The Freedom That Becomes Bondage

    بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

 هَرَبُوا مِنَ الرِّقِّ الَّذِي خُلِقُوا لَهُ 

 فَبُلُوا بِرِقِّ النَّفْسِ وَالشَّيْطَانِ

 

 لَا تَرْضَ مَا اخْتَارُوهُ هُمْ لِنُفُوسِهِمْ 

  فَقَدِ ارْتَضَوْا بِالذُّلِّ وَالْحِرْمَانِ

 

Meaning: 

They fled the servitude for which they were created,

so they were afflicted with servitude to the self and Satan.

Do not be pleased with what they chose for themselves,

for they have accepted humiliation and deprivation.

Language:

Arabic

Transliteration:

Harabū mina r-riqqi alladhī khuliqū lahu

Fa-bulū bi-riqqi n-nafsi wa-sh-shayṭāni

Lā tarḍa mā ikhtārūhu hum li-nufūsihim

Fa-qadi-rtaḍaw bi-dh-dhulli wa-l-ḥirmāni

Origins:

These lines are from Ibn al-Qayyim’s famous Nūniyyah, also known as  al-Kāfiyah al-Shāfiyah . The Shamela entry identifies the work as  Matn al-Qaṣīdah al-Nūniyyah  by Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb, Shams al-Dīn Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, who died in 751 AH. The same printed text places these couplets in the section on what Allah has prepared in Paradise for His close servants who hold fast to the Book and Sunnah. 

In the surrounding lines, Ibn al-Qayyim contrasts those who spend themselves in the pursuit of the world with those who live for Allah. Just before these couplets, he speaks of bodies in toil, hearts burning with desire and regret, and souls buried inside living bodies. Then comes the sharp diagnosis: they ran from the servitude they were made for, only to fall into a worse servitude. 

Brief Explanation:

The force of these lines lies in their reversal of the usual idea of freedom. A person may imagine that he becomes free by refusing servitude to Allah. Ibn al-Qayyim says the opposite. The human being does not cease to be a servant. He only changes masters.

That is why the first word matters: هَرَبُوا — “they fled.” They did not merely forget. They ran. But the tragedy is that their flight did not lead them into open space. It led them into another kind of captivity: the captivity of the lower self and Satan.

The word الرِّقّ is severe. It means bondage or servitude. But here Ibn al-Qayyim is using it with a moral and spiritual contrast. Servitude to Allah is not humiliation in the ugly sense. It is the only servitude that restores the human being to his true dignity. The Qur’ān gives this foundation clearly: “I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me.” 

So the “servitude for which they were created” is not degradation. It is purpose. It is the soul standing where it belongs: before its Creator, not before its appetites.

To my ear, the most painful part of the poem is that the second servitude pretends to be freedom. The self says, “Do what you want.” Satan says, “No one should restrain you.” But very soon the person discovers that desire is not a gentle ruler. Anger commands. Jealousy commands. Reputation commands. Appetite commands. Fear commands. The person who refused one Merciful Master becomes divided among many harsh masters.

That is why the second couplet is not merely a warning. It is a refusal to glamorize a false choice:

Do not approve what they chose for themselves.

There is compassion in that refusal. Ibn al-Qayyim is not saying: look down on them. He is saying: do not call this freedom. Do not praise a bondage simply because it has decorated itself with the language of choice. Some choices are not noble merely because they are chosen. Some choices strip the human being of inward honor.

The words الذُّلّ and الْحِرْمَان complete the meaning. Dhull is humiliation, lowliness, the loss of spiritual dignity. Ḥirmān is deprivation, being cut off, being denied what the soul truly needs. This is a very exact pairing. The one who serves the self is humiliated, because the self is never satisfied. He is deprived, because appetite can consume the body while starving the heart.

A note for the self:

This is not a verse to throw at others first. It is safer to begin with oneself.

Where am I calling something freedom simply because I want it?

Where has the self trained me to obey before I even notice?

Where do I resist the command of Allah, only to obey a mood, an insecurity, a craving, or a fear?

The poem teaches that every heart has a direction of servitude. The only question is whether that servitude ennobles it or breaks it.

Devotional Use:

These lines are useful for moments of self-accounting. They can be read when one feels the pull of a desire and wants to name it honestly. They are also useful after a fall, not to crush the heart, but to return it to clarity.

The path back begins by admitting the truth: I was not made to be ruled by my nafs. I was not made to be led by Satan. I was made to belong to Allah.

And that belonging is not the loss of freedom. It is the beginning of freedom.