Over-Piousness

Over-piousness … الوَرع الكاذب

Ibn al-Jawzi mentioned a funny story about a guy who wanted to avoid “backbiting” at all costs:

قيل لبعض البله وكان يتحرى من الغيبة: ما تقول في إبليس؟ فقال: أسمع الكلام عليه كثيراً والله أعلم بسريرته.
“He was asked: “What do you say about Satan?”
He replied: “I have heard a lot of [bad stuff] about him, but God knows best about his inner secrets.”
[“Akhbar al-Hamqa”, 1/200].

A member of the: “only God can judge” brigade … from 800 years ago!

Yes, we should be very harsh against unjustified Takfir of Muslims, but that does not mean we go to the other extreme of saying everyone is a believer, and everyone is going to Paradise, and everything is permissible, etc.

Don’t let one extreme push you to the other extreme.

The truth is between extremism and negligence: بين الإفراط والتفريط