About The Pure Heart

2. What is Meant by "The Heart"

The term “heart” has different and multi-level connotations in the Islamic tradition. It is not simply the organ of emotions, “feelings” and desires, or decisions and opinions, but goes to encompass the soul, knowledge, bravery and more. When purified it is the seat of the intellect, i.e. the ray of the Divine within the creatures.

This is why it is called the “true essence of a human being” (Al-Jurjani), containing “all levels of inner being” (al-Hakeem al-Tirmidhi), and for the Prophets (pbut) it is the place of revelation.

At first the “heart” (qalb) is something unstable, unreliable, easily changing. In short it can either be sick or sound, dead or alive, due to its beliefs and certainty and due to the person's actions.

Concerning God-consciousness, the Prophet ﷺ  said, while pointing to his heart:
"God-wariness is right here" (al-taqwā hāhunā). [fn1]
And as an unstable organ, it is continually influenced and turned by - and eventually inspired and re-turned to - Allah Most High:

{ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ }
{ Allah intervenes between man and his heart } 8-24

Allah has informed us in the Holy Quran about the “heart” (qalb). For example nās or “people, men” is used 241 times, but as a comparison “heart” not less than 137 times, which is indicative of the importance of this term!

Although the heart is not the same as the intellect, it is nevertheless where the intellect would ideally reside and govern over our emotions and passions. Then it will be the place for faith (al-imān), mercy (rahmah)[2.1.3] and certainty (yaqīn).

The reason for this intimate relationship between heart and intellect is the authenticity and directness of 'Heart-knowledge' compared to 'mind-knowledge' [WSUF52]. It is dhauq (taste), or intellectual intuition, what is sought for.

Other words for heart (except for qalb) used in the Quran:
- sadr, sudūr: the chest (heart) where Shaytan tries to gain access. (25 times)
- fuād, af'idah: the heart engrossed or inflamed in emotion: happiness, sadness, lust, frustration, anger or regret. [fn2] F. ex. in (28-10) (16 times) and:

- lubb, albāb: the innermost place where the light of tawhīd resides[fn3], always used together with “the folk of” albāb: the people of understanding, or intellect (16 times):

{ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُو الْأَلبَابِ }
{and none receives admonition* save men of understanding.} (2-269)
*Tafsīr: none takes the lessons conveyed by the Divine Book to heart, except for the people of of understanding and intellect.[fn4]

About “the mercy which Allah has put in the hearts of His slaves”: the merciful slaves to others;
“wa innamā yarHamu-LLahu min ʿibādihi-rruHamā” A sound hadith

2.2 The Human Condition

The human condition is one of utter dependance on the All-Mighty, it means that man (or woman) can do nothing if His Lord and Master, Allah All Mighty does not wish so, or does not let it be. HE is the Guide (Al-Hadi) and Al-Qayyum (The Self-Subsisting Sustainer) of the universe. He guides the heart of man, ever turning it:

{ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ }
{ Know that Allah intervenes between man and his heart } 8-24

This means: HE is nearer to him than man is to his inmost self. [fn5] So that man can be faithful or a disbeliever only by God's decree. [fn6]

This is why men (and women) of insight & understanding were always distrustful of their own souls and opposed it in all states and dragged it toward what it hates. How could one agree to the demands of the soul (nafs), when even the Prophets (peace upon them) knew this state of affairs, of their souls not being free.

