Imām Ibn Qudāmah -rahimahullāh- said:
Explanation of blessings, its essence and categories.
Know verily that, every wish is termed as a _blessing_ but the true grace is for one to be successful in the Hereafter, and any grace apart from this is called an _ordinary blessing_ which is permissible to be sought, and all our affairs can be subdivided into four divisions:
1). What’s beneficial both in this dunya and the Hereafter such as sound knowledge, good behavior, thus, it is a true grace.
2). What’s harmful both in this dunya and Hereafter, and it is a true affliction.
3). What’s beneficial in this dunya but harmful in the Hereafter, like excessive amusement, sticking to unlawful desires, for it is a great fitna in the sight of the people of insight, but the jāhil sees it as a grace. The example of this is a hungry person who is given a honey which contains poison, he will surely consider it as a grace if he is ignorant of its poison, but if he knows of it, he sees the honey as a fitna.
4). That which is harmful in the dunya but beneficial in the Hereafter. This is seen as a great blessing in the sight of the people of deep insight and intellect, but a fitna to the ignorant ones.
The example of this, is a medicine which has a bitter taste, but at the long run, it cures diseases. An ignorant child when forced to take such a drug sees that as an affliction, but the sensible person views it as a grace.
And likewise, if a child needs to be cupped, his father tends to support that due to what he knows of the importance of cupping for a sound health. But the mother may prevent the child from it due to her love and sympathy for the child, and because she is ignorant of the maslahah in cupping. The child will surely uphold the opinion of his mother due to his ignorance and the apparent love she displayed to him. And in this case, the child may see his father as his enemy who wants to afflict a tribulation on him.
But, if he had possessed a deep insight and intellect, he would have realized that his mother is the real enemy in the form of a friend, because lack of cupping causes diseases which are more painful and severe than the pain of cupping. Thus, an ignorant and foolish friend is worst than an intelligent enemy, and every person is a friend to his soul, but the soul is an ignorant friend, therefore, treat it harsher than what the enemy may do to you.
Allāhu A’alam! Bārakallāhu fīkum!
8th Safar,1440H.
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