Life of the heart

Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh who

are hamdulillah it's a pleasure to be here with all of you today in this

house of Allah, which is very very dear to me. It's my first time in this house of Allah in this masjid. And you know, these carpets are so familiar this member is so familiar these walls are so familiar Alhamdulillah because we have benefited so much from what goes on in this Masjid. May Allah subhanaw taala bless you all for being the inhabitants of this Masjid. I mean, almost paneled Tada right this is something very heavy in your skills along the I mean, our other Villa him in a shaytani R rajim Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah And Kareem rubbish Russia Saudi where silly Emery wash Lula rock data melissani of Tavakoli. Allahumma Nickleby was

sadly sadly was also him at the Kobe mania Rajpal Alameen.

So inshallah I'll be talking about the life of the heart.

In the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala tells us about the story of the mother of Masada, his sunnah.

And Allah subhanaw taala tells us that he he instructed her to nurse baby Musa, and then when she would be afraid for him that fit our own and his people are going to come and kill him, that she should put him in a box and put the box in the water and she should not be sad and that she should not be afraid. Two things Allah subhanaw taala told her to do and two things Allah subhanaw taala told her to not do.

And Allah subhanaw taala assured her that we are going to return him to you and we're going to make him of the prophets.

And she did exactly as she was told. But then Allah subhanaw taala tells us that what else but helpful add to me Musa ferula, that the heart of the mother of Musa became empty of all else, meaning she couldn't think of anything about anything other than the safety of her child. And there was nothing that occupied her child other than the worry and fear. And you know, for her child and the sadness that she felt on being separated from her child. If you think about it, she was doing the exact opposite. She was feeling the exact opposite of what she was told not to feel, isn't it? Because the heart is not in your control. The feelings that you have in your heart are not in your

control. But what you do with those feelings, how you act on them, and how you turn to Allah subhanaw taala for help, that certainly is in your control. So Allah subhanaw taala tells us that she would have disclosed everything you know about Musa alayhis salam that she's the one who had put them in the water, and that it was her child who was now in the house of her own, she would have disclosed everything. Lola, a robot Dona Ana Colombia, if we had not fastened her heart, if we had not bound her heart very firmly. So her fear was about to take over. Her sadness was about to take over. But Allah subhanaw taala protected her by firmly binding her heart. The reason why I begin

with the story is because every single one of us experiences you know those moments in our lives.

those trials in our lives when we also feel such heaviness such fears, such worries, such anxiety, such loneliness, and a whole lot of other range of very strong emotions. And these very strong, very powerful emotions, what they do is that they have an impact on our thinking, they have an impact on our behavior. And they also have an impact on our actions, right, what we do, how we engage with other people. And it is so important then to reflect on the condition of our heart and how we can manage this, you know, there's this turmoil that we experience,

and the prophets of Allah, who are the ones that I'm told us that there is a piece of flesh in the body, which, if it is good, and what happens, the entire body is good. And if that piece of flesh goes corrupt, then what happens the entire body goes corrupt. And that piece of flesh is what it is the heart. Right. So our well being depends on what the well being of our heart. And the heart is so central because this is where faith is right. This is where Iman is this is where Taqwa is, the fear of Allah is, this is where, you know, our love for Allah is. And this is also where a lot of negative things can dwell like hypocrisy, etcetera. So, we see that, you know, what, that there's

different kinds of hearts right there, there's the heart that is diseased, that is unwell. Or it is so diseased, it is so sick, that it's that it's dead, or it's extremely hard, hard, as Allah subhanaw taala mentions in the Quran. And then there are hearts that are alive, that are sound, right? So the heart that is alive is the heart that knows its Lord. Right. And it is, it is filled with the love of its Lord. It is it is a heart that knows how to depend on its Lord. And so in times of difficulty, it turns to its Lord. And so, it is Allah subhanaw taala, who holds it together, who keeps it in place, and when the heart is kept in place, then the person is also rightly guided. And

if the heart is not kept in place, if if it is not bound, you know, fast as Allah subhanaw taala said about the mother of musante center, Lola of robot gonna Allah cobia than a person is not able to remain on the straight path a person is not able to, you know, keep their matters together.

