A Book to Disturb the Comfortable (Al-Muqliq) summary

Ibn al-Jawzi begins with a warning aimed at people like himself.

Usamah ibn Zayd heard the Prophet ﷺ say, a man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and thrown into the Fire. His insides will spill out, and he will go round with them like a donkey turning a millstone. The people of the Fire will gather round him and say, what happened to you? Did you not tell us to do good, and forbid us from evil?

And he will answer, I used to tell you to do good, and I did not do it. And I forbade you from evil, and I did it.

Then the author brings another hadith that shook the companions. The first to be judged, the Prophet ﷺ said, will be three men. A man killed in battle. A man who learned and taught, and recited the Qur'an. And a man who spent his wealth in every good cause.

Each will say, I did it for You. And each will be told, you lied. You did it so people would say, how brave, how learned, how generous. And it was said. Then they will be dragged to the Fire.

Brave, learned, generous. The best deeds, emptied from within.