Eagle asked,"What is the right of the heart?" Magpie said, "The right of
the heart is to know the truth. So, the Ultimate Truth is Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. The heart was only created for the remembrance of
Allah. Allah is the Lord, Author, Creator, and Beginner of every
fleeting thought which occurs in the brain or crosses the mind. Whatever
knowledge the heart comprehends, is among the clear signs of Allah, in
His earth and His sky. Human discoveries are actually revelations from
Allah. Whatever true knowledge humans learn, is what Allah has shown
them and permitted them to learn. False knowledge, is from Satan.
However, without Allah’s permission, even that cannot be learned."
Eagle asked, "Which type of remembrance is a true nourishment for the heart?" Magpie said, "People often think of dhikr (remembrance of Allah) in the very narrow sense: 'repeating certain prescribed statements of remembrance.' However, dhikr is in fact the heart’s remembrance and consciousness of Allah which should accompany every believer’s actions and statements. Sa‘eed ibn Jubayr said, “Dhikr is obedience to Allah. Whoever obeys Allah, has in fact remembered Him. Whoever does not obey Him is not one who remembers Him, even if he says tasbeeh, and recites the Book a lot.” Ibn Taymiyyah stated, "Every statement made by the tongue and conceived by the heart, which takes one closer to Allah, including learning knowledge, teaching it, commanding good and forbidding evil, is a form of dhikr of Allah.”
This mindfulness of Allah is the nourishment of the heart, while the formal form of dhikr - wherein a person remembers Allah with specific words at specific times, as defined by the sunnah - aids and develops the true remembrance of the heart. Furthermore, since dhikr is the heart’s nourishment, a heart which lacks it is a dead heart. Hence, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The similitude of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not remember his Lord, is like the similitude of death and life.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
A Syrian sage of the past said, "Remembrance of Allah in relationship to the heart is like nourishment relative to the body. Thus, as the body cannot find pleasure in food when it is sick, likewise the heart cannot find the sweetness of remembrance of Allah when it is in love the material world," or something to that effect.
When one is attached to this world, its pleasures and pursuits, this attachment occupies a great portion of the heart, which was created to be attached to Allah. Hence, it distracts the person from the higher goals of attaining closeness to Allah, righteousness, and Paradise. This is why Allah warns us, saying,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُلْهِكُمْ أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُكُمْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ
“O you who have believed, let not your wealth and your children divert you from remembrance of Allah . And whoever does that - then those are the losers.” [QS Al-Munaafiqoon(63):9]
Allah also said,
أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ
حَتَّى زُرْتُمُ الْمَقَابِرَ
“Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you; Until you visit the graveyards.” [QS. at-Takaathur(102):1-2]
Though Muslims are certain of the fact that the world will perish, most of them have not internalised this reality and its implications in their hearts. They are instead preoccupied with their wordly desires and goals, not realizing the insignificance of this world. The Prophet (ﷺ) once passed by a dead goat which had either very small ears or mutilated ears. The Prophet (ﷺ) took it and asked his companions, “Which of you would like to have this for one dirham?” They said, “We don’t want it. What would we use it for?” He said, “Would you like to have it for free?” They replied, “By Allah, even if it were alive, we would find it defective, since it has small ears. What do you think now that it’s dead?” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) then told them, “By Allah, the world is more insignificant to Allah than this dead goat, is to you” [Reported by Muslim). Realizing this, would help us implement the Prophet’s (ﷺ) statement, “Be in this world like a traveller or a wayfarer.”
Furthermore, regardless of one’s efforts seeking the pleasures of this world, these efforts do not ensure that they will attain what they seek. As a matter of fact, the one who detaches himself from the pleasures of this life, will be rewarded with the dunyaa, as well as inner contentment and ease in his affairs. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Whoever makes this world his main goal, then Allah will scatter his affairs for him, He will place poverty before his very eyes, and nothing will come to him of this world except that which was already written for him. But whoever makes the Hereafter his goal, then Allah will gather his affairs for him, He will place richness in his heart,and the world will come to him conquered and submissive.”If the heart is busy with the remembrance of Allah, aware of the truth, and reflecting on knowledge, it is in its correct location, just as the eye when used to look at things is in its correct location. By “correct location” means that it is being utilized as it was meant to be utilized. That is, that it is not being misused. On the other hand, if it is not used for knowledge and it is unaware of the truth, it forgets its Lord and is not in its location. Rather, it is lost. Certainly its correct location is the truth and everything besides the truth is false. When the truth is abandoned, all that remains isfalsehood and misguidance. Therefore, if it is not located in the truth, there is nothing left for it but falsehood.
The heart itself does not accept anything but the truth. So if what is contrary to the truth, is put in it, the heart will not accept what it was not created for it. That is the way sunnah of Allah and you will never find change in Allah's sunnah. In spite of that, the heart is never left on its own unattended, for it will always remain in the valleys of thoughts and the realms of aspirations. It will never be in the state of emptiness and abandonment like that of the eyes and ears. It may be put in the wrong location, neither set free or suspended, where it in fact has no location.
It is amazing that this state only becomes manifest to a person when he returns to the truth, either in this life when he repents or when he ends up in the next life. He will see the vileness of the state in which he was and just how far his heart was astray from the truth, if it was used in falsehood. On the other hand, if the heart is left in the state in which it was created, void of any reflection and empty of any thought, it would accept knowledge, free from ignorance, and see the clear truth, then believe in its Lord and turn to Him in repentance.
