“The day whereon
neither money nor children will avail, except him who comes to God with a sound
heart.” (Ash-Shu’ara, 26: 89-90).
On
Judgement Day, only a sound (pure) heart (Qalbun
Saliim) shall benefit man. By a sound heart, it means a heart that holds
the faith taught by God and His prophets (as) and which is free of any form of
polytheism (Shirk). It is also, like
I am telling you “a heart that is pure
from all kinds of dirt, including disobedience.”
The
heart is continually exposed to the seductions of this world. When the heart is
imbued with the fear of God, it manages to resist these temptations. But in the
absence of that awe, the heart will be corrupted and will push the individual
to disobey his Creator.
The
Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Temptations will be presented to men's hearts as reed
mat is woven stick by stick and any heart which is impregnated by them will
have a black mark put into it, but any heart which rejects them will have a
white mark put in it. The result is that there will become two types of hearts:
one white like a white stone which will not be harmed by any turmoil or
temptation, so long as the heavens and the earth endure; and the other black
and dust-coloured like a vessel which is upset (turned upside down), not recognizing
what is good or rejecting what is abominable, but being impregnated with
passion.” (Muslim).
Man
must throughout his life wage a merciless battle against the seductions and
temptations of this world. To achieve this, he must strengthen himself through
acts of worship.
Satan
seeks at all times to inject his poison into the heart of man to mislead and
destroy him. He settles in the heart of a person when the latter’s mind is
devoid of the remembrance of God (Zikrullah)
and seeks to dominate him by his “waswasas”
(whisperings). As soon as the person remembers Allah he (Satan) withdraws in
disgrace.
But
we must not also lose sight of the fact that the heart is subject to two kinds
of inspirations. On one hand, there is, as I mentioned earlier, the thoughts which
come from the devil provoking disobedience of God and the satisfaction of illicit
desires. On the other hand, there is an angel assigned by God to every human
being who inspires man to do good works.
The
Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Two
inspirations (or whisperings) arise in the heart, the first one coming from the
angel who inspires goodness and the willingness to believe in the truth. Let he
who feels it, know that it comes from Allah, let him praise Him (Allah). And a
second one (comes) from the enemy (the devil) arousing evil and the will to
deny the truth and to divert (man) from goodness. Let him who feels it seeks refuge
from Allah against the accursed Satan.” (Tirmidhi).
Before
ending my sermon, I will quote a few verses from the Holy Quran and some Hadiths
on the subject:
QURAN:
“Then woe
to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allah! Those are
in manifest error.”
(Az-Zumar, 39: 23).
“Have you
seen him who takes his own vain desire for his god? And Allah has sent him
astray due to knowledge and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and
put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him after Allah? Then will you
not heed?” (Al-Jathiyah,45: 24).
Those who have believed and whose hearts
are assured by the remembrance of Allah. (Ar-Rad 13: 29).
HADITH:
“Had the devils not veiled (by
temptations that seduce) the hearts of the sons (children) of Adam, they would have
seen the kingdom of heaven.” (Ahmad).
“There lies within the body a piece
of flesh. If it is sound, the whole body is sound; and if it is corrupted, the
whole body is corrupted. Verily this piece is the heart.” (Bukhari).
May
Allah protect our hearts against all physical and spiritual illnesses. Remember
that the spiritual death of the heart is much more serious than any other
disease. So let us do our best to polish our heart through prayer and preserve it
against spoilage. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
---Friday Sermon of 07 October 2016 ~(05 Muharram 1438 Hijri) delivered by Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.