Advice of Scholars - TO BE A MAN OF WARÂ’

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the  66th letter of the second volume of his Maktûbât:

Our Prophet said, “Allahu ta’âlâ declares: ‘O My born servant! Do the fard I command; you will be the most devoted of human beings. Avoid the harâm which I prohibit; you will be a man of warâ’. Be contented with the sustenance that I give you; you will be the wealthiest of human beings; you will not need anybody. ” Our Prophet said to Abû Hurayra ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’: “Be a man of warâ’ so that you may be the most âbid (devoted) of human beings. ”

Hadrat Hasan-i Basrî ‘rahmatullâhi aleyh’ says, “Attaining warâ’ as much as a mote is more useful than a thousand superogatory fasts and namâz. ” Abû Hurayra ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ said, “On the Day of Resurrection, those who are valuable in the presence of Allahu ta’âlâ are people of warâ’ and of zuhd. ” Allahu ta’âlâ said to Hadrat Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’: “Among those who approach Me and who attain My love, there will not be anyone who approaches as close as people of warâ do. ”

Some great savants said, “If a person does not know the following ten things as fard for himself, he will not be a man of perfect warâ’: he should not backbite; he should not feel sû’i-zân for Muslims, which means to distrust them and to think of them as bad persons; he should not make fun of anybody; he should not look at women and girls (that are forbidden for him by Islam); he should tell the truth; he should think of the gifts and blessings which Allahu ta’âlâ has endowed upon him so that he will not be self-conceited; he should spend his possessions on the halâl; he should not spend them for the harâm; he should desire rank and posts not for his nafs nor for his comfort, but because he knows them as positions for serving Muslims; he should know it as his first duty to perform the five times of namâz in their due time; he should learn well îmân and the deeds communicated by the Ahl-i sunnat savants and adapt himself to them.

While describing the conditions for being an imâm, Ibni Âbidin says, “It is called warâ’ to abstain from the dubious. It is called taqwâ to abstain from the harâm. It is called zuhd to abstain from the majority of the mubâh for fear that they may be dubious. ”