The Sound Heart
All praise is due to Allāh the All Knowing, the Forbearing. He filled the hearts of the believers with īmān (faith) and conviction. And enlightened their hearts through the Noble Quran. And safeguarded their hearts through satisfaction and submission. And His messenger ﷺ had the most righteous heart, purest soul, best character and was the most fearful of Allāh Almighty and most sincere in counselling His creation.
So be conscious of Allāh Almighty and obey Him and check your hearts. For the righteousness of the hearts is what matters. Allāh Almighty said:
Al Ḥajj (22) 46: For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts.
And the Prophet ﷺ said:
Indeed Allāh does not look at your bodies or appearances, rather He looks at your hearts. [Muslim 2564b]
A sound heart should be the pursuit of every Muslim. And they should dedicate most of their time and efforts in rectifying their hearts and making them upright. That is because, in this worldly life, the heart is the place of happiness or misery and joy or sadness and security or fear and reassurance or anxiety. And in the hereafter the heart is the reason for the ultimate triumph of the pleasure of Allāh Almighty and His paradise. As Allāh Almighty said:
Ash Shu’araa (26) 88-89: (88) The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children (89) But only one who comes to Allāh with a sound heart.
And the sound heart is the one that is free from the diseases of lusts and doubts about religion. And the heart’s soundness is not complete until it is spared from five matters, shirk (ascribing partners with Allāh) that invalidates tawḥīd (Divine Oneness), and a religious innovation that goes against Sunnah, and desire that goes against the command, and heedlessness that invalidates remembrance and whims that invalidate purification and sincerity.
And the heart flourishes and dies just like the body flourishes and dies. And there is no value for a body with a dead heart. Rather it is a liability. And the heart of the believer is alive with īmān (faith) and conviction. And the heart of the disbeliever is dead with disbelief, denial and rejection. And the soundness of a believer’s heart is in proportion to what it has of īmān (faith) and righteous deeds. And just as a person takes care of the soundness of their body by avoiding what harms it and seeking treatment for it when it ails, likewise one should take care of the soundness of their heart by avoiding the corrupters of the heart. The corrupters of the heart are disbelief, hypocrisy, religious innovation and sins. And if one falls into one of the diseases of the heart, they should hasten to treat it. And, throughout the Quran and Sunnah, there are signs of the sound and live heart, by which one can know the extent of the soundness of their heart.
From among the signs of a sound heart is reassurance through the remembrance of Allāh Almighty. And this includes reciting and listening to the Quran as well as all the remembrances as well the rulings of the religion, in general. For such a person loves the remembrance of Allāh and gets joy and relaxation from it and calls to it. Allāh Almighty said:
Ar Rad (13) 28: Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allāh. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allāh hearts are assured.
That is the hearts of the believers are relaxed and certainty settles into them, in contrast to the hearts that are dead with disbelief or sick with hypocrisy, for they are alienated and repulsed by the remembrance of Allāh. Allāh Almighty said:
Az Zumar (39) 45: And when Allāh is mentioned alone, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion, but when those [worshipped] other than Him are mentioned, immediately they rejoice.
And the sound hearts, in addition to being reassured by the remembrance of Allāh they are also fearful upon the remembrance of Allāh Almighty. So they combine between fear and hope. So they are reassured upon the remembrance of Allāh and the mention of His promise, His tidings, His forgiveness, His Wide mercy, His pleasure and His paradise. And their hearts become fearful upon the mention of His warning and His frightening and the severity of His punishment and the pain of His torment and the speed of His retribution.
Allāh Almighty said:
Al Anfal (8) 2: The believers are only those who, when Allāh is mentioned, their hearts become fearful
Allāh Almighty said:
Al Mu’minun (23) 60-61: (60) And they who give what they give while their hearts are fearful because they will be returning to their Lord – (61) It is those who hasten to good deeds, and they outstrip [others] therein.
And likewise the sound hearts become fearful and are affected by reminders and warning. Just as the companions, may Allāh be pleased with them, were affected by it due to the soundness of their hearts. As related by Al-‘Irbāḍ bin Sāreyah, may Allāh be pleased with him
One day after the morning prayer, the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ exhorted us to the extent that the eyes wept and the hearts shuddered with fear. [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2676, Grade: Ṣaḥīḥ]
And from the signs of a sound heart is love of īmān (faith) and acts of obedience and distancing from and disdaining disbelief, defiance and disobedience.
As Allāh Almighty said:
Al Hujurat (49) 7: But Allāh has endeared to you the faith and has made it pleasing in your hearts and has made hateful to you disbelief, defiance and disobedience.
