Surely in Allah's remembrance do hearts find rest

Every culture has metaphors alluding to the heart — cold hearted, warm hearted — and we use phrases like “breaking” or “touching” the heart. In Islamic traditions the physical heart is residence to the ruh, the spirit. Muslims are obliged under their laws to look after one’s spiritual and physical being.

Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) spoke of the heart as a repository of knowledge and a vessel sensitive to the needs of the body. He explained that it perceives wrongful action and is agitated by it. One of the Messenger’s most cited statements is: “Actions are based upon intentions”. All intentions emanate from the heart, which means that every action is rooted in the heart.

The heartbeat is not initiated by the central nervous system but by itself, by God. Modern science informs that the heart beats before the brain is fully formed, and that it could continue to beat despite its connections to the brain being severed. The difference between one who remembers God and one who does not is like the difference between the living and the dead. Spiritually dead hearts are the cause of all injustice and oppression in the world. When people are completely immersed in the material world they forget or refuse to believe that they will be accountable for their actions — this brings about diseased hearts that are in turmoil.

Nothing in the biological, physiological or spiritual world is static; everything either blossoms or decays. Similarly, the heart by its very nature is constantly turning, either moving towards purity or impurity; either towards God or away from Him. Interestingly, the Arabic word for heart is qalb, meaning something that turns and inqilaab is from the same root, meaning to turn something upside down. Two of the 99 names of Allah are Al Qabid and Al Basit, “The Constrictor” and “The Expander”, for it is Allah who makes our hearts expand and contract, both physically and spiritually.

God has programmed the heart as an organ designed to be in a state of calm, something that is achieved by remembrance of God. The Quran says, “Surely in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” (13:28). The heart naturally gravitates towards God and the best nutrient for a healthy heart is polishing it with remembrance of the Creator.

Islamic scholars say the foremost requirement for remembrance of God is making amends for wrongful action with nidamah, remorse. This is not the same as guilt, for in Islam there is no original sin, which is the concept of sin being natural to human nature. Islam believes that a child is born in a state of fitrah, natural goodness, which if not cultivated leads man to falls into states of ghaflah, forgetfulness. State of heedlessness can lead to temporary slips into wrong action, from where one can move into the state of remorse and seeking forgiveness (taubah), and ascend towards high ranks with God.

From Sadia Dehlvi's gem of an article in The Asian Age.

To read the full article click here.

— Sadia Dehlvi is a Delhi-based writer and author of Sufism:The Heart of Islam.
She can be contacted at sadiafeedback@gmail.com

How is your heart?

In Islam knowledge is not an end in itself. It is essential, but it is not enough. Its value lies in being an aid to achieving the ultimate goal of man's life. The goal is to be - to attain a state of being that is pleasing to his Creator and Master. Thus Knowledge must go beyond itself to help us become what we need to be.

In our earthly existence each human being is constantly engaged in shaping his evolving identity and giving it its final mould. This final shape may be pleasing to Allah or may not be. We ourselves may or may not be aware that we are engaged in this activity, but there is no escape from it. Islam teaches us to always remain aware of this truth and to be on our guard, for this is a serious matter - nothing can be more serious. Our safety and success with our Lord depends on this

The substance of our identity is a compound of our thoughts, feelings and actions. Knowledge can color and influence all these. The effect, beneficial or harmful, which knowledge has on our thoughts, feelings and actions depends entirely on the kind of heart we bring to knowledge.

The heart may be sound or sick, or as Allah calls it 'blind'. In Surah Al- Hajj, verse 46, Allah gives this dire warning: "It is not the eyes that are blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts." If the heart is sick or blind, knowledge can produce disastrous results. The blind or sick heart distorts and dislocates knowledge. In order to benefit from knowledge we need a humble, sober, unselfish, attentive and grateful heart.

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There are people in the world who know a lot, but their knowledge does not do any good either to themselves or to anyone else. In many cases their knowledge does positive damage to themselves and to others. The damage does not remain confined to this world; it stretches to the Hereafter, and so is incalculable. Such people are a miserable lot.

Let every Muslim beware. Let every believer pay attention to the heart and carefully watch its movements. Let everyone of us concentrate on the proper education of our heart.

From a thought provoking article on Knowledge and Heart by A K M Mohiuddin in IslamiCity.

To read the full article click here. 

A. K. M. Mohiuddin is a retired university professor of English literature living in Bangladesh. He can be reached at this address: akmm45 [at] yahoo [dot] com