So I want to talk a little bit about what causes the heart to be alive and what causes the heart to be corrupt. All right. The first thing I want to talk about is what causes the heart to become corrupted. All right. And the heart that is corrupted is essentially the heart that does not know its Lord. It is the heart that doubts ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. It is the heart that thinks bad about Allah subhana wa Tada. It is the heart that does not love Allah does not fear Allah. It does not remember Allah, it is not eager to worship Allah to obey Allah. And there are certain things that actually cause our hearts to become diseased, to become hard to to become corrupted, essentially.

And among these things, is first and foremost, turning away from the words of ALLAH,

turning away from what Allah subhanaw taala has said to us, and what is it that Allah subhanaw taala has said to us? Where do we find the words of Allah? Where do we find them in the Quran? So a person who does not have a connection with the book of Allah, no connection with the book of Allah, which means that they don't listen to it, or that they do not recite it, or that they do not reflect on it, that they do not know what the book of Allah says. Then what's going to happen to the condition of the heart, the heart will be starved because the heart is the nourishment of the heart is what it is the the words of Allah. So imagine if a if a person is not being given food, what's going to

happen? Is their health going to deteriorate? Absolutely. If a plant is not given water, if it is not given sunlight, if it's not given proper nourishment, what's going to happen, even if you bought it for like $300 that plant is going to it's going to die. So

Same as the condition of our hearts, that if we don't feed it what it needs in order to stay alive in order to thrive, then that heart is going to starve. It's going to die a slow death, a slow, painful death. So turning away from the book of Allah is something that causes the heart to become corrupt. Another thing is turning away from the remembrance of Allah not remembering Allah enough. Because the prophets of Allah who earlier said and told us that the person who remembers Allah, and the person who does not remember ALLAH, they're like, what they're like the living and the dead, right? The one who remembers Allah is like someone who is alive, and the one who does not remember

Allah is like someone who is dead. Another thing that causes the heart to becomes corrupt is

following every desire, right? Following every wish, that just because I feel like it, I'm gonna say it, just because I feel like doing it, I'm gonna do it. Right, just because I want this, I'm gonna take it, just because I don't want it, I'm gonna leave it. Right, this is where essentially a person is following their desire. And this is something that causes the heart to become corrupt. Another thing is loving the world, too much loving the world excessively, being too greedy for the things of this world. And making the things of this world a person's ultimate, you know, mission, their goal. So a person is always looking out for, you know what they can get their hands on, how they can get a

really good deal. They're always spending their time on on accumulating more and more dunya and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warned us, he said, The by the one in whose hand is my soul, the delights and the luxuries of this world will come to you in plenty.

And nothing will cause the heart of any one of you to deviate, except that

meaning when you will indulge in the luxuries in the delights of this world, then what's going to happen that is certainly going to cause your heart to deviate.

Another thing that causes the heart to you know, to become corrupt is is bad relationships with people like for example harboring you know, feelings of jealousy and enmity against one another and the Prophet salallahu alayhi salam especially warned us against that. He said beware of evil with each other. And he always fighting with each other thinking of how you can get back at someone, you know,

you know, harboring hatred and ill feelings for for other people, not forgiving them dwelling on their mistakes, you know, thinking about and talking about their mistakes, spreading, you know, their mistakes, backbiting them, so on and so forth. This is something that actually corrupts our own heart. Sometimes we think that when we talk about other people and and their faults, we're actually damaging them. And we feel very satisfied, right? That we're upset with someone, you know, talk bad about them, called someone up, send a text, you know, talk about them in a gathering, and we feel very satisfied doing that. But the reality is that before we damage someone else's record

someone else's reputation,

what are we damaging

our own heart, because we are allowing those negative feelings to fester to grow, to multiply, to stay there to make a hole in our heart. So these are things that actually cause the heart to become corrupt.