And Allāh Almighty said:
Al Mujadalah (58) 22: You will not find a people who believe in Allāh and the Last Day having affection for those who oppose Allāh and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred. Those – He has decreed within their hearts faith and supported them with spirit from Him.
And from the signs of soundness of the heart is fear of Allāh and turning in repentance to Him. Allāh Almighty said:
Qaf (50) 33: Who feared the Most Merciful in the unseen and came with a heart returning [in repentance].
And the heart returns to Allāh Almighty in all situations and matters as Allāh Almighty said:
Ar Rum (30) 33: And when adversity touches the people, they call upon their Lord, turning in repentance to Him.
And the Prophet Ibrahim, peace upon him, is described in the Quran with a sound heart and frequently returning to Allāh. Allāh Almighty said:
Hud (11) 75: Indeed, Abraham was forbearing, imploring and [frequently] returning [to Allāh].
And from the signs of a sound heart is patience, satisfaction and submission to Allāh when calamities fall. Allāh Almighty said:
At Taghabun (64) 11: No disaster strikes except by permission of Allāh. And whoever believes in Allāh – He will guide his heart.
So whoever believes that the decrees are by the permission of Allāh Almighty, then Allāh will grant them success with certainty that whatever touched them would have never missed them and what missed them would have never touched them. So they surrender to the decree of Allāh Almighty.
And from the signs of a sound heart is magnifying the symbols of Allāh and His commands and prohibitions. Allāh Almighty said:
Al Hajj (22) 32: That [is so]. And whoever honors the symbols [i.e., rites] of Allāh – indeed, it is from the piety of hearts.
And what is meant by symbols are the outward signs of the religion.
And from the signs of a sound heart is love of the Prophet ﷺ and revering him and loving his wives and companions, may Allāh be pleased with them all, as Allāh Almighty said:
Al Hujurat (49) 3: Indeed, those who lower their voices before the Messenger of Allāh – they are the ones whose hearts Allāh has tested for righteousness.
And Allāh Almighty said:
Al Hashr (59) 10: And [there is a share for] those who come after them, saying, “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful.”
Oh Muslims:The heart revives and flourishes with striving and accompanying the good and righteous as well as through the genuine attachment to Allāh Almighty. And the more that a heart increases in love of Allāh, the more that it increases in servitude to Allāh. And the more that it increases in servitude to its Lord, the more that it increases in love to Him. Then comes the righteous the deeds in all their types and avenues. And the joyous is the one made joyous by Allāh. And the miserable is the one that Allāh caused to deviate. And the hearts are in the Hands of Allāh, He turns them as He wills. And from the great plagues is plunging into innovations in religion and violating the Sunnah. For the best guidance is the guidance of the Mohammadﷺ and the worst matters are those that are newly introduced. And from the means that the Prophet ﷺ established for purifying the hearts from rancor and following desires is adhering to the Muslim community and their leader and not separating from them. For the Prophet ﷺ said:
There are three matters on account of which no rancor ever enters a Muslim’s heart: sincere action for Allāh’s sake, good counsel to leaders of the Muslims, and holding fast to the Muslim community. [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2658, Grade: Ṣaḥīḥ]
And from the great plagues is following base desires and submitting to them. Ibn Al Qayim, may Allāh have mercy on him, said, from the punishment of sins is that the insight of the heart is blinded, Allāh forbid, and its light is extinguished and the path to knowledge is closed and the means of guidance are shielded. And the blinding of the heart is preceded by the diseases of the heart such as arrogance, hypocrisy, mocking others, envy and corrupting and other ailments of the heart.
So be conscious of Allāh, may Allāh have mercy on you, and know that if the indulgence in sin increases, then the heart enters into a flood of blindness and confusion. Allāh Almighty said:
Al Mu’minun (23) 63: But their hearts are covered with confusion over this, and they have [evil] deeds besides that [i.e., disbelief] which they are doing.
For the diseases of the heart are accompanied by many conditions such as deviation and immorality and sealing of the heart, so the shaytan takes hold of it and leads it wherever he wants. Allāh Almighty said:
Al Saf (2) 5: And when they deviated, Allāh caused their hearts to deviate.
And Allāh Almighty said:
Al Baqarah (2) 10: In their hearts is disease, so Allāh has increased their disease
We seek refuge in Allāh from Allāh’s punishment and painful torment. And we seek refuge in Allāh from failure. Indeed Allāh is All Hearing, Answering.
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