Lesson 6 of 6 · When it is an illness
If one thing stays with you
Let it be this.
A question and an anxiety symptom can use the same words, and the way to tell them apart is how long the satisfaction lasts. The loop is not powered by the thought, it is powered by the search, which is why more answers have never worked for more than an hour.
And when Companions came saying they had found something in themselves too grave to say out loud, they were not warned. They were told that this was clear faith. Your horror at the thought is not evidence against you. On that reading it is the other thing entirely.
The target was never certainty. Ibrahim asked, out loud, and was not rebuked for asking.
Qur’an and Sunnah
My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead, said out loud and answered rather than rebuked. The target was never certainty, and that is the last thing worth keeping.
وَإِذۡ قَالَ إِبۡرَٰهِـۧمُ رَبِّ أَرِنِي كَيۡفَ تُحۡيِ ٱلۡمَوۡتَىٰۖ قَالَ أَوَلَمۡ تُؤۡمِنۖ قَالَ بَلَىٰ وَلَٰكِن لِّيَطۡمَئِنَّ قَلۡبِيۖ قَالَ فَخُذۡ أَرۡبَعَةࣰ مِّنَ ٱلطَّيۡرِ فَصُرۡهُنَّ إِلَيۡكَ ثُمَّ ٱجۡعَلۡ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ جَبَلࣲ مِّنۡهُنَّ جُزۡءࣰ ا ثُمَّ ٱدۡعُهُنَّ يَأۡتِينَكَ سَعۡيࣰ اۚ وَٱعۡلَمۡ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمࣱ
And when Abraham said, ‘My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead,’ He said, ‘Do you not believe, then?’ ‘Yes,’ said Abraham, ‘but just to put my heart at rest.’ So God said, ‘Take four birds and train them to come back to you. Then place them on separate hilltops, call them back, and they will come flying to you: know that God is all powerful and wise.’
Qur’an 2:260
The middle line of the three. When Companions came saying they had found something in themselves too grave to say out loud, they were not warned. They were told that this was clear faith.
It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that some people from amongst the Companions of the Apostle (ﷺ) came to him and said:Verily we perceive in our minds that which every one of us considers it too grave to express. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Do you really perceive it? They said: Yes. Upon this he remarked: That is the faith manifest
Sahih Muslim 132graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
We have more right to be in doubt than Ibrahim. The asking was not treated as a fault, and that is the last thing worth keeping.
Narrated Abu Huraira:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "We have more right to be in doubt than Abraham when he said, 'My Lord! Show me how You give life to the dead.' He said, 'Do you not believe?' He said, 'Yes (I believe) but to be stronger in Faith
Sahih al-Bukhari 4537graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.