Importance of Purifying the heart

“A day in which neither wealth nor children shall be of any benefit, except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart” (al-Shu’ara:88-89)

3 Spiritual Components of a Human

Allah swt has put in a human being four things. Human being broadly speaking is made up of two things:

1.      A jasad and a jism, a physical body.

2.      A ruh, our spiritual selves.

Within the ruh a person is made up of three things:

1)      Qalb  (spiritual heart/ seat of emotions)

2)      Aql  (intellect)

3)      Nafs  (desires)

Qalb _seat of emotions

Qalb is our spiritual heart, and that is the seat of our emotions and our feelings eg Love. Our jazbaat, our kayfiyaat, our ahwaal. All of our emotions and feelings reside and dwell in and emanate from and come from our qalb.

Nafs_seat of desires

 A person’s nafs is the seat of their desires, their appetite, their lust, their carnal self.

Aql_seat of thoughts

And aql is the seat of a person’s thoughts, khayaalaat, of a person’s afkaar. Or sometimes in Arabic we call it khawaatir. All the thoughts and musings that occur to a person reside in that person’s aql and mind.

What is the center of human conscience?

Western philosophy

—  According to most modern science and Western philosophies, focal point of change is the BRAIN and Intellectual development.

—   Intellectual development -> More you nourish the mind, more a person will change positively

Islamic philosophy

●     According to Islam,thoughts (of the Aql) and Desires (of the Nafs) are products of the Heart and so      the focal point of change is the HEART and Spiritual development of the heart .                                            ●   Spiritual development of the heart ->More you nourish the heart, more a person will change positively

In this whole system Allaah swt has made the qalb like the controller room. The qalb will dominate and the aql and the nafs will follow the qalb. What does that mean?

è if you have good emotions and feelings in your heart ,this will lead to good desires and thoughts.

è And if you have bad emotions and feelings in your heart , you will have bad desires and bad thoughts.

NAFS & AQL FOLLOWS HEART

®Example of BAD EMOTIONS

Heart has – let’s say love for this world, materialism.

Nafs: Then they will have desires on that basis. They will desire:

-          more and more of the world.

-          status, this rank, this prestige, this wealth

Mind: They will think of ways to accumulate wealth! Even in their salah they will be thinking about these things.

®Example of GOOD EMOTIONS

Heart has love for Allaah swt, then their desires will be accordingly.

Nafs: They will desire:

-           to please Allaah swt,

-          to worship Allaah swt,

-          to obey Allaah swt.

-          desire to be hafiz(memorizer of Quran) / an ‘aalim(scholar) /aarif /muttaqi /saabir /shaakir / wali of Allaah swt .

This is because they have the feeling of love for Allaah swt in their heart.

Aql: Their thoughts and planning will be to achieve these desires.

-          Going to Makkah Mukarrama,

-          Going to Madinah Munawwara,

-          All the time thinking about things related to their beloved, thinking about things about that which they love in their heart. Things related to the love of Allah swt.

AQL IS FASCINATING – ALWAYS THINKING

The aql is a fascinating thing. Allaah swt has made our mind and our aql in such a way that it is always thinking. Your nafs may not always be desiring , but the aql is always thinking. Always processing some thought or the other.

A QUESTION PEOPLE ASK

‘sometimes I get bad thoughts in my mind, sinful thoughts ,fantasies,  imaginations, will I be accounted for it?’

Teachings of the deen of islam on this is that the initial thought that occurs to a person – that is not sinful. They will not be punished or called to account, or they will not earn the displeasure of Allah swt, due to the spark of a thought.

What we will be accountable for is when we dwell on those thoughts. Or like we call it in English, we let

-          a whole train of thought emerge

-          We take a blade of grass, and we make a whole mountain out of it.

That is what is sinful. So to have a thought occur to you is not a sin, but to focus on that thought, dwell on that thought, build up that whole thought, rumination, imagination, fantasizing, all of that is a sin.

MORE HEART IS PURIFIED -> MORE MIND WILL BE PURIFIED

So the more and more we purify our heart, the more and more we would have purified our mind. That is why some of our mashaaikh say in urdu,

Fikr ki gandagi dhikr ki paabandagi se door hoti hai.

Impure thoughts will only be purged from our mind when we become regular and focused in the remembrance of Allah swt in our heart.

If there is any young man or woman who feels that she has this illness of these thoughts, she also needs to purify her heart. And if she can purify her heart, then her thoughts will be automatically purified.

TWO TYPES OF PURE HEARTS

Either a person can have:

1.      a pure and pristine heart or

2.       a purified heart.

There are two ways to have a qalbun saleem(pure,sound heart):

ANALAOGY OF WHITE BOARD:

1.      brand new white board which a black marker never touched

2.      Or a white board that has been wiped clean after a lot of marking have been made on it, but every time the markings were made it has been erased.

