أبعد الناس من الله القلب القاسي
The farthest from Allah are those whose hearts are hard. [Tirmidhi]
The purpose of the month of Ramadhan is to attain taqwa. The essence of taqwa is to fear Allah, become obedient and not disobey Allah. Alhamdulillah, we have experienced several Ramadhan’s, but the question is; have we used the month to change and become a better Muslim? Often, we become righteous and good during the month of Ramadhan but then back to our old habits the following month. The main reason behind this is because we don’t have a spiritual heart. We have a physical heart but not a spiritual heart. Until we don’t have a spiritual heart, nothing of goodness will stay.
How the heart is, is how we will be. As stated in a hadith; Rasulullah s.a.w said;
أَلَا وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ أَلَا وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ
Verily, in the body is a piece of flesh which, if sound, the entire body is sound, and if corrupt, the entire body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart. [Bukhari]
Two types of hearts
Heart that is soft – It is like a soft land that absorbs. You can plough it, dig it and sow a seed inside it. Then, over time it will grow and produce fruits benefiting everyone. This is a heart that absorbs knowledge and advice, it causes oneself to change and become righteous.
Heart that is hard – It is like a hard land that does not absorb. You cannot plough it, dig it nor sow a seed. Therefore, it will produce nothing and will not benefit anyone. This is a heart that does not absorb goodness, it rejects it and makes no change for the aakirah. Such a heart is corrupt.
A heart that is soft, will absorb goodness, for such a heart one verse and one hadith is enough to make a change. This is what we want to become, where one reminder of the Quran makes an impact in our character, listening about death and the hereafter motivates us enough to make a change in our life. This is how the sahaba r.a were, they were gentle that the smallest of things would have an impact on them. They were people with very soft heart.
Signs of a hard heart
Malik ibn Dinar r.a reports; There are four signs of a wretched heart;
- قسوة القلب – Hard heart
- وجمود العين – Dryness of the eyes. Meaning one cannot shed tear when hearing about punishment, the afterlife and the torments of Jahannam. Quranic verses regarding warning have no impact.
- وطول الأمل – Long aspirations. A person has lifelong plan to study then work then earn, buy comfort in dunya, buy houses and settle comfortably. These are ambitions of the dunya.
- الحرص على الدنيا – Greed for the dunya.
Causes of the heart becoming hard
Everyone is born on fitrah (natural disposition). It is the effect and company of external factors that lead people towards bad. There are number of things that cause the heart to harden, however below are four main factors;
1) Love for dunya – The world is cursed as stated in hadith. It is full of deception and desires. The more we run after the world the more greed we have, less contentment and become far from Allah. The company we stay in has an impact on us. Similarly, being engrossed in the company of the dunya will have an impact and that is, it will lead to a hard heart.
2) Headless of the hereafter – This comes as a result of having excessive love for the dunya. Abdullah ibn Mubarak r.a quoted Wahab ibn Munabbih r.a who said; ‘The similitude of the dunya and akhirah is like a man who has two wives, if he pleases one then the other will be displeased’. If we go after the dunya, then we are headless of the hereafter and vice versa. So, either we work for the dunya or we work for the akirah.
3) Excessive sins – When a sin is committed, a black dot appears on the heart. The more sins a person does, the darker and harder the heart becomes. However, with istighfar the darkness of the heart is removed. Therefore, when a sin is committed, quickly turn to Allah seeking His forgiveness. When Rasulullah ﷺ was asked how to purify the heart, he ﷺ replied; Increase in remembrance of death and recitation of the Quran.
May Allah safeguard our hearts from becoming hard.
The above is an edited summary of Ramadhan bayan by Shaykh Muhammad Saleem Nawab delivered on 07/05/20.
