, like how a weed grows.

The nafs is likened to grazing animals. If it is not controlled it will graze in the haraam pastures of sin and evil. It conceals sins and presents them in an attractive way, just like poison is hidden in tasty food. The biggest test is to control one’s eyes. The eye enjoys casting lustful glances, which leads to the heart being filled with haraam. The eyes are a bounty which can be used to gain closeness to Allah Ta’aala. The Hadeeth mentions the rewards a person gets for looking at his parents with love, for looking at the Kabah Shareef and Qur’an Shareef. The Hadeeth also mentions that the 2 eyes commit zina and it is to throw lustful glances. The lustful glance is a poisonous arrow from the arrows of Shaytaan. It is such an arrow that wounds the archer first (it wounds his spirituality). Mufti Mahmood Gangohi رحمه الله mentions that just like a car dims its bright lights when there is oncoming traffic, so too we should do with the opposite gender, or else an accident will happen.

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In doing acts of worship, we should not exceed bounds. For instance, we should not spend the night in Nafl salaah and then miss Fajr because we are too tired. A person has rights over himself, and others have rights over him too. We should not exert ourselves such that we neglect our obligations. When doing a lot of Ibaadah, be careful of ostentation. Many sins that create humility is better than acts of worship that create pride.When pride and vanity comes into us, we should say – this is not from me. It is a gift from Allah. It is not due to me being worthy of it. Allah Ta’aala can take it away whenever He wishes. Regard ourselves as low. Make dua for people we think of as low.

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When we reform ourselves then only we will find the effect of this reformation on everyone else. Reformation – islaah – is not automatic. If we want to earn an income we have to work. Similarly we have to work for our islaah, especially in the beginning. It requires a lot of courage. When a plane takes off, it needs the most power and fuel. Once it is in the air, less fuel is used and 2 engines are even switched off. It is the same with islaah. After the initial stages, things will fall into place.If we want to be a slave of Allah, we have to make the nafs our slave.

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Make these duas:
اللهم أَصْلِحْ لِي شَأْنِيْ كُلَّه وَلاَ تَكِلْنِيْ إلٰى نَفْسِيْ طَرْفَةَ عَيْنٍ
اللهم أَلْهِمْنِيْ رُشْدِيْ وَ أَعِذْنِي مِن شَرِّ نَفْسِيْ