Welcome to the University of Sufism's Ramadan reading of Rosina Fawzia al-Rawi's book,
The Call of Allah,
A companion to the holy month of Ramadan.
Today I will be sharing day 16 about heart,
Also known as Qalb.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim O our sustainer,
Let not our hearts swerve from the truth after thou hast guided us,
And bestow upon us the gift of thy grace.
Verily thou art the true giver of gifts.
Al-Wahhab Quran 3,
8.
The Messenger of Allah,
Peace be upon him,
Said,
Allah the Almighty said,
O son of Adam,
So long as you call upon me and ask of me,
I shall forgive you for what you have done,
And I shall not mind.
O son of Adam,
Were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky,
And were you then to ask forgiveness of me,
I would forgive you.
O son of Adam,
Were you to come to me with sins nearly as great as the earth,
And were you then to face me,
Ascribing no partner to me,
I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.
The Arabic word for heart is Qalb,
And it comes from the root Q-L-B,
Which also means to turn this way and that,
To change direction,
And to turn back.
Our beloved Prophet,
Peace be upon him,
Explained to us,
Pay attention to a piece of flesh in your body.
If it is pure,
The whole body is pure.
But if it is spoiled,
The whole body is spoiled.
That piece of flesh is the heart.
When our soul manifested in our body,
Our ego,
Nafs,
Came to be.
It was separated from the soul and connected with the free will.
Between body and soul,
Allah placed an organ,
One side of which is connected with the soul,
And the other with the body,
Our heart.
Thus,
The heart turns this way and that between the subtle wishes of the soul and the mundane wishes of the body,
Which is influenced by the ego.
The Qur'an shows us both sides.
He it is who has created you out of clay,
Qur'an 6,
2.
And Allah says,
Breathed into him of my spirit,
Qur'an 15,
29.
The heart is attracted by both sides,
Yet it has never forgotten its true love,
The love of Allah.
We all know this longing which gnaws at our heart and is all too often considered a psychological problem,
Resulting either from an unhappy marriage or from a mother or father complex.
Yet the longing in the heart has invariably the same cause.
The heart longs to go back to its world with the infinite.
When the heart says,
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim,
It is crying out,
Through your name everything comes into being and exists.
You enfold all our imperfect deeds in your grace and your mercy,
And you put us into your love.
It is out of his goodness that our existence comes,
Together with all the conditions and prerequisites which make it possible.
Do not forget all the gifts you have been given or ascribe them to yourself,
For neither did you create the tree nor the water.
When the heart says,
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen,
All praise belongs to the Lord of the worlds,
It is crying out,
O Allah,
Teach me to praise you.
Just like the Prophet Abraham,
Peace be upon him,
Asked Allah,
O my sustainer,
Cause me to remain constant in prayer,
Quran 14 40,
Because he knew that everything will and can only happen through his will.
And always does he give you something out of what you may be asking of him,
And should you try to count God's blessings,
You could never compute them,
Quran 14 34.
In his unfathomable wisdom and love,
Allah fulfills every wish,
Provided that it is truly useful for that human being.
Praise,
Hamd,
Is deeper than thankfulness,
Shukr.
Praise is to be content with everything that comes,
Because everything comes from him.
It means,
O Allah,
I am happy with everything you give me,
That we human beings reach the state of acceptance is in itself a gift from him.
We can only learn step by step,
One heartbeat after the other,
To put ourselves unconditionally into God's hands.
Have they then never journeyed about the earth,
Letting their hearts gain wisdom and causing their ears to hear?
Yet verily,
It is not their eyes that have become blind,
But blind have become the hearts that are in their breasts,
Quran 22 46.
For it is through remembering Allah that we forget ourselves.
The root of the Arabic word for human being,
Insan,
Has two essential meanings.
The one who has forgotten,
Nisyan,
But also intimate closeness to Allah and familiarity with him,
Uns.
Thus do we carry both forgetfulness and the primordial essence of closeness to Allah.
Forgetfulness dwells in our brain,
An organ constantly flooded with mundane matters,
While our heart,
Which is deeply united with our true being,
Is the organ of the remembrance of Allah.
Allah tells us,
Verily,
In the remembrance of God,
Men's hearts do find their rest,
Quran 13 28.
Especially during Ramadan,
When the fast weakens our ego,
Nafs,
And we spend our time in remembrance,
Zikr,
We strengthen our willpower.
We fortify that part in us which carries longing and love.
We firm up our steps on the path of faith and become more conscious of Allah's loving guidance.