Another thing that causes the heart to become corrupt is actually excessive eating. All right, and excessive sleeping, and it will kill your mentions, especially five things that corrupt the heart. He says mixing too much with people over socializing. Not basically not allowing yourself any alone time or moments of true quiet where you can reflect on yourself, reflect on your mistakes, reflect on your relationship with Allah subhanaw taala right, where you can seek forgiveness where you can cry before Allah where you can call upon Allah. Why? Because a person is too busy hanging out with others too busy sitting with them and talking with them. Right? So this is something that actually

corrupts the heart over socializing. Another thing you said that corrupts the heart is worshiping the desire, like literally worshiping the desire that now

Not saying no to yourself, I feel like using the phone right now I'm just going to use it, I feel like clicking on this video, I'm just going to watch it, I'm just going to swipe again, I'm going to swipe again, I'm going to swipe again.

So this is what worshiping the desire. And a person is not paying attention to, you know, how much time has gone into, you know, fulfilling this desire, right and how many other important things are being neglected for the sake of fulfilling this particular desire. So worshiping the desire also causes the heart to become corrupt. The third thing he mentions is having a very close attachment to someone other than Allah, loving someone the way that you should love Allah. Right, that a person is deeply dependent on their approval, that a person is desperate for their approval. So a person is crying for them, you know, striving to to please them to appease them so much that a person is even

forgetting themselves. The fourth thing he mentions is eating excessively, because eating excessively is essentially what feeding your desire. Alright, when you're fasting, what happens? You are able to actually detach yourself from the things that you typically depend on. And you learn to depend only on who.

Only on who and Allah subhanaw taala. Right.

And then he also said the fifth thing is sleeping excessively. This is also something that corrupts the heart. Right. Now, what are things that actually keep the heart alive? Right, what are those things that cause the heart to become sound, to to remain healthy?

Bees are first First of all, to hate,

though hate believing and believing in and truly knowing the Oneness of Allah subhanaw taala.

To believe in the Oneness of Allah subhanaw taala means that you believe that there is no one like Allah azza wa jal right, but he is singular and he is unique. In his authority, no one shares that with him, right in his attributes, no one shares his attributes with him. He is unique and singular, right, He is the One who created everything. He is the one who has absolute control over everything. Which means that nothing happens without his knowledge, nothing happens without his permission. And so, no matter what is going on, Allah is in control.

No matter what is going on Allah is in control. And when you know when you remember that Allah subhanaw taala is in control,

then you don't lose yourself.

You don't you don't get overcome by fear. Because you remind yourself that yes, things may not be in my control, but whose control are they still in?

In the control of Allah subhanaw taala This is why Allah subhanaw taala says that what may you mean biller? Yes, they call

whoever believes in Allah, Allah guides his heart, meaning in times of fear in times of distress. Whoever believes in Allah that my Lord knows. My Lord has power. My Lord is able to do all things. Everything happens by the permission of my Lord. Whoever believes in Allah, Allah subhanaw taala guides us heart.

Allah subhanaw taala guides that person to to remain strong.

Another thing that causes the heart to stay alive is actually fulfilling your duty to Allah subhanaw taala being true to Allah.

And being true to Allah fulfilling your duty to Allah means that a person pays attention to you know, the things that Allah's parents Radha has obligated on them. Like, for example, the five daily prayers, for example, the fasting in the month of Ramadan, for example, calculating the cat properly and then giving it on time. Right, for example, making sure that you know, if a person is able to go for Hajj they go for Hajj, how does their priority not Maldives, right? And how does their priority so when they go for Hajj, they actually pay attention to the things that they're supposed to do on Hajj. Right not just vlogging or, you know, keeping in touch with the whole world. Now they're

focused on fulfilling their obligations to Allah subhanaw taala. And when a person fulfills their obligate

Asians write the things that are less proud Tata has imposed on them.

This is actually something that draws a person close to Allah.

Because in a hadith we learned that there is nothing through which the slave draws near Allah

other than, except for the things that Allah has imposed on the slave. All right. And this is because for example, the five daily prayers, you know, the the way they are,

is such that automatically you know, your day is designed in such a way that you have to turn to Allah you have to think about Allah. Right? For example, before even you get ready for your day, what do you have to do prefer to write in the middle of your day, your workday? What do you have to do? Pray LaHood, right, sometimes still at work, or as soon as you get back home? What do you have to do pray again? than before after dinner? What do you have to do? Maghrib done before you go to bed, what do you have to do? Are you sure you're connecting with Allah subhanaw taala? How many times?

