A Trap Dressed as Piety
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Welcome. This is the second part of a book by the great scholar of Damascus, Ibn al-Qayyim. Rescuing the Troubled from the Snares of Satan.
In part one, he described the illnesses of the heart. Now he turns to one of Satan's most exhausting traps. A trap many sincere people fall into. Obsessive whispering.
Did I wash properly? Is my ablution still valid? Did I really intend this prayer? Should I start again?
Satan, he says, has used this trap to load people with chains that Allah never placed on them. He makes a person feel that what the Prophet ﷺ did is not quite enough. That he must add something more, just to be safe.
And the worst part, he says, is that it looks like piety. The person thinks he is being extra careful with his religion. But in fact, he is following a voice that is not Allah's.
If it were not for the excuse of not knowing, he says, this would be opposing the Prophet ﷺ himself.
So in this part, he holds up the Sunnah like a mirror, and gently shows the way out.
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