SO SOME PURIFY AND REACH ALLAH STW IN THAT STATE

And by the time they come before Allaah swt they have a pure purified heart. They bring to Allaah swt a qalbun saleem. So it means that Allaah swt told us in the Quraan al kareem, it means that each and every one of us have been given a goal and objective, a mission, a vision for our life – and that is to have a qalbun saleem, that is to have a pure heart.

Every single human being has to bring to Allah swt a pure heart.

 Bringing to Allah a qalbun saleem is not nafl , is not mustahab, it is not optional – it is fard al-ayn. It is absolutely mandatory on each and every one of us to purify our hearts.

 WHY PURIFY HEARTS?

REASON 1:

 AYAH: “A day in which neither wealth nor children shall be of any benefit, except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart” (al-Shu’ara:88-89)

Allah swt said,illaa! No one will be successful except only and only ‘that person’ who brings to Allaah a pure and untainted heart.

We are people who desperately need to learn how to purify our hearts. Because Allah swt is only going to accept a 100% pure heart.

-          Would you accept mineral water in which just a drop of filth got mixed? No, we would not accept it.

-          Would you accept a stained fruit? No.

è Then what makes us think Allah swt  is going to give us Jannat, His eternal radha,  ridhwanun minAllaah,His pleasure to that heart which is impure, which is tainted, and which is stained. So that means each and every one of us needs to clean our heart.

REASON 2

HADITH –E-MUBARAKAH:

“Indeed, there is a lump of flesh in every human.  If it is sound, the whole body is sound.  And, if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. verily, this piece of flesh is the heart.”

QURANIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE HEART

—  “Did they not have hearts with which they could understand (ya`qiloon) or ears with which they could hear.  Indeed, it was not the eyes that had turned blind, but the hearts in their chests had turned blind.”  (al-Hajj:46)

—  “A long period passed upon them and their hearts became hard.”  (al-Hadeed: 57)

—  “Allah Placed over their hearts a covering that they may not understand and in their ears [He Placed] deafness.”  (Al-An`aam: 25)                                                                                                                                                                                  

—  Nay, rather rust has covered their hearts because of what they used to do.”  (al-Mutafifeen: 14)

3 TYPES OF HEART

Now, there are three different types of hearts that a person may have. Every human being has one of the three types of hearts!

1)Qalb e Mayyit (Dead Heart)

2)Qalb e Mareedh (Diseased Heart)

3) Qalb e Saleem (Sound Heart)

Qalb al-mayyit

There are five types of people who have this dead heart.

1.      Human being who denies the existence of Allah swt. Who does not believe in Allah swt. This in Arabic is called a mulhid, called an atheist, agnostic. They are the same as far as Islam is concerned. Because, anything other than a yes is a no.

Atheist is a person who says there is no Allah.

Agnostic is that person who says, I don’t know if there is an Allah or not.

Fa man shaa’a fal-yu’min wa man shaa’a fal-yakfur

‘Thus who so ever wills may believe and who so ever wills may deny.’

There is no middle ground. Anything other than a yes is a no. So the first type of human with a qalb al-mayyit is that person who denies Allaah swt.

2.      Second type of person with a qalb al-mayyit is that person who says that I believe in God, but I don’t believe in religion. This is their own way of explaining this in English. So they have a secular humanist liberal concept of the divine being, and they say I believe in God but I don’t believe in formal organized religion.

what it really means is that:

-           I don’t believe in Nabiyye Kareem (sws)

-          I don’t believe in the Qur’aan,

3.      The third person is he who believes in multiple Gods, called a mushrik.

4.      The fourth person is he who says he believes with their tongue, but actually in their heart they are an atheist. That person is called a munaafiq.

5.      This one is the scariest. Fifth type of person who has a qalbe mayyit is a mo’min! A mo’min  who has allowed himself to become extremely distant from Allah swt. A mo’min who has abandoned

-          all ibaadaat, all worship,

-          all itaa`aat ,all obedience,

and

-          stopped saving him or herself from sin.

       What is a qalb al-mayyit?

Everyone has a qalb, every human being has a spiritual heart, but that spiritual heart is dead. What is does it mean for it to be dead, it can no longer fulfill its ability. Like if you say a piece of my skin is dead, it means that it cannot regenerate. If you say hair follicle is dead it means it doesn’t grow hair.

If the qalb is dead it doesn’t mean it is absent. It is present but it no longer does what it was supposed to do. What it no longer does is it no longer feels, it no longer has the firaasaat, it no long has the baseerat(insight), no longer has the ability to recognize, to be aware of Allah swt. It does not have the ability to recognize or be aware of Allah swt.

‘And pursue not that of which Thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).’

So the fu’aad is the core of our heart, it is that part of our spiritual heart that is able to perceive the existence of Allah swt, which is able to feel the love for Allah swt.

