Abbad ibn Abbad al-Khawwas al-Shami stated: "As for what follows: Use your intellect, for intellect is a blessing. Many a person of intellect has had his heart preoccupied with excessive speculation about what harms him, away from benefiting from what he needs, until he becomes heedless of it. Among the virtues of a man's intellect is abandoning inquiry into what has no benefit in inquiring, lest the surplus of his intellect become a burden upon him by failing to compete in righteous deeds with those below him. Or a man whose heart is preoccupied with an innovation, following men who are lesser than the Companions of the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in matters of religion, or relying on his own opinion in what he sees no guidance except in and no misguidance except in abandoning. He claims he took it from the Quran while he calls to abandoning the Quran. Were there not carriers of the Quran before him and his companions who acted upon its clear verses and believed in its ambiguous ones? They were upon beacons for the clear path. The Quran was the guide of the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was the guide for his Companions, and his Companions were guides for those after them — well-known men, attributed to their cities, united in refuting the people of desires despite the differences among themselves. The people of desires wandered with their opinions on divergent paths, straying from the right way, departing from the straight path. Their guides led them astray in confusing wildernesses. Whenever the devil invented a new innovation in their misguidance, they would move from one to another, because they did not follow the footsteps of the predecessors nor emulate the Muhajirun. It has been narrated that Hadrat Umar (may Allah be well pleased with him) said to Ziyad: 'Do you know what demolishes Islam? The slip of a scholar, the argument of a hypocrite using the Quran, and misguiding leaders.' Fear Allah regarding what has appeared among your reciters and mosque-goers of backbiting, tale-bearing, and going between people with two faces and two tongues. It has been mentioned that whoever has two faces in this world will have two faces in the Fire. The backbiter meets you and backbites whoever he thinks you wish to hear backbitten, then goes to your companion and brings him the same about you. Each of you has given him what he wanted while what he brought to the other remains hidden. His presence with whoever he is with is the presence of friends, and his absence from whoever he is absent from is the absence of enemies. Fear Allah, defend the honor of those absent among you, restrain your tongues from them except for good, advise Allah regarding your Ummah since you are the carriers of the Book and the Sunnah. The Book does not speak until it is spoken with, and the Sunnah does not act until it is acted upon. When will the ignorant learn if the scholar remains silent, neither condemning what is apparent nor commanding what is abandoned? Allah has taken the covenant from those who were given the Book to make it clear to people and not conceal it. Fear Allah, for you are in a time when piety has become thin, humility has decreased, and knowledge is carried by those who corrupt it. They love to be known for carrying it but hate to be known for wasting it. They speak in it according to desire because of the errors they have introduced, and they distort words from the truth they abandoned toward the falsehood they practice. Their sins are sins from which they do not seek forgiveness, and their shortcomings are shortcomings they do not acknowledge. How can one seeking guidance be guided when the guide himself is lost? They loved the world but hated the status of its people, so they shared in their living but separated from them in speech. They defended themselves with words from being attributed to their deeds, but they did not clear themselves from what they denied, nor did they enter into what they attributed to themselves. Hold fast to the Quran, follow it and lead with it, and seek the footsteps of those who came before. Even if the rabbis and monks had not feared the loss of their positions and the corruption of their status by establishing the Book with their deeds and explaining it, they would not have distorted or concealed it. But when they contradicted the Book with their deeds, they sought to deceive their people, fearing the loss of their positions. So they distorted the Book through interpretation, and what they could not distort, they concealed."
Urdu Translation
عباد بن عباد الخواص الشامی نے فرمایا: "اما بعد، عقل سے کام لو کیونکہ عقل نعمت ہے۔ بہت سے عقلمند ہیں جن کے دل غور و فکر میں اتنے مشغول ہو گئے کہ نقصان دہ باتوں میں الجھ کر ضروری فائدے سے محروم رہ گئے۔ عقل کی فضیلت میں سے یہ ہے کہ آدمی ایسی بات پر غور نہ کرے جس میں غور کا فائدہ نہیں، تاکہ اس کی فاضل عقل اس پر وبال نہ بن جائے نیک اعمال میں کم تر لوگوں سے پیچھے رہ کر۔ یا وہ شخص جس کا دل بدعت میں مشغول ہو گیا، اس نے رسول اللہ صلی اللہ تعالیٰ علیہ وآلہ وسلم کے صحابہ سے کم تر لوگوں کی تقلید کر لی، یا اپنی رائے پر اکتفا کیا ایسی بات میں جس کے سوا وہ ہدایت نہیں دیکھتا اور اسے چھوڑنے کے سوا گمراہی نہیں دیکھتا۔ دعویٰ کرتا ہے کہ اس نے قرآن سے لیا حالانکہ وہ قرآن سے دوری کی دعوت دیتا ہے۔ کیا اس سے اور اس کے ساتھیوں سے پہلے قرآن کے حاملین نہیں تھے جو اس کی واضح آیات پر عمل کرتے اور متشابہات پر ایمان رکھتے تھے؟ وہ صاف راستے کے منارے تھے۔ قرآن رسول اللہ صلی اللہ تعالیٰ علیہ وآلہ وسلم کا رہنما تھا، اور رسول اللہ صلی اللہ تعالیٰ علیہ وآلہ وسلم اپنے صحابہ کے امام تھے، اور ان کے صحابہ ان کے بعد والوں کے امام تھے — معروف لوگ، شہروں میں پہچانے جاتے، اہل اہواء کے رد میں متفق، اگرچہ آپس میں اختلاف تھا۔ اہل اہواء اپنی رائے سے مختلف اور ٹیڑھے راستوں پر بھٹکے، سیدھے راستے سے ہٹ گئے۔ ان کے رہنماؤں نے انہیں گمراہ کرنے والے بیابانوں میں بھٹکا دیا۔ جب بھی شیطان ان کی گمراہی میں نئی بدعت نکالتا، وہ ایک سے دوسری طرف منتقل ہو جاتے، کیونکہ انہوں نے سلف کے نقش قدم نہیں تلاشے اور مہاجرین کی پیروی نہیں کی۔ حضرت عمر رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہ سے مروی ہے کہ انہوں نے زیاد سے فرمایا: کیا تو جانتا ہے اسلام کو کیا ڈھاتا ہے؟ عالم کی لغزش، منافق کی قرآن سے بحث، اور گمراہ کرنے والے حکمران۔ اللہ سے ڈرو اور جو تمہارے قاریوں اور مسجد والوں میں غیبت، چغل خوری اور لوگوں کے درمیان دو چہرے اور دو زبانیں لے کر چلنا ہے اس سے بچو۔ مروی ہے کہ جو دنیا میں دو چہرے والا ہو وہ آگ میں بھی دو چہرے والا ہوگا۔ اللہ اللہ! اپنے غائبوں کی عزت بچاؤ، اپنی زبانیں بھلائی کے سوا روکو، اور اللہ کی خاطر اپنی امت کو نصیحت کرو کیونکہ تم کتاب و سنت کے حامل ہو۔ کتاب خود نہیں بولتی جب تک اسے نہ بولا جائے، اور سنت خود عمل نہیں کرتی جب تک اس پر عمل نہ کیا جائے۔ عالم خاموش رہے تو جاہل کب سیکھے گا؟ اللہ سے ڈرو، تم ایسے زمانے میں ہو جس میں ورع پتلا ہو گیا، خشوع کم ہو گیا، اور علم اس کے بگاڑنے والوں نے اٹھا لیا۔ قرآن کو مضبوطی سے پکڑو، اس کی پیروی کرو، اور گزشتہ لوگوں کے نقش قدم تلاش کرو۔"
Abbad ibn Abbad al-Khawwas al-Shami stated: "As for what follows: Use your intellect, for intellect is a blessing. Many a person of intellect has had his heart preoccupied with excessive speculation about what harms him, away from benefiting from what he needs, until he becomes heedless of it. Among the virtues of a man's intellect is abandoning inquiry into what has no benefit in inquiring, lest the surplus of his intellect become a burden upon him by failing to compete in righteous deeds with those below him. Or a man whose heart is preoccupied with an innovation, following men who are lesser than the Companions of the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in matters of religion, or relying on his own opinion in what he sees no guidance except in and no misguidance except in abandoning. He claims he took it from the Quran while he calls to abandoning the Quran. Were there not carriers of the Quran before him and his companions who acted upon its clear verses and believed in its ambiguous ones? They were upon beacons for the clear path. The Quran was the guide of the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and the Beloved Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was the guide for his Companions, and his Companions were guides for those after them — well-known men, attributed to their cities, united in refuting the people of desires despite the differences among themselves. The people of desires wandered with their opinions on divergent paths, straying from the right way, departing from the straight path. Their guides led them astray in confusing wildernesses. Whenever the devil invented a new innovation in their misguidance, they would move from one to another, because they did not follow the footsteps of the predecessors nor emulate the Muhajirun. It has been narrated that Hadrat Umar (may Allah be well pleased with him) said to Ziyad: 'Do you know what demolishes Islam? The slip of a scholar, the argument of a hypocrite using the Quran, and misguiding leaders.' Fear Allah regarding what has appeared among your reciters and mosque-goers of backbiting, tale-bearing, and going between people with two faces and two tongues. It has been mentioned that whoever has two faces in this world will have two faces in the Fire. The backbiter meets you and backbites whoever he thinks you wish to hear backbitten, then goes to your companion and brings him the same about you. Each of you has given him what he wanted while what he brought to the other remains hidden. His presence with whoever he is with is the presence of friends, and his absence from whoever he is absent from is the absence of enemies. Fear Allah, defend the honor of those absent among you, restrain your tongues from them except for good, advise Allah regarding your Ummah since you are the carriers of the Book and the Sunnah. The Book does not speak until it is spoken with, and the Sunnah does not act until it is acted upon. When will the ignorant learn if the scholar remains silent, neither condemning what is apparent nor commanding what is abandoned? Allah has taken the covenant from those who were given the Book to make it clear to people and not conceal it. Fear Allah, for you are in a time when piety has become thin, humility has decreased, and knowledge is carried by those who corrupt it. They love to be known for carrying it but hate to be known for wasting it. They speak in it according to desire because of the errors they have introduced, and they distort words from the truth they abandoned toward the falsehood they practice. Their sins are sins from which they do not seek forgiveness, and their shortcomings are shortcomings they do not acknowledge. How can one seeking guidance be guided when the guide himself is lost? They loved the world but hated the status of its people, so they shared in their living but separated from them in speech. They defended themselves with words from being attributed to their deeds, but they did not clear themselves from what they denied, nor did they enter into what they attributed to themselves. Hold fast to the Quran, follow it and lead with it, and seek the footsteps of those who came before. Even if the rabbis and monks had not feared the loss of their positions and the corruption of their status by establishing the Book with their deeds and explaining it, they would not have distorted or concealed it. But when they contradicted the Book with their deeds, they sought to deceive their people, fearing the loss of their positions. So they distorted the Book through interpretation, and what they could not distort, they concealed."