Five times so this is certainly going to cause you to feel closer to Allah, right to draw closer to Allah. And in closeness to Allah is the life of the heart.

Another thing that causes the heart to stay alive, is to stay away from things that Allah Subhana Allah has forbidden. Because the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam warned us he said that if Maha was a group, that sin is how was of the heart. How was it something that overcomes and conquers and it takes over. So this is the nature of sin that it takes over the heart. It isn't something that you can isolate from the rest of your life, right or from your connection with Allah subhanaw taala. For example,

if you lie, for instance, if you lie even to your child, right, or to your sibling,

and then you're praying salah,

and after your Salah, you want to make dua, you want to ask Allah subhanaw taala to help you with your exam.

What's going to happen as you raise your hand to make dua for your exam, what's gonna happen, you're gonna feel in your heart that look at you, like, what's wrong with you, you just lied, you're such a hypocrite. Right? So it's gonna cause you to feel really bad. And you might think, well, you know what, I'm not going to make dua because it's not, it's not gonna work. I just, I just lied.

So what's happening? It's causing you to feel despair. It's causing you to lose that connection with Allah subhanaw taala. It's causing you to to become distant from your Lord. So what's happening with that sin? What is it doing? It's literally taking over the heart.

And the thing about sins is that one sin certainly leads to what?

Another sin, which leads to another one, because the thing about sin is that

when a person sins, and He deliberately disobeyed Allah subhanaw, taala, shaitan, becomes stronger. Shaitan is able to have greater influence on a person. And then shaitan doesn't just say, commit another sin or commit, you know, this sin and that same shaitan will always will will also make you think bad about Allah, that Allah is not going to forgive you. Shaitan is going to make you think that about yourself, that you're such a horrible person, you're a lost case, there is no hope for you. You were like this five years ago, you were like this two years ago and look at you again, you have fallen. So really, there is no hope for you, you might as well give up.

So this is the problem with allowing yourself to deliberately commit sin to deliberately disobey Allah subhanaw taala, that this is something that overtakes the heart. And this is why Allah subhanaw taala tells us in the Quran, that do not even go near, near for hash for hash as an immoral things, sins essentially, don't even go near them. The apparent ones and also the hidden ones, meaning don't do it in private. Don't do it in public. Sometimes we're very particular about our, you know, our public image. Right. And we're not too careful about how we are in private, how we are in the privacy of our homes, how we are, you know, when we are alone, but this is reminds us that we

have to stay away from sins in private and in public because these sins, what do they do? They take over the heart they conquer the heart

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us that, you know, when a person

commits a sin, then a mark, right, a dark spot appears on their heart. Right? And if a person seeks forgiveness, if a person repents to Allah, and a person seeks forgiveness, then what happens? The heart is polished again.

It's polished again. So the thing is that we are going to, we are going to slip, right? Sometimes, inadvertently, even we are going to end up doing things that Allah subhanaw taala does not like.

So what's another thing that keeps the heart alive?

seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanaw taala. Right, seeking forgiveness from Allah. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam also said about himself, that there is a times a sort of heaviness upon my heart. I feel a certain kind of heaviness upon my heart. And he said, I seek forgiveness from Allah 100 times a day. Can you imagine 100 times a day?

I'm from Canada. And you know, people really make fun of us, as Canadians that we say sorry, a lot. Sorry.

We don't say sorry. We say sorry. Just to make it clear, anyway, that we apologize too much.

So the reason why people find it weird is because if someone apologizes to you once, twice, three times, okay, that's fine. But if somebody's apologizing, because they, you know, they want to pass in front of you. Right? Or they want to interrupt your speech or something. You know, too, too much. Sorry, seems what? Weird.

So can you imagine apologizing to someone 100 times a day?

Can you imagine 100 times a day? That's definitely too much. But what is the prophets of Allah who were interested in telling us about himself? What would he do? He would seek forgiveness from Allah 100 times a day.

And the fact is that every single one of us certainly feels that heaviness. I didn't pray properly. I should have prayed more. Right? I shouldn't have spoken like that. I should have given this and charity. Right, I should have done this better. I should have said this. Instead, I shouldn't have said that. We always have these regrets. Correct. So the fact is that we cannot be perfect. And always in hindsight, things could have been different.

