Let's Sharpen the Language of Our Hearts!

Let's Sharpen the Language of Our Hearts!

The heart speaks through feeling and emotions,

The mind speaks through thinking and thoughts,

The desires (nafs) speak through numerous yearnings and aspirations,

The eyes speaks through shapes and colours,

The tongue speaks through words and conversation,

The body speaks through touch and contact,

Let us speak through our hearts and be cultured,

Let us refine our hearts and souls,

Let our hearts and souls be the language experts,

That is the way it should be, for the heart is the ruler within us,

The ruler has the final say,

The ruler has the lawful authority,

The rest of the body should be obedient subjects,

To become subjects serving the king,

To become loyal soldiers,

If human beings are capable of accomplishing all this,

Life's journey would be beautiful and meaningful,

Everything is for God,

Befitting God's reason as to why mankind exists,

To give ourselves to Allah and be His Caliph.

By,
Shaikhul Islam Abuya Ashaari Bin Muhammad Attamimi AlHashimi

Pictured above: Pir Vilyat Khan, in meditation. Ajmer, India, Circa 1979.

Open the door of the heart

Shaykh Sa'adi Shirazi writes in his famous book "Gulistan" that in his child hood he developed a love for worship and used to offer prayers during the night. One night, he was praying with his father and other people in the house were enjoying sleep. He said to his father, "Why don't these people wake up and offer two rak'ats nafil prayer instead of laying there like dead people?" His father said, "My son, it would have been better for you to sleep all night than this worship that you are doing, because you are involving yourself in backbiting.

Moral: "The humorist sees himself with his own eyes and thinks very highly of himself , open the door of the heart and you will find yourself lowest of all."

We see that even great scholars never hesitate to introspect and correct themselves and ask for forgiveness from Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala but nowadays! We see a majority of people who boast about their worship and consider others low for not worshipping as they do. Actually they do not inspire others for worship, rather they offend others and send them away from worship due to their arrogance. Such people appreciate themselves and keep on depreciating others and their apparent piety fails to spread dignity at all. You know, such attitude shows that we are caught by the paws of desires and do not think about any others but ourselves. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala save us from the crippling cage of desires. Ameen.

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Greatness of the Heart

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

And if anyone believes in Allah, (Allah) guides his heart (aright)' (64:11).

The guidance of the heart is the basis of all guidance, the law of all success, the origin of every deed and head of every action. The Prophet(pbuh) said:

'Truly there is a piece of flesh in the body which, if it be wholesome, the whole body will be healthy and which, and if it be diseased the whole body will be diseased. Truly it is the heart.'

Thus the goodness of your heart is the guarantee of your happiness in this world and in the hereafter. Likewise, its corruption is the surest way to destruction, the extent of which only Allah knows.

'In this, behold, there is indeed a reminder for everyone whose heart is wide-awake - that is [everyone who] lends ear with a conscious mind' (50:37).

Every creature has a heart. In reality though they are two hearts, a heart that is alive and pulsating with the light of faith. It is filled with intense conviction and God-consciousness. The other is a dead heart, covered and diseased with every wreckage and rubbish.

Allah Almighty says concerning the hearts of the foolish folk:

'In their hearts is disease, and so God lets their disease increase' (2:10).

'But they say, "Our hearts are already full of knowledge." Nay, but God has rejected them because of their refusal to acknowledge the truth: for, few are the things in which they believe' (2:88).

Allah also says:

'Will they not, then, ponder over this Quran? - or are there locks upon their hearts?' (47:24).

'And so they say, [as it were:] "Our hearts are veiled from whatever thou callest us to, [O Muhammad,] and in our ears is deafness"' (41:5).

From all these verses we learn that the hearts can become ill, they can be covered, locked and they die. The enemies of Allah have hearts in their bosoms but they do not perceive with these hearts. Hence the Prophet saws used to say:

'O dispenser of hearts make my heart firm in Your religion.'