عباد بن عباد الخواص الشامی نے فرمایا: "اما بعد، عقل سے کام لو کیونکہ عقل نعمت ہے۔ بہت سے عقلمند ہیں جن کے دل غور و فکر میں اتنے مشغول ہو گئے کہ نقصان دہ باتوں میں الجھ کر ضروری فائدے سے محروم رہ گئے۔ عقل کی فضیلت میں سے یہ ہے کہ آدمی ایسی بات پر غور نہ کرے جس میں غور کا فائدہ نہیں، تاکہ اس کی فاضل عقل اس پر وبال نہ بن جائے نیک اعمال میں کم تر لوگوں سے پیچھے رہ کر۔ یا وہ شخص جس کا دل بدعت میں مشغول ہو گیا، اس نے رسول اللہ صلی اللہ تعالیٰ علیہ وآلہ وسلم کے صحابہ سے کم تر لوگوں کی تقلید کر لی، یا اپنی رائے پر اکتفا کیا ایسی بات میں جس کے سوا وہ ہدایت نہیں دیکھتا اور اسے چھوڑنے کے سوا گمراہی نہیں دیکھتا۔ دعویٰ کرتا ہے کہ اس نے قرآن سے لیا حالانکہ وہ قرآن سے دوری کی دعوت دیتا ہے۔ کیا اس سے اور اس کے ساتھیوں سے پہلے قرآن کے حاملین نہیں تھے جو اس کی واضح آیات پر عمل کرتے اور متشابہات پر ایمان رکھتے تھے؟ وہ صاف راستے کے منارے تھے۔ قرآن رسول اللہ صلی اللہ تعالیٰ علیہ وآلہ وسلم کا رہنما تھا، اور رسول اللہ صلی اللہ تعالیٰ علیہ وآلہ وسلم اپنے صحابہ کے امام تھے، اور ان کے صحابہ ان کے بعد والوں کے امام تھے — معروف لوگ، شہروں میں پہچانے جاتے، اہل اہواء کے رد میں متفق، اگرچہ آپس میں اختلاف تھا۔ اہل اہواء اپنی رائے سے مختلف اور ٹیڑھے راستوں پر بھٹکے، سیدھے راستے سے ہٹ گئے۔ ان کے رہنماؤں نے انہیں گمراہ کرنے والے بیابانوں میں بھٹکا دیا۔ جب بھی شیطان ان کی گمراہی میں نئی بدعت نکالتا، وہ ایک سے دوسری طرف منتقل ہو جاتے، کیونکہ انہوں نے سلف کے نقش قدم نہیں تلاشے اور مہاجرین کی پیروی نہیں کی۔ حضرت عمر رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہ سے مروی ہے کہ انہوں نے زیاد سے فرمایا: کیا تو جانتا ہے اسلام کو کیا ڈھاتا ہے؟ عالم کی لغزش، منافق کی قرآن سے بحث، اور گمراہ کرنے والے حکمران۔ اللہ سے ڈرو اور جو تمہارے قاریوں اور مسجد والوں میں غیبت، چغل خوری اور لوگوں کے درمیان دو چہرے اور دو زبانیں لے کر چلنا ہے اس سے بچو۔ مروی ہے کہ جو دنیا میں دو چہرے والا ہو وہ آگ میں بھی دو چہرے والا ہوگا۔ اللہ اللہ! اپنے غائبوں کی عزت بچاؤ، اپنی زبانیں بھلائی کے سوا روکو، اور اللہ کی خاطر اپنی امت کو نصیحت کرو کیونکہ تم کتاب و سنت کے حامل ہو۔ کتاب خود نہیں بولتی جب تک اسے نہ بولا جائے، اور سنت خود عمل نہیں کرتی جب تک اس پر عمل نہ کیا جائے۔ عالم خاموش رہے تو جاہل کب سیکھے گا؟ اللہ سے ڈرو، تم ایسے زمانے میں ہو جس میں ورع پتلا ہو گیا، خشوع کم ہو گیا، اور علم اس کے بگاڑنے والوں نے اٹھا لیا۔ قرآن کو مضبوطی سے پکڑو، اس کی پیروی کرو، اور گزشتہ لوگوں کے نقش قدم تلاش کرو۔"