On the other hand, hearts can be vast and generous: (story)
“ʿAli held my hand once, and he walked with me in the direction of the cemetery. When we reached the open desert, he soughed a deep breath before he said to me,
“'O Kamīl son of Ziyād, hearts are like vessels, the best are exceptionally conscious and vast. Learn from what I am going to tell you. There are three types of people ...” [fn7]

”As for the breast of the disbeliever (kāfir) and the hypocrite (munāfiq), it is filled with the darkness of unbelief (kufr), association [of others with God] (shirk), and doubt (shakk), and has expanded to them, so that no place remains in it for the light of Islam…” [3EST p.17] Allah says:

{But those whose breasts expand to unbelief, on them is the wrath from God.} Sura 16, 106

Therefore, ”there is nothing more wicked, more putrid, or more impure than the heart of one whom God has forsaken, and whose care He has not assumed, but has entrusted to Satan…
The root of all sins is hardness of heart (qasāwat al-qalb) The wise man. (Luqman al-Ḥakīm ?) said: ’The heart, should it harden, is not concerned if it does harm.’” [3EST p.25]
May Allah protect us from this situation!
May Allah guide us towards the heart filled with light!

2.3 The Aim And The Goal

When man has a 'presentiment of his higher states', and being 'haunted by the thought of God' [WSUF52], he will seek to repair his situation:
First step then is tawbah - repentance, together with avoidance of sins and disobedience.[2.4.2]
→ Tawbah “is to confess to Allah   one's sins and to regret committing them. It is the firm resolve to discharge all the rights of others and other duties that are obligatory, but which have not been rendered.” [PTP80]. An additional definition of tawbah:

Then eventually it is the turning of one's heart (in spiritual concentration - tawajjuh) to Allah Most High to reach the (nearness or knowledge of) Al-Haqq (The All-Truthful - Ultimate Reality) and the Ar-Rahmān (The All-Merciful) with a heart disposed and at peace with HIM, purified and sound. Allah says in the Holy Quran:

{ The day on which property will not avail, nor sons; except him who comes to Allah with a sound heart.} (26-88/9)

Al-Ghazali on purifying the hearts.

There is this longing for (greater) nearness to God is what the learned, pious predecessors in Islam called “a great thing of God” (amrun ʿazīm) which never ends.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ   also used to say:
“Truly, Allah does not look at your outward forms and wealth, but rather at your hearts and your works.”
Outward forms (and standard of living) are not alone important, but the care-taking, repair (taubah) and inspiring (Quran…) of our hearts are all-important, because without a sound heart, our worship (ʿibādah) is compromised, even endangered.

Conscious i.e. God-consciousness: “After the devotee develops a 'conscious heart', he finds in himself the strength to be patient while tribulations are inflicted upon him. He is resigned to the Will of God, abstains from lust of the self, and is ready to receive the cuffs of God on his cheeks.” [CDS70]

“Resignation to the Will of God is the cure of the disease of the heart.” Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib

2.4. The Medicine And Treatment For The Heart

“The Prophets (a.s.) are (among other functions which they have) the doctors of (the diseases of) the hearts. The use of (our) rationality is, to understand this fact.” [MD57] Prophet Muhammad ﷺ  is the best (documented in the remedies) of all of them.

It is said that a certain man complained to the Prophet ﷺ , about the hardness of his heart, when he ﷺ  replied, “stroke the head of an orphan, and give him something to eat.” The same complaint was once made to Abu Daw'ud, who said, “Visit the sick, go to funerals, and visit tombs.”

Undoubtedly, hearts get rusted like metal gets rusted when water goes over it. So the people asked, “How can they [hearts] be cleaned?” The Prophet replied, ﷺ  “To remember death in abundance and to recite the Holy Quran.”

These are just a few examples for the treatment of hearts out of a wealth of prophetic remedies and advice. The following is a fundamental one.

First of all it is absolutely necessary to despise and avoid all sins and to follow the LAW. Sins are committed and God is forgotten through Satanic inspiration (waswas), by following the nafs (ego), the passions and because of the love of this worldly life (dunyā).

