Bidayatul Hidayah: Chapter on Staying Away from Sins - Part 1

I have translated the following from 'Bidayatul Hidayah' of Imam Abu Hamid al Ghazali rahimahullah. It is a very nice book, I think it has published in English recently aswell. Here is a chapter on staying away from sins. I will divide it into two posts due to its length.

Know that religion has two conditions:

1) To leave that which is forbidden
2) To do actions of obedience

The leaving of that which is forbidden is harder to do. This is because obedience is carried out by everyone (to some extent) but only the pious leave their desires. This is why Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam, “The Muhajir (one who migrates) is he who migrates from evil and the Mujaahid (warrior) is he who fights against his desires.”

Know! That you will only disobey Allah Ta’ala with your limbs and your limbs are only a bounty from Allah Ta’ala upon you! They are a trust given to you so seek help in the bounties of Allah Ta’ala against His disobedience which is the utmost snub. To behave treacherously with a trust that Allah Ta’ala has given you is an extreme form of haughtiness (arrogance)!

Your limbs will look after you make sure you look after them. It comes in a hadith, “You all are guardians and you all will be questioned over those things that you looked after.”

Know that your limbs will bare testimony against you in a presentation given by a eloquent tongue on the day of Qiyamah. You will be led by it at the forefront of all the creations. Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an, “On that day, their tongues, hands and feet will bare testimony against them as to what they used to do.” (Surah Nur) and He further states, “On the day there will a seal on their mouth and their hands and legs will testify against them as to what they used to earn.”

Therefore look after your body and especially look after 7 parts of your body; for Jahannam has seven doors and for every door there is a part categorised. And these doors are not specified for any person except that person who disobeys Allah Ta’ala with these seven body parts. They are:
1. The eyes
2. The ears
3. The stomach
4. The tongue
5. The private parts
6. The hand
7. The legs/feet

Inshallah we will continue with this in the next post...