……

        ‘Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts (and minds) may Thus learn wisdom and their ears   may Thus learn to hear? truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts that have become blind.’

So blind heart, dead heart, hardened heart, these are the words Allah swt has used in the Qur’aan al Kareem for this.

SIGNS OF A DEAD HEART:

1)  Follows the pleasures and desires of Nafs

      That person has no longing towards Allaah swt, no interest in the aakhirah.

All of their yearnings, longings, interests, passions, all of them have to do with just this world, just this duniya.

And all of their efforts are to enjoy this worldly life.

If what they want to happen happens, they become happy.

And if what they don’t want to happen happens, they become sad.

Living a life directly opposite of Qur’an and Hadith:

               Qur’aan: Tell me about the one who has taken his desire as his god ,Al-Furqan [25:43]

Hadith:   ad-duniyau sijnul mo’min wa jannatul kaafir.

‘World is like a prison for the believer and heaven(Jannah) for Kafir’

For a real mo’min, this worldly life is unattractive like a prison because it is preventing the mo’min to meet His Beloved, Allah swt just like prison keeps the prisoner from joining his loved ones

So we can’t be in love with both the world and Allah Swt at the same time.

               Qur’aan :  Allah has not made for any man two hearts in his chest cavity ,Al-Ahzab [33:4],

2)      A person feels no hesitation in sinning.

They lose all sense of:

-          Imaan

-          ghayrat

-          Haya

They sin unabashedly, openly, relentlessly, repeatedly, and without any hesitation, without any regrets and remorse. They go to sleep in a state of sin and wake up the next day right back up to sin. And they party the next night harder than the night before! Because the heart has become dead. It doesn’t realize, it doesn’t acknowledge, it doesn’t understand.

3)      Doing a`maal al-saalih, doing good deeds becomes a burden.

Very difficult for them to

-          pray,

-           read qur’aan,

-          even to make dua to Allaah swt. They don’t  need wudu for that, they don’t need Arabic for that.

-          They cannot connect to Allaah swt. Because their heart, that which was the connector, is dead.

4)      They don’t like it when they hear naseehat.

‘Religion is a private matter, why are you checking me? ‘

‘Who are you to tell me this?’ ‘ Who are you to judge me?’ ‘ Why are you being so judgmental?’ These are the things they would say.

When it comes in a Hadith e Pak

al-deen un-naseeha

 Deen is Naseeha.

The essence of deen, haqeeqah of deen, deen itself consists of naseeha, good counsel good advice with true intention and a kind word. That is what naseeha is. But they don’t like it. Because their hearts have become hardened.

‘   Thenceforth were your hearts hardened: They became like a rock and Even worse in hardness for among rocks there are some from which rivers gush forth; others there are which when split asunder send forth water; and others which sink for fear of Allah and Allah is not unmindful of what ye do.’ (Qur’aan)

Episode from the time of Hadrat Hasan Al Basri

Once a person was with Hadrat Hasan al Basri, a famous taabi`ee, the imam of taabi`een. And the young man went to him and said, ’shaykh I am worried, make dua for me.’ The Shaykh said for what? The young man said I am worried make dua for me, I am worried that my heart is sleeping. He said why? The man replied,’Because when you say the words of Allaah swt, qaala Allaahu Ta’Ala, when you say the words of the Prophet sws, qaala RasulUllaahi sws, I don’t feel anything.’ So Hadrat Hasan al Basri said, ‘oh young man you shouldn’t be worried that your heart is sleeping ,you should be worried that your heart is dead.’ The man asked why? He said that if something is sleeping and you shake it, it wakes up. If your heart was sleeping, and I said the words of Allaah swt, the words of the Prophet sws ,it would have shaken your qalb and woken it up. If the words of Allaah swt and the Prophet sws have no effect on you, it means that your heart is not sleeping, your heart is dead!

        Qalb e Mareedh

        Second type of qalb, second type of spiritual heart is called the qalb al-mareedh. The sick heart. The diseased heart. Allah swt has mentioned this in two places in the qur’aan al kareem.

.’ ‘..conceal not evidence; for Whoever conceals it,- His heart is tainted with sin. and Allah knoweth all that ye do

Ithm means sin, aathim means sinner. So here Allaah swt is mentioning clearly, that the qalb sins. The sinning heart, the qalb al-aathim.Or the qalb al-mareez, the sick heart.

‘. O Consorts of the Prophet! ye are not like any of the (other) women: if ye do fear ((Allah)), be not too complacent of speech, Lest one In whose heart is a disease should be Moved with desire: but speak ye a speech (That is) just.’

Many people don’t understand  the rules and norms of gender interaction in Islam. People think that the morality is an excuse / a waiver for spirituality.

You are unique, you are not like other women if you adopt taqwa!

