Habib Ali al-Jifri’s Observations

Short observations and insights from Habib Ali al-Jifri (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him) on a range of topics.

محبة الله تُثمر محبة خلقه

فمن أحب أحدا أحب صنعته

ومن أحب الله أحب خلقه

The love of Allah leads to the love of His creation:

whoever loves someone, loves what they do.

So whoever loves Allah, loves His creation.

 

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تأمل كيف كانت ثمرة محبة كلب أهل الكهف لأولياء الله الصالحين وإصراره على ملازمتهم؛
لقد صار خبره قرآنا يُتلى، فذُكر الكلب مضافا إلى من تعلق بهم من الصالحين {وكلبهم}، بل لقد وصف الله هيئة جلوسه {باسط ذراعيه} ومكانه {بالوصيد}

هذه عادة الله مع من أحب الصالحين ولو كان كلبا، فكيف إذا كان قلبا؟

 

Look at the dog which stayed with the Companions in the Cave. Its love for God’s pious servants and insistence on staying with them caused it to be mentioned in the Quran in a story that is recited to this day. The dog is described as “their dog” because of its connection to those pious people it was attached to. God even describes how it sits and where: “stretching out its forelegs at the entrance (of the cave)”.

This is God’s way of treating those who love the pious. This is only a dog, but what if it was a human heart that had this love?

 

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عندما تبغض الخطأ وتحب المخطئ وترحمه تكون جزءًا من الحل
بينما عندما تبغض ذات المخطئ تكون جزءًا من المشكلة

 

When you hate the mistake that a person has made but love and show mercy to the person who made the mistake then you are part of the solution.

But when you hate the person who made the mistake then you are part of the problem.

 

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الحديث الضعيف يعمل به في فضائل الأعمال، والورع ليس في ترك الحديث الضعيف الذي في فضائل الأعمال، الورع في فعله، ما نقول نتركه احتياطا، نقول نعمله احتياطا، لأن فيه حث على شيء من الخير، أما نتركه احتياطا تريد تعرف أين؟ في الفلوس في المال في الدينار والدرهم

 

We may act upon weak hadith when they mention the merits of certain actions (fada’il al-‘amal). If we wish to be scrupulous, we should act upon such hadith. We do not say: “We should not act upon such hadith out of caution,” but rather we should act upon them out of caution because they encourage us to do something good. The kind of thing which we should leave out of caution is money which is dubious, not good actions.

 

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:أربع خصال بها يتحقق الانسان بحقائق الشكر

١- تعظيم المِنّة
٢- نفي دعوى الاستحقاق
٣- بذل الكُليات في الشكر
٤- الاعتراف بالعجز عن أداء حق الشكر

 

Through these four things someone can attain true gratitude:

  1. Holding every blessing in the highest regard
  2. Not claiming to deserve that blessing
  3. Expending every effort in showing gratitude for that blessing
  4. Recognising your inability to show gratitude in a way that is befitting

 

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A sin may be your action, but forgiveness is His action. Your action will not override His action.

May Allah bless us with shyness in front of Him.

 

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