How to acquire a sound heart
Dear questioner,
May Allah bless you and increase you in good.
I pray this finds you in the best of health.
I pray this finds you in the best of health.
Gaining a pure heart is something that requires work and effort as well as learning. However, it is one of the most important of matters in both abodes. Allah, Most High, says, “The Day when neither wealth nor children will help Except for him who comes to God with a sound heart.” ( Quran 26: 88-89)
Seek knowledge before everything
The scholars mention that the first obligation upon every Muslim is to know Allah. Knowing Allah means learning the science of Aqida or creed. Followed after that would be learning Tahara and Salah and so forth. Next, one should learn the rulings of interaction with others [mu’amalat]. For example, a person who is getting married needs to know the commands related to marriage. A person who is doing business needs to learn the rules as it relates to business. We could summarize it as follows;
(a) Learning Aqida
(b) Learning the rules [ fiqh] of worship
(c) Learning the rules of interaction [ mu’ammalat]
Comprehensive treatment of the heart
A recommended book on this subject would be ” Purification of the heart.” It has been translated into English by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. The cure to treating all the diseases of the heart are essentially in five things:
” Deny the self of its desires, enjoin hunger, keep worship vigilance in the night, silence and meditation in private; also keeping company with good people who possess sincerity, those who are emulated in their states and statements; and, finally, taking refuge in the One unto whom all affairs
return [ Allah Most High]”
Good company
Muhammad Mawlud also mentions elsewhere that the cure and diseases of the heart are in the same source-companionship. Make sure you choose good friends whom you keep company with because you are on the same level as them in the religion. The Prophet Muhammad ( peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A person is on the religion of his close friend, so let him carefully examine whom he befriends. ” [ Abu Dawud ]
It is a life-long blessed journey for us all to take on this tremendous path of acquiring a sound heart. If we are sincere and work hard, with Allah’s help, we will get there.
Allah knows best.
[Imam] Yama Niazi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