The heart of the believer fasts during Ramadan and outside of Ramadan. The fasting of the heart is done by emptying it of all corrupt material such as destructive forms of polytheism, false beliefs, evil suggestions, filthy intentions and degenerate thoughts. The heart of the believer is adorned with the love of Allah. It knows its Lord by His names and His qualities as He has described Himself. This heart explores with a discerning eye the lines of His names and qualities and the pages of Allah's making in the universe and the books of His creations.

The believer's heart is filled with a brilliant light which does not allow any darkness to remain with it. It is the light of the eternal message, the divine teachings, and the omnipotent laws. To it is added the natural light upon which the servants of Allah were created. Thus two great lights come together.

'Light upon light! God guides unto His light him that wills [to be guided]; and [to this end] God propounds parables unto men, since God [alone] has full knowledge of all things' (24:36).

The believer's heart glows like a lamp, shines like the sun and sparkles like the morning light. It increases in faith whenever the believer listens to the verses of the Quran, it grows in conviction when it contemplates, and increases in guidance when it reflects. The believer's heart abstains from pride because it breaks its fast. Pride does not reside in the heart of a believer because it is unlawful. The abode and dwelling place of pride is the heart. Hence, if it enters any heart, that person will become afflicted, foolish, arrogant and frivolous.

Allah Almighty says in a hadith Qudsi: 'Pride is my upper garment and grandeur is my lower one, whoever contests with me for them I will punish him.'

The Prophet(pbuh) himself said:

'Whoever shows arrogance to Allah, He will humble him, and whoever is humble to Allah, He will raise him in station.'

The heart of the believer fasts and abstains from egotism. Egotism is when the individual sees himself as perfect, better than others and in possession of good qualities that are not found in anyone else. This is destruction in its most naked form. The Prophet(pbuh) said:

'Three things which are totally destructive: a person's self-centredness and conceit, his reluctance to obey and his following of his desires.'

The cure for this self-importance is to look at one's own faults, one's many shortcomings, thousands of sins and misdeeds that one has committed, wrongs that one has done and forgotten but the knowledge of which are with Allah in a book. For Allah is not led astray nor does He forget.

The heart of the believer fasts and abstains from envy because it lowers righteous deeds, puts out the light of the heart and stops its progress toward Allah the Most High. Allah says in the Glorious Quran:

'Do they, perchance, envy other people for what God has granted them out of his bounty? (4:54).

And the Prophet(pbuh) said:

'Do not envy one another; do not inflate prices one to another; do not hate one another; do not turn away from one another; and do not undercut one another.'

The Prophet(pbuh) informed one of his companions three times that he would be among the people of Paradise. When he was asked about what was it that earned him a place in Paradise, the man said:

'I do not sleep with envy, grudge or deceit in my heart for any Muslim.'

Are there any hearts that would, therefore, fast like the learned. The fast of the learned has a yearning for the Most Merciful Lord of the worlds. Their hearts fast at all times and in the early hours of morning they seek forgiveness.

O Allah guide our hearts to the straight path and make it firm on faith, O Lord of the worlds

Islamic Quotes

"When a noble man learns knowledge he becomes humble, when an ignoble person gains knowledge, he becomes conceited."

- Sayyidina Abu Bakr 'Abd Allah bin Abi Quhaafah as-Siddiq radiALLAHU'an -

"O God, whenever you want to punish me do it, but don't keep me away from Your Presence." - Khwaja 'Arif ar-Riwakri qaddasALLAHU sirrah -

"Become a better man day by day with better effort and praying is part of effort."

- Mas Yos Wiyoso Hadi rahimatuLLAH -

"O God, do not give me in excess lest I may be disobedient to You and do not give me less lest I may forget You."

- Sayyidina al-Faruq 'Umar bin al-Khattab radiALLAHU'an -

What makes a Beautiful Heart?

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.

A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect.

There was not a mark or a flaw in it.

Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen.

The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart. Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine."

The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly ... but full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in ... but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges.

In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people starred ... how could he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought?

The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine ... mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."

"Yes!" said the old man, "Yours is perfect looking ... but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them ... and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart ... but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away ... and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges ... giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too ... and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting."

"So now do you see what true beauty is?", said the old man.

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.

The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart.

It fits but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.

The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.