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The
Purification of the Soul-Types of Heart
compiled from the works of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Ibn Al-Qayyim
al-Jawziyya,and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
TYPES
OF HEART
Just as the heart may be described in terms of being alive or dead, it may also
be regarded as belonging to one of three types; these are the healthy heart,
the dead heart, and the sick heart.
The
Healthy Heart
On the Day of Resurrection, only those who come to Allah with a healthy heart
will be saved. Allah says:
"The day on which neither wealth nor sons will be of any use, except for whoever brings to Allah a sound heart. (26:88-89)"
In defining the healthy heart, the following has been said: "It is a heart cleansed from any passion that challenges what Allah commands, or disputes what He forbids. It is free from any impulses which contradict His good. As a result, it is safeguarded against the worship of anything other than Him, and seeks the judgement of no other except that of His Messenger (saw). Its services are exclusively reserved for Allah, willingly and lovingly, with total reliance, relating all matters to Him, in fear, hope and sincere dedication. When it loves, its love is in the way of Allah. If it detests, it detests in the lght of what He detests. When it gives, it gives for Allah. If it witoholds, it withholds for Allah. Nevertheless, all this will not suffice for its salvation until it is free from following, or taking as its guide, anyone other than His Messenger (saw)."
A servant
with a healthy heart must dedicate it to its journey's end and not base his
actions and speech on those of any other person except Allah's Messenger (saw).
He must not give precedence to any other faith or words or deeds over those
of Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Allah says:
"Oh you who believe, do not put yourselves above Allah and His Messenger,
but fear Allah, for Allah is Hearing, Knowing. (49:1)"
The Dead Heart
This is the opposite of the healthy heart. It does not know its Lord and does
not worship Him as He commands, in the way which He likes, and with which He
is pleased. It clings instead to its lusts and desires, even if these are likely
to incur Allah's displeasure and wrath. It worships things other than Allah,
and its loves and its hatreds, and its giving and its withholding, arise from
its whims, which are of paramount importance to it and preferred above the pleasure
of Allah. Its whims are its imam. Its lust is its guide. Its ignorance is its
leader. Its crude impulses are its impetus. It is immersed in its concern with
worldly objectives. It is drunk with its own fancies and its love for hasty,
fleeting pleasures. It is called to Allah and the akhira from a distance but
it does not respond to advice, and instead it follows any scheming, cunning
shayton. Life angers and pleases it, and passion makes it deaf and blind (1)
to anything except what is evil.
To associate and keep company with the owner of such a heart is to tempt illness: living with him is like taking poison, and befriending him means utter destruction.
The Sick Heart
Thisi s a heart with life in it, as well as illness. The former sustains it
at one moment, the latter at another, and it follows whichever one of the two
manages to dominate it. It has love for Allah, faith in Him, sincerity towards
Him, and reliance upon Him, and these are what give it life. It also has a craving
for lust and pleasure, and prefers them and strives to experience them. It is
full of self-admiration, which can lead to its own destruction. It listens to
two callers: one calling it to Allah and His Prophet (saw) and the akhira; and
the other calling it to the fleeting pleasures of this world. It responds to
whichever one of the two happens to have most influence over it at the time.
The first heart is alive, submitted to Allah, humble, sensitive and aware; the second is brittle and dead; the third wavers between either its safety or its ruin.
Notes:
1. It has been related on the authority of Abu'd-Darda' that the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Your love for something
that makes you blind and deaf." Abu Daw'ud, al-Adab, 14/38; Ahmad, al-Musnad,
5/194. The hadith is classified as hasan.