Right? When you reflect on anything that you've done, anything that you've said, anything that you've accomplished, in hindsight, things could always have been better, they could always have been different. If you had done this, then such and such would have been better.

So if you keep looking at the past, what's going to happen, this heaviness is going to weigh you down. So what is the way forward then? Keep seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanaw taala. This is what will keep the heart alive. This is what will keep the heart polished. Don't expect perfection from yourself. And when you fall when you make a mistake, don't cancel yourself. This is also what we do, right? We cancel ourselves don't cancel yourself.

What What should we do? follow the footsteps of our messenger SallAllahu Ernie who was someone who taught us to seek forgiveness from Allah 100 times a day.

Another thing that causes the heart to stay alive is the recitation of the Quran. Because Allah subhanaw taala Himself tells us that the Quran is she found only manifest so do it is a healing for what is in the chests.

And it will and it will claim mentions that there is no disease among the diseases of the body or the diseases of the heart. Except that the Quran has its cure, or it guides to words its cure.

And either the Quran has the cure for that disease or it guides us to two words. It's It's It's cure, it's healing.

And other animals say that the Quran, you know, it heals in different ways. The Quran is a healing for misguidance because it has guidance in it. Right? The Quran heals illness because it has Baraka, it has blessing in it. And the Quran heals ignorance because it gives knowledge.

So imagine now a heart that is constantly taking from the Quran, listening to it, reciting it, reflecting upon it.

That heart is going to be in living heart.

Another thing that causes the heart to, to stay alive is the remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala constantly remembering Allah and being grateful to Allah part of the chorus to be grateful to Allah. And Allah subhanaw taala promises us that let in Shackleton let us even if you're grateful, I will increase you.

A lot of people think that this is just means that if you're grateful for Allah's blessings, Allah will give you more blessings, isn't it? It isn't that generally what we think about this is that if you're grateful, Allah will increase you and your blessings. And yes, that is the correct interpretation. But another interpretation of this is that if you are grateful, I will increase you meaning in your good deeds.

You'll be able to do more good because of your gratitude to Allah subhanaw taala. Because what does gratitude do? It keeps the heart alive. It keeps the heart focused on Allah azza wa jal and when the heart is filled with gratitude, then Allah subhanaw taala inspires it to do more good. And then a warning is given in the same idea that if you disbelieve, right if you're ungrateful, then what's going to happen My punishment is surely very severe.

Right. So ingratitude leads to what despair, negativity, right? Thinking bad about Allah azza wa jal, which causes a person to eventually fall into sin and disobedience which becomes the cause of punishment. So gratitude is something that keeps the heart alive as well. Another important thing is

making dua asking Allah subhanaw taala to guide our hearts asking Allah subhanaw taala to fill the heart with light, asking Allah subhanaw taala to to grant us a heart that of sound, asking Allah subhanaw taala to protect the heart from deviating, asking Allah subhanaw taala to make our heart firm on his obedience, asking Allah subhanaw taala to protect our heart from from

from it's to protect us from the evil that may be in our heart. Right? And in the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala teaches us many doors and among our doors should be that Oh Allah, that oh Allah guide my heart Allah. Allah MADI can be right well as a local urban Salim and oh Allah I asked you for a heart that a sound

or a Bonilla to Zulu banana. BARDA in her Daytona our Lord do not allow our hearts to deviate after you have guided us. While at the general field Colombina Leila Leila Dina Avenue our Lord do not allow any rancor to exist in our heart for those people who believe.

Ask Allah subhanaw taala for light Allah Who majeure I'll feel I'll be Nura O Allah. Make light in my heart filled with the light of faith. Right. Allahumma Musa De Falco Lupe sadef Cubana, Allah Karthik, O Allah de Turner of the hearts caused our hearts to be turned constantly towards your obedience. So one of the best things that we can do the most effective things for the healing of the heart for the life of our heart is to ask Allah subhanaw taala the one who made our hearts to keep it alive Allahumma Amin and inshallah I'll conclude with that. There's a few minutes left on this blessed evening. Friday A few hours before Muslim excellent time to call upon the last panel Tada I

ask Allah Subhana Allah to accept all of