PURITY of HEART

An important note: Man has two kinds of heart. One of them is piece of flesh in his chest, which also we call ‘heart’. The other one is a force placed in that piece of flesh. Whenever we say, “heart,” we will mean the latter. Belief and unbelief, love and hostility all take place in this second heart. Man’s limbs are under the command of this heart. An owner of a pure heart will follow reason and will always do useful things. A person with an unhealthy and wicked heart will follow the nafs and will always do whatsoever is harmful. Acts of worship performed with ikhlâs, and performing namâz, particularly, will purify the heart. Allâhu ta’âlâ has prohibited things that are deleterious to the heart and make it unhealthy, (that is, He has made them harâm.) Sinning is deleterious to the heart. The illness incurred by sinning will be light or heavy, depending on the gravity of the sin committed. When the heart becomes ill, worship will feel difficult. Primary medicine for an illness of heart is tawba and istighfâr. Acceptability of a tawba made requires ceasing from sinning and doing acts of worship. Performing namâz is the most useful act of worship for the acceptability of tawba, which in turn is a medicine for a heart illness. It is very easy to perform namâz once daily. To perform namâz five times daily will feel difficult to people whose hearts are unhealthy. On the other hand, if namâz is performed frequently, love of Allah will blossom in the heart. In process of time love of Allah will fill the entire heart. Once love of Allah has settled in the heart, the greatest fortune has been attained. [Love of Allah will leave the hearts of people who are preoccupied with worldly activities and whose concern is how to obtain the transient blessings and pleasures of this world. The most effective medicine to heal a person of this illness is to repeat the Kalima-i-tawhîd. Therefore, Allâhu ta’âlâ, owing to His infinite Mercy, has commanded to perform namâz five times, and not only once, daily. This command of Allâhu ta’âlâ is intended not to cause trouble for men, but to heal them of their heart illness.]