Every child is born in the natural state of belief. This is Allah's Sunnah in which He created people. There will be no change in Allah's creation. That is the correct religion. However, in most situations, the soul becomes occupied with the temptations of this world and its bodily needs, so its desires block the heart from the truth. Ibn al-Qayyim explains that desires lead to one’s wants and goals being distorted or ruined. His goals and wants become things which are not beneficial. This causes a person to overindulge in this wordly life because he lacks certainty concerning the realities of the Hereafter. A dangerous thing about desires is that it can affect a person after he has gained knowledge, a state usually more difficult to cure than ignorance. Furthermore, desires are of so many varieties, that a person must strive to control all of them. There are sexual lusts, desire for power or prestige, desire to be praised or admired due to beauty, wealth, status, and even piety or knowledge, etc. A person can become enslaved to his desires, such that he sees the truth according to them. Al-Qurtubee quoted Ibn Mas‘ood as saying, “You are living in a time in which desires are controlled by the truth. However, there will come a time in which the truth will be moulded by desires. We seek refuge with Allah from that time.” In his essay of worship, Ibn Taymiyyah also stated, regarding one enslaved to his desires, “ If one attains what he desires, he is pleased and if he is unable to attain it, he becomes discontented. Such a person is a slave (abd) to the things he desires. He is a slave of it, since true slavery and servitude are the enslavement and servitude of the heart.”
In this state it, is like an eye staring at the ground. In that state, it is impossible for it to see the crescent moon, or even to glance towards it. This statement is taken from the following Qur’anic parable,
اَفَمَنۡ یَّمۡشِیۡ مُکِبًّا عَلٰی وَجۡہِہٖۤ اَہۡدٰۤی اَمَّنۡ یَّمۡشِیۡ سَوِیًّا عَلٰی صِرَاطٍ مُّسۡتَقِیۡمٍ
“Then is one who walks fallen on his face better guided or one who walks erect on a straight path?” [QS Al-Mulk (67): 22]
Or he could be inclined towards the truth, but desires and material needs block the heart from following the truth and it becomes like an eye that has a floating impurity in it which prevents it from seeing things. Whims and desires can intervene before the heart learns the truth and block it from reflection on it. Thus, the truth will not become clear, as was said, ''Your love of something, blinds and deafens." A person in love is often unable to see the faults of the one whom he or she loves. The principle of blinding love applies to anything human beings become infatuated with or addicted to.
So, the heart will remain in dark thoughts. This is often due to pride that prevents it from seeking the truth. Allah says,
اِلٰـہُکُمۡ اِلٰہٌ وَّاحِدٌ ۚ فَالَّذِیۡنَ لَا یُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِالۡاٰخِرَۃِ قُلُوۡبُہُمۡ مُّنۡکِرَۃٌ وَّ ہُمۡ مُّسۡتَکۡبِرُوۡنَ
"Your god is one God. But those who do not believe in the Hereafter - their hearts are disapproving, and they are arrogant." [QS. An-Nahl (16):22]
Whims and desires could also oppose the heart after it became acquainted with the truth causing it to deny the truth and turn away from it, as Allah said regarding them,
سَأَصْرِفُ عَنْ آيَاتِيَ الَّذِينَ يَتَكَبَّرُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَإِنْ يَرَوْا كُلَّ آيَةٍ لَا يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَا وَإِنْ يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الرُّشْدِ لَا يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلًا وَإِنْ يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الْغَيِّ يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلًا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَكَانُوا عَنْهَا غَافِلِينَ
"I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth without right; and if they should see every sign, they will not believe in it. And if they see the way of consciousness, they will not adopt it as a way; but if they see the way of error, they will adopt it as a way. That is because they have denied Our signs and they were heedless of them." [QS Al-A'raaf (7):146]
A classic example of this principle from the era of the Prophet (ﷺ) is that of Umayyah ibn Abis-Salt, about whom the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Umayyah ibn Abis Salt almost accepted Islam.” [Sahih Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Umayyah was from the Thaqeef tribe of Taif, and was among those who searched for the true religion and read the Scriptures. It is said that he was among those who converted to Christianity. He frequently mentioned Tawheed and the Day of Resurrection in his poems. From his research in the Scriptures, he informed Aboo Sufyaan that the time for a prophet to appear among the Arabs had come and he hoped that it would be himself. However, his research showed that the prophet would be from the descendents of ‘Abd Manaaf. Soon afterwards, Muhammad (ﷺ) appeared, and Umayyah informed Aboo Sufyaan that it was him. When Aboo Sufyaan asked, “ Shouldn’t we follow him?” He replied, “I feel shy before the young women of Thaqeef, because I used to tell them that I was going to be the one. Could I then become a follower of a boy from ‘Abd Manaaf?”
At-Tabaraanee Ibn Mandah narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that al-Faari‘ah bint Abis-Salt, the sister of Umayyah later came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and recited some of Umayyah’s poetry and he said, “ Hi's poetry believed, but his heart disbelieved.”
Shareed said, "One day when I rode behind Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) on the same animal, he asked me, “Do you remember any of Umayyah ibn Abis-Salt’s poetry?” I replied, "Yes." He said, “ Go on then.” So I recited a couplet and he said, “ Carry on.” So I recited another couplet and he said, “Some more,” until I recited one hundred couplets. He commented, “He was almost a Muslim in his poetry ” [Sahih Muslim]
He lived until the Battle of Badr and composed poetry for those of the pagans who died during it. Umayyah died after that, a pagan till the end, in the 9th year AH. Abul-Faraj al-Asfahaanee reported his last words on his deathbed were, “ I know that the hanafiyyah is correct. But doubt preoccupied me concerning Muhammad (ﷺ).”