Instead it is far better for the servant (devotee: ʿabd) to love Allah and His Messenger ﷺ and tread the straight path (sirāt), while being on his guard (warāʿ). Allah   created the qalb as pure, but every sin, minor or greater, will create a spot or rust on it, until when more and more “rust” settles on this spiritual and physical organ, it will become impure and dim, unable to perceive the divine light. NB: One heart
As a matter of fact “most men are veiled by innumerable levels of (rubbish) and darkness, so that in practice their consciousness or heart is their animal spirit or ego.” [fn9]

Advice by Sh Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi: “Occupy yourself with following that which God has commanded you: practicing obedience to Him, examining (murāqaba) the thoughts that occur to your heart, shame (hayā) before God, halting before His bounds, being alone (infirād) with Him, and preferring His side over yourself, until the Real is all your faculties, and you are { upon insight } (12-108) in your affair.

This does not mean going to extremes. But “your heart will not become clear of the mad ravings of the world except by distance from (people and their society.)”

Sahl Al-Tustari said: “Allah does not open the heart of a servant if it still contains three things: loving to remain [in the world], love of wealth, and concern about tomorrow.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran:

{ وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ }
{ And as for him who fears to stand in the presence of his Lord and forbids the soul from low desires,} (79-40,41)

And the Prophet ﷺ  said: “What I fear most for my community, is that they follow their desires and have long hopes. To follow desires diverts from the truth, and to entertain long hopes lets you forget the Afterlife.” Jābir b Abdallah

For the Divine Love of Allah and His Prophet ﷺ.

This discipline of the nafs requires its own article. Suffice to say that the religion of Islam is (among other things) the vehicle for the nafs to take on a higher discipline, i.e. not pig-like, but angelic.

→ Nothing is more pleasant to God, the Most High, than the servant approaching Him with normal acts of worship, first of all with the obligatory acts (farīdah), for which he is rewarded, if they performed out of obedience to Him. Then extra acts - according to the words of Most- High :

“My servant draws near to Me through nothing I love more than that which I have made obligatory for him. My servant never ceases drawing near to Me through supererogatory works until I love him. Then, when I love him, I am his hearing through which he hears, his sight through which he sees, his hand through which he grasps, and his foot through which he walks.” (Famous Hadith Qudsi)

Imam Ali said: “Enlighten the heart with prayers.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran:

{ أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ }
{ For without doubt in the remembrance (i.e. in the invocation & recitation of the name) of Allah do hearts find comfort.} (13-28)

It is following of what is better and best:
- in doctrines to follow the Salaf ;
- in rulings fiqh;
- in meritorious deeds (al-fada'il) the scholars of hadith; and
- in high manners (al-ādāb) all that is conducive to the wholeness of hearts.

“Companionship (suhbah) is nessary for the beginner in order to take good example from those who preceeded him in the Way, and to encourage him to pass through it, feeling that there is someone who shares with him his aspirations and interests.” [ZS173]

Sufyan al-Thawri   said: “I found the redress of my heart between Makka and Madina ...”

More on dhikr:

And - not the least - keeping company with the Prophet ﷺ  himself, who used to pray:
“O Transformer of hearts!
Make firm our hearts in Your Religion.”

We as Muslims always pray:
May Allah's peace and blessings be upon Sayyiduna Muhammad,his family and his companions.
O Transformer of hearts!
Make our hearts firm in Your Religion!

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“Among the blessings of prayers: healing of the heart, mind, and body; taming the dragons that nest in the breast; purification; concentration; discipline; connection with our Lord and the Highest Assembly, the angels; obedience of our Prophet   ”

Sahl ibn ʿAbdallāh  said, “The life of the heart is in the knowledge of God alone ( not of another).” Abu ʿUthmān al-Hīrī and Abu Turāb al-Nakhshabī said, “One who is ignorant of God's decrees (ahkām) cannot be one knowledgeable of God.”

“The lack of respect for learning today in the Muslim world is surely a sign (and cause) of Allah's anger with us. I ask Him to rekindle in our hearts the love of learning and respect for those who pursue it.” Sh. Gibril F Haddad
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi said: “hadith learning is not by mere instruction for it is none other than a type of knowledge Allah Most High   creates in the heart.”