'Let it be known that Allah's people always do good deeds' (qasida 62:11)

This is the motto of this section, which is for talking about the the people of Allah who are the people who are constantly preoccupied with Allah

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Rusting of Hearts

Heart is the only organ of the body that Allah Allmighty looks at, because when the heart becomes virtuous, one becomes virtuous, but if the heart becomes corrupted, man becomes immoral. This is in accordance with the two Hadith narrations of the Prophet [PPBUH] that were mentioned in the previous issue.

It is our duty to find out how to make our hearts virtuous in order for all of our bodies to be virtuous. We also have to look for the things that cause corruption to our hearts in order to avoid it and its harm.

Our way, to find out the things that cause corruption, is to look in the Hadith of the Prophet [PPBUH]. We will find so many Hadith dealing with this issue in all great books of Hadith: Sahihs and Musnads. We start with the Hadith narrated by an-Nisa'i, Ibn Habban, and at-Turmuzy, that the Prophet [PPBUH] said: (When a slave makes a sin, it leaves black stain in his heart, but if he stops, asks for forgiveness, and repents, his heart will be polished. But if he commits more sins, the black stain will be increased in size until it covers the whole heart). That is what is called Ran [rust], which Allah mentioned in Qur'an [No indeed! Rather there has Ran (engulfed) their hearts, covering them like rust that which they earned] al-Mutaffifin 83:14. So the Prophet [PPBUH] has made it clear that the corruption of the hearts comes from the Ran [rust] that comes over them, and that this Ran comes by committing many sins. So sins are the key element in heart corruption.

Nowdays, we find many hypocrites who speak in the name of religion without knowledge or guidance. They explain the sins according to their own whims and egos. So what comes to their own liking is not a sin, and what is in contrast is considered one. So those people don’t find themselves mistaken, not even one mistake, even when we tell them about the narration of Ibn Magah, ad-Darmy, and Abu-Ya'ly that the Prophet Mohammad [PPBUH] said: (Every son of Adam [human] is a sinner and the best of sinners are the repenters). This Hadith is often heard in every Friday prayers, especially before Imam sits between the two sermons, just before telling the prayers to ask Allah. Nevertheless, They still look at their own sins as the very small mistakes that does not count. They ruled for themselves with mercy and for others with torture. In this, they are forgetting, or pretending to forget, what was also narrated by Ibn Magah, Imam Ahmed, at-Turmuzy, and al-Bazzar, that Prophet Mohammad [PPBUH] said: (The intelligent one is he who always blames himself and works for the hereafter. And the helpless one is he who follows his whims and makes mere hopes for Allah). So the rule is that everyone will think of himself as a sinner and away from the right doing. This way he can succeed and avoid following his own whim that makes him always see himself on the right track. Being unable to see one's mistakes makes him miss on the fixation and improvement of his conduct. If we add this to the Hadith of the sins and the black stains of the heart and also the verse of [No indeed! Rather there has Ran (engulfed) their hearts, covering them like rust that which they earned] al-Mutaffifin 83:14, we would find in the speech of Mawlana sheikh Mohammad this year, specifically in his annual speech for the Hawliya of the two Imams, what clears more about the small sins. He said that there are sins that we consider as small mistakes while it is great [You are supposing it to be a light matter [sinless], while with Allah it was grave] an-Nur 24:15, that is sins against others, transgressions. Someone might think that the word 'others' means only humans, but Mawlana explained that this word is extended to include even animals. Then he referred to the narration of al-Bokhary and Muslim that Prophet Mohammad [PPBUH] said: (A woman entered Hell because of a cat which she locked up and neither did she fed it nor did she let it go to eat from vermin of earth).

Since sins are measured with this great accuracy and it is very serious, then we had to find a way in order to get red of the black stains so that it will not cover the whole heart, and how to uncover the heart once again in case it was fully stained. We can find the answer in the previously mentioned narration: (but if he stops, asks for forgiveness, and repents, his heart will be polished), so asking forgiveness is one of the main factors in polishing the sins and the rust off the heart. A simple words, light on the tongue, one says “I ask forgiveness from Allah Almighty, He is the All-Repenter, the All-Merciful”. But what is the effect of these words? polishing the heart. Out of the mercy and kindness of Allah Almighty, is that these words do not only have a great effect on cleansing the heart, but also have other great features. Some of it is what was narrated by Abu-Dawud, Ibn Magah, and al-Bayhaqi, that the Prophet [PPBUH] said: (He whoever stick to asking for forgiveness, Allah may give him a way out of any difficulty, a relief from any worry, and a sustenance from where does not expect).

Imam Daylamy narrated from Ibn al-Abbas he said “No sin is big if one is asking for forgiveness, and no sin is small if one is persistent”. So thank Allah for the gift of asking for forgiveness.

But it is not only asking for forgiveness we are looking for, since Imam Ali [AHHF] likened hearts to pots when he said “Surely hearts are pots” and if we look at the nature of the pot we will find that it is made so that something will be put into it. So what is to be placed in the heart? What and How is the way to put it? We will discuss it latter.

to be continued ...

Edited by Isam

Translated by Shayma

Whoever wants to get more about this, can browse the pages of Sufism in the official site of tariqa Burhaniya.

The Editors Team