By weakening the ego's physical strength,
The outer fast paves the way for the inner fast,
Which rests upon the heart.
The deeper we can feel Allah's love and guidance,
The stronger our heart is guided.
When the light of our heart spreads to our mind,
Then we can begin to surrender and trust.
The great transformation starts through the zikr of the heart,
The remembrance of Allah.
One by one,
The veils fall off.
The greed,
The arrogance,
The envy,
The jealousy,
The fear of not having enough or not doing enough,
The self-hatred,
And the fear of death.
The messenger of Allah,
Peace be upon him,
Said,
He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter paradise.
One of the listeners asked,
Verily is it pride when a person loves their dress and their shoes to be fine?
He,
Alayhi wasalam,
Answered,
Verily Allah is merciful and loves mercy.
Pride means to conceal the truth out of complacency and out of contempt for the people.
Think of death and live consciously.
Live in love and do your work.
Master your words and let each of them come from your heart.
Take only Allah in your heart and you are whole.
The medicine which heals the needy,
Offended,
And wounded parts in us is our zikr,
Our reciting the names of Allah.
The messenger of Allah,
Peace be upon him,
Says,
Cleanliness is half of faith,
Iman.
Alhamdulillah,
Praise be to Allah,
Fills the scales.
While subhanallah and alhamdulillah,
Limitless in his glory is Allah and all praise and gratefulness belong to him.
Fill that which is between heavens and earth.
Allah asks us time and time again to use his Quran to remove the powers of separation in and around us.
When you read the Quran,
Take the time to understand its message.
Take your time so that you may color your attitude,
Your words,
And your deeds with Allah's message.
Allah calls upon us to believe in him and to be his loving servants on earth.
Then we follow the path of our beloved prophet Muhammad,
Salallahu alayhi wasalam,
In awe of all the prophets before him.
Peace be upon them all.
Being careful when dealing with other people's hearts is an essential part of good manners.
Whenever we speak,
We should keep that in mind,
And the best way to practice is not to focus on the other person's mind,
But on their heart.
Indeed,
Every cruelty falls back on our heart.
Nay,
But their hearts are corroded by all the evil that they were wont to do.
Quran 83 14.
As our heart connection with Allah develops,
Compassion and generosity grow in us,
And our patience and perseverance become stronger.
The great Islamic scholar al-Ghazali 1055-1111 explains that besides being the organ through which we know God,
The heart is also the organ of wisdom.
To show us Allah's kindness,
Love,
And forgiveness,
Allah mean,
Peace be upon him,
Said,
At night,
God stretches out his hand so that those who have done evil during the day may repent,
And in the daytime,
He stretches out his hand so that those who have done evil during the night may repent until the time comes when the sun will rise in the west.
Allah's grace and love for us human beings is eternal.
Allah gave us this special month because only he knows what is truly good for us.
For to fast is to do good unto yourselves,
If you but knew it.
Quran 2 184.
And that you extol God for his having guided you aright,
And that you render your thanks unto him.
Quran 2 185.
The one month fast is not meant to be difficult,
But to foster gratitude in the hearts of the believers.
For Allah has sent us human beings divine guidance through the Quran,
And he wants us to experience directly what it means to be hungry and thirsty,
So that we may truly come to understand the needs of the poor.
The humility we experience when we realize how quickly we become weak when we do not partake of any food or water removes the illusion of invincibility in which the ego is caught.
The heart is a celestial messenger which constantly longs to go back to its origins.
The mind is a child of the world which ties us to this world.
If we follow the heart,
We find our way home,
Our way out of exile.
If we allow the mind to build up walls in front of our heart,
We become entangled in our worldly desires,
And we plunge into the darkness of forgetfulness.
And be not like those who are oblivious to God,
And whom he therefore causes to be oblivious of what is good for their own selves.
Quran 59 19.
Once we are able to recognize that all manifestations are a return to the one,
That every separation is a union,
That everything different is the same,
That every fullness is empty,
Then we can see Allah everywhere.
The message of love knows no end.
Indeed,
Love itself heals its own wounds.
The day on which neither wealth will be of any use,
Nor children,
And when only he will be happy who comes before God with a heart free of evil.
Quran 26 88 to 89.
May Allah in his endless love and grace always hold our hearts.
Practice suggested for today.
Out of the deep intimacy of your heart,
Repeat Praise be Allah,
And all praise is due to him.
Praised be Allah,
The Magnificent.
Thank you for listening,
And may you feel the deep holding of your heart by Allah.
