A Letter from ibn Taymiyyah to His Mother about being away from home for an extended time

(Rendered into English from the original Arabic as found in Majmoo‘ al-Fataawaa 28/48-50)

[🔊 Audio] [Arabic text]

In the name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy

From Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah to his dear mother, whom he hopes will remain guided to all that brings her joy. I pray that Allaah grants her happiness and contentment by way of His favours, I pray that Allaah bestows His immense bounty upon her, and I pray that Allaah makes her one of His most virtuous female worshippers and servants.

May Allaah bestow His protection, mercy, and blessings upon you. I begin by mentioning to you that I praise Allaah. None besides Him deserves to be worshipped. He alone is entitled to all praise, and He is completely able to do all things. We beseech Him to grant His commendation to the individual who was the seal that finalized the succession of Prophets, and was the leader of all people who fulfil Allaah’s commands and avoid His prohibitions. That individual was Allaah’s worshipping servant and Messenger, Muhammad. May Allaah grant His commendation and protection to His Messenger, as well as to the Messenger’s family.

In this letter of mine to you, I wish to mention that Allaah has blessed us with magnificent favours, generous gifts, and enormous bounty. We are grateful to Allaah for them and we implore Him to grant us more of His grace. Every time Allaah’s favours come, they continue to increase, and His blessings are too profuse to enumerate.

You are aware that our being in the lands where we currently are is indeed only for necessary matters which, if we leave them neglected, would lead to the ruin of our religious and mundane wellbeing. I swear by Allaah that we do not prefer to be distant from you; and if the birds could carry us, we would come to you. However, the one who is currently away from you has his reason. If you were apprised of certain circumstances which you do not currently know about, you would surely not desire for things to be otherwise at the present time, and we praise Allaah for that. We have not resolved to remain here for a full month. In fact, each day, we ask Allaah for guidance to the decisions that would be best for us as well as you. We also hope that you pray for us to be guided to the decisions that would be best. We implore Allaah, the Most Magnificent, to grant both us and you – as well as all who submit to Him and sincerely devote all of their worship to Him alone – guidance to the decisions that would be best. We further implore Him to grant us goodness and wellbeing throughout that all.

In addition to what was mentioned earlier, Allaah has opened gates of goodness, mercy, guidance, and blessings which were not anticipated and which never previously crossed our minds. We continually intend to travel back, and we constantly seek guidance from Allaah – the Most Exalted, who is perfect in every way – regarding the decisions that will lead to the best outcome. Thus, we hope none would presume that we would ever prefer anything of this world over being near to you. In fact, we do not even give preference to any religious matter if being near to you would yield greater benefit than it. Nonetheless, there are matters of great importance which we fear will lead to both small and large-scale harms if left neglected, and the first-hand witness to situations can perceive what those absent cannot.

We hope for your prayers asking Allaah to direct us to the best decision in all matters since Allaah most certainly knows all things whereas we do not, He is able to do all things whereas we are not, and He has complete knowledge of absolutely everything that is unseen to us. There is a statement attributed to the Prophet (may Allaah mention him with commendation and grant him protection) in which he said, “Part of what brings a person happiness is for him to seek Allaah’s guidance in making the best decision, and to be content with what Allaah apportions for him. Part of what brings a person misery is for him to not seek Allaah’s guidance in making the best decision, and to be displeased with what Allaah apportions for him.”{1}

There are times when a merchant travels and he fears sustaining a loss for some of his merchandise, so he ends up needing to stay in a place until all of his transactions are completed. What we are currently involved with is greater than we can describe and there is no strength, or movement from one condition to another, except by Allaah.

I pray that Allaah bestows very much of His protection, mercy, and blessings upon you as well as upon every single member of our household whether old or young, and every one of our neighbours, family members, and acquaintances.

All praise is due to Allaah, the Lord of all creation. May He grant His commendation and protection to the Prophet Muhammad, as well as the Prophet’s family and Companions.

Notes:

{1} Although the meaning of this statement may be accurate, the scholars have graded its chain of narration as inauthentic. Thus, it was not authentically reported as a statement of the Prophet (may Allaah mention him with commendation and grant him protection). See Musnad al-Imaam Ahmad (1444), Jaami‘ at-Tirmithee (2151). It was graded da‘eef by al-Albaanee and also by the team who evaluated the narrations in the Musnad.