(Then Allaah swt shows them what that taqwa is. )

you should not overly soften your speech, lest it become a luring, lest it become attractive to someone who hears it. Otherwise that person who in their heart has a marad (disease), they will start coveting and desiring you. Instead you should speak in a ma’roof way, in a well known appropriate way.

So who were the Ummahaatul Mo’mineen(RA) speaking to? Sahaaba karaam(RA)!

è This ayah is telling us the norms of gender interaction, between the greatest women in all of humanity, and the greatest men after the ambiyaa after the Prophets in all of humanity.

So the diseased heart is full of diseases.

-          Lust, desire, envy, hatred, malice, spite ….

-          These emotions can overcome a person if they are not controlled!

          SIGNS OF A DISEASED HEART

1)      Affected by Company

 Good with good people. And as soon as they leave that company they see themselves changing.         Weaker!

2)      Spiritual sicknesses fluctuate:  Sometimes in control and sometimes out of control.

People who have qalb un Mareedh are Hanging/fluctuating:

-          Sometimes they are making all of the good efforts, da’wah,naseehah. And other times they are violating basic ma’mulaat, mu’aashiraat, lying to someone, hurting someone, oppressing someone.

3)      Feels remorse after committing sin

A big difference between the qalb mayyit and mareedh is that the sick heart does feel remorse!

It is ashamed of sin, wants to hide sins, sometimes makes Tawbah , but it keeps going back to sin

& this is another big sign:

-          That this disease keeps coming up, every few moments, minutes, hours,  days . It keeps coming. Whether his disease is of lust, envy,  anger … whatever the disease is that it keeps coming back. Keeps surfacing up. He is not able to purify.

Cure for Qalb un mareedh.

That person who’s physical heart is sick, they need to get treated, they need medicine. They need to go to a doctor. And the person whose heart is extremely sick, they need to be admitted into the cardiology unit.

Just like that, that person who’s spiritual heart is sick, they need medicine. They need a cure, they need treatment. They need:

-          ibaadat,

-          dhikr,

-          sunnat,

-          taqwa.

Qalb un Saleem

The third type of qalb is qalbun saleem.

That is the heart which is alive, that qalb which has itminaan and sukoon, peace and serenity.

Ala bi dhikrillahi taTma’inna al-quloob!(Verily in the rememberance of Allah do hearts find peace)

-          This is that qalb which is drowned in the love for Allaah swt. Walladheena aamanu ashaddu Hubban lillaah(And those who belive, they are extremely intense in their love for Allah swt), that mu’min whose heart is extremely intense in the love for Allaah swt.

-          This qalbun saleem has all of the Sifaat of the mu’mineen the qur’aan. A qalb e mutawakkil, a qalbe saabir, a qalb e shaakir, aqalb e dhaakir, a qalb e khaashi`. Has all of the Sifaat of the mu’mineen in their hearts.

SIGNS OF QALB E SALEEM:

HADITH: Man aHabba lillahi wa abghaza lillah, wa aata’a lillahi wa mana` alillahi faqad istakmala al-Iman

1) One who loves for the sake of Allah swt, and

2) Dislikes (someone or something) for the sake of Allah swt, and

3) Gives for the sake of Allah swt, and

4) Forbids for the sake of Allah swt

According to the Hadith, such is the person who has reached perfection of Imaan.

According to another hadit, those who love each other for the sake of Allah Swt, such people will be under the shade of ‘ArshUllah on the Day of Judgment when there will be no other shade.

Similarly dislike, repugnance, hatred for things should only be for the sake of Allah swt, in the name of Allah swt.

è  A mu’min does not dislike an unbeliever. They dislike the kufr of the unbeliever, it’s never personal.

BENEFITS OF A QALB UN SALEEM

1)      Contentment

             Alaa bi dhikrillahi taTma’inna al-quloob

Such person stays pleased with the will of Allah Swt and so lives a life of contentment and inner peace.

2)      Sweetness of Imaan

Hadith Mubarakah: There are three things which cause anyone who takes refuge in them to taste the sweetness of Imaan;

i)        That Allah and His Messenger sws are more beloved to him than anything else i.e they have a QALB SALEEM

ii)       That he loves a man only for the sake of Allah

iii)    And that he dislikes the thought of reverting to disbelief as much as he would dislike being cast into the fire.

3)      Love of Allah Swt

HOW TO ACHIEVE A QALB SALEEM?

1)      Remembrance of Allah

AHadith e Mubarakah: 

            “The difference between one who remembers Allah and the one who does not is like the living and the dead”

           

            “Everything has a polish. And, the polish of the heart is the Remembrance of Allah.”

2)      Tazkiyah (Purification)

—  Addressing deep-rooted problems

            “Successful are those who have purified (their nafs) and Ruined are those who have spoiled it” (ash-Shams: 9, 10)