The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
And al-l:lusayn Ibn AQ.mad al-afrar said: "Al-ShiblI saw me holding
an inkbottle, so he said: 'Put your blackness (ink color) away
from me. The blackness of my heart is enough!"'
The worst form of defiance against Allah is to prevent others from
going on His path. And the clearest path to Allah is knowledge,
because it is the proof for His existance and an explanation of His
rules, things that He likes, and things that He dislikes. So preventing
others from gaining lsffi)wledge is a form of enimosity towards Allah
and His religion. Those who forbid others from seeking knowledge
were not aware of what they were doing.
'Abdullah Ibn Khafif said: "Occupy yourselves with seeking knowledge,
and pay no attention to what $ufis say. I used to hide my papers
and ink bottles from them, and used to attend the sessions of
scholars without them knowing. When they finally found out, they
rejected me and said: You will never succeed. However, they later
needed me'."
Imam AQ.mad Ibn l:lanbal said: "Ink bottles are the lamps of
Islam."
And when he got older he was holding an ink bottle once, so a
man asked him: Until when will you continue to hold the ink bottle?
He said: Until I enter the grave.
And he said when defining the "Victorious Sect": "If they are not
the people of Q.adtth then I don't know who they are."
And He described a man who condemned the people of ladtth:
He is a Zindiq (a heretic).
Imam al-Shafi'! said: "Whenever I meet a person from the people
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