Haq Islam » Heart

The Wisdom of the Shaykh

Ahmed — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:31:55 +0000

An incident once took place when a student of Knowledge was taking a walk with his teachers in one of the gardens of their Madrassah. During this walk, the student decided to address a problem he was facing and seek its remedy from his teacher. He began to tell his teacher, ‘I have a spiritual ailment; I am habitual of talking ill of others and mentioning matters about them behind their backs.’

The teacher carried on walking for a moment and then asked him, ‘do you have a mobile phone?’ The student answered affirmatively and took out his phone to show his teacher. The phone was one of the latest models on the market and he had just purchased it recently.

Upon seeing the phone and the student’s attachment to it, he asked the student to throw the phone in a nearby mud patch and trample upon it. Whilst astonished by the teacher’s request, the student questioned, ‘how can I throw this phone on the floor? It has cost me a lot of money and is worth a lot to me.’

The teacher replied to him with the following words of wisdom, ‘So too is the respect and honour of your brother as sanctified and valuable as this in the eyes of Allah. How can it be easy for you to trample upon this honour and respect with such ease?’

The student realised how he had never understood nor appreciated the true value of a Muslim brother; and from that day onwards he never failed to compare the respect of his brothers to all those items which were the most valuable to him.

Jazakallah to Maulana Zain for his help in putting together this story.

The Fortunate One

Ahmed — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:21:30 +0000

It is related by Abu Dharr Ghifaari radhiyallahu anhu that the Apostle of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said : “He became fortunate and successful whose heart Allah set aside for faith and made it safe and sound [i.e., whom He blessed with faith so pure and untainted that not an iota of doubt or hypocrisy could enter his heart and protected it against the spiritual maladies like envy and ill-will], and whose tongue He endowed with truthfulness, and in most self with serenity [i.e., whose soul was such that it derived solace from the remembrance of Allah and the things that were pleasing to Him], and whose natural disposition He put right and free from weaknesses [so that it did not tend towards sin], and whose ear He made fit to hear and eyes He made fit to see [i.e., who could hear the truthful word of Allah and see His signs and take warning and draw lessons from them]. Thus, the ear is like the funnel [through which things go into the heart as the liquid is poured into a bottle], and the eye is the conveyor and stabilizer of things which it entrusts to the heart. And blessed, indeed, is the man whose heart the Lord made capable of remembering.”
Musnad-i-Ahmed and Bayhaqi

Commentary
What has been said about the ears and eyes in the concluding part of the above Tradition is to underline the importance of the part the two organs play in the life of a man. Whatever reaches the heart which, so to speak, is the monarch in the human body, and affects it, is generally, through the ears and the eyes. Consequently, the success and salvation of the bondsman is dependant on the ability and fitness of his eyes and ears to see and hear.

The last sentence denotes that even though the things of success and good fortune reach a man’s heart through the eyes and ears, salvation and felicity in the Hereafter cannot be attained unless the heart is capable of preserving and making proper use of them.

In the Qur’aan the three faculties of seeing, hearing and understanding have been mentioned, from place to place, in a way as if man’s guidance and deliverance was contingent on their soundness.

Riyaduljannah.com

Corrosion of the Heart

Corrosion of the Heart

Ahmed — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:24:58 +0000

Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (رضى الله تعالى عنه) narrates that Rasulullah (sallallahu صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:

When the Mu’min sins, a black spot forms on his heart. If he makes istighfaar and taubah, the black mark is removed and his heart is purified. If he increases his sin, the black mark increases. This is the corrosion of the heart spoken of by Allah Ta’ala (in the Qur’an)
[Ahmad, Tirmizi, Ibn Majah]
Source: Hayatul Muslimeen

Sammy’s big Catch

Ahmed — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:50:26 +0000

Sammy was a good-looking young boy who lived in the deep south. His summer days were filled with times of walking through the woods, playing with friends, and fishing in the pond down the dirt road. Fishing was by far his favorite thing to do. Just about every day during his summer vacation, he would dig up some worms and head off, pole in hand, for a day of fishing.

This steamy hot day was like most others during Sammy’s summer break. Waking early, he could hear as though the pond was calling him to come fish. Sammy quietly walked out the front door, grabbed his pitchfork and worm pail from the porch,and walked into the woods to search for bait. He turned over old stumps and dug under leaves hoping to find worms. Under one old stump he hit the jackpot. The ground was writhing. In two minutes he had all the bait he needed, and in 15 minutes he was at the pond.

Reaching into his bait bucket, Sammy pulled out a big worm. He double hooked it and tossed it into the water. He noticed a stinging in his hand, but filled with the excitement of the moment, he paid no attention to it. Within 30 seconds, Sammy had a strike and pulled in a nice catfish. Wow, he thought, a fish in the first minute. This is unbelievable!

He put the catch on his stringer, hurried to re-bait his hook, and tried his luck again. Once again he felt a stinging sensation in his hand as he threw his hook into the pond. He didn’t have time to worry about it. Within just a few seconds, he had another huge fish. He fumbled the next time he baited his hook–his hand felt numb and stiff. But Sammy was too excited about catching another fish to give it much thought.

At the end of only an hour of fishing, Sammy had caught eight large fish. This was definitely his best fishing day ever. He was so proud of his accomplishment that, even though there was plenty of day left to fish, he threw the heavy stringer of fish over his shoulder and dashed down the dirt road toward home to show off his catch to his mom and dad.

The local sheriff happened to drive up alongside Sammy and started to congratulate him on his catch of fish. With a smile and a victory whoop, Sammy held up the stringer. The sheriff gasped, parked his car and strode over to Sammy.

His eyes hadn’t deceived him–Sammy’s arms really were red and swollen to about twice their normal size. Exactly where have you been and what bait did you use to catch all those fish?” the sheriff asked Sammy, already guessing the answer.

I found some special bait under an old stump,” Sammy boasted. “These worms really wiggle good,” he commented, handing up the bait bucket for inspection. After a close look at the worms, the sheriff went into fast-forward. Securing the bucket in his truck, he then scooped Sammy and his stringer of fish into the back seat of his patrol car. Spinning a U-turn on the gravel road, he sped off to the hospital, but Sammy was already dead.

What the sheriff had discovered was that Sammy had been fishing with baby rattlesnakes. Sammy’s deadly bait brought him a good morning’s fishing but cost him his life. Had Sammy stopped fishing after that first sting, he could have been saved. One bite from a baby rattler won’t kill a person who gets treatment in time. But Sammy was having fun and didn’t bother himself with the “small voice of pain” in his hand. Then, as his hand grew numb, even that small voice was silenced.

Playing around with sin is like using baby rattlesnakes for bait. Sinning seems harmless to people who don’t recognize sin and are unaware of its deadly consequences. The more sin you get into, however, the more numb you become to its sting. In the excitement of the moment, you ignore the still small “voice of the Creator” warning you of danger and encouraging you to choose good rather than that which is evil.
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Hadhrat Abu Hurairah(R.A.) narrates that the Prophet(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) has said: When a mu’min(believer) sins, a black spot appears in his heart and then when he does taubah(repentance) and istighfaar(forgiveness) his heart is cleansed (of the black spot). And when he sins more, the spot enlarges till it covers the entire heart. Hence this is the rust which Allah has mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an thus: “Kaallaa barRaana ‘Alaa quloobihim maa kaanoo yaksiboon” Translation:” By no means! But what they have earned is rust upon their hearts”.(Surah 83 Ayah14). (Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah)-Masnad Imaam Ahmad bin Hanbal.
When the heart has a strong attachment to the life of this world, and the bearer of this heart is immersed in sin, “Raan” (a black covering) overcomes the heart. Because, every sin is a black stain on the heart. These black stains accumulate until the “Raan” is total and prevents the penetration of light to the heart.

When the heart is darkened, things no longer appear as they truly are, for Truth is confused and its face no longer apparent. The heart is inverted and sees Truth as falsehood and falsehood as Truth.
Hadrat ‘Auf bin Maalik(R.A.) used to say: I know the taubah(repentance) of every sin. He was asked: What is the taubah(repentance) of this sin? He said : The sin which one abandons and never goes back to it.
Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood (R.A.) narrates that the Prophet(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) has said: “A sincere repenter of sins is like one who has not committed sins.” (Baihaqi).

Source: Al Islaah publications

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Trust

Ahmed — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:25:32 +0000

�Hearts without trust in God have to listen to a lot of advertisements from hell�
Shaykh Nuh Keller, Deenport

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Ilm

Ahmed — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:43:56 +0000

Ilm is that asset which not only increases one’s knowledge and respect in his community, but it also makes his heart pure and keeps it protected from evils. It also teaches the heart and soul to live according to the commands of Allah Taa’la.

Source: The True Knowledge

An Evil Glance

Ahmed — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:59:30 +0000

Cast an evil glance
Shaytan begins to dance

For an arrow has been shot to the heart
And a darkness has enveloped it

After the glance, the darkness leaves
but the heart is adversly affected

Only the effect of sincere taubah
can return the unblemished heart to
the pure condtion it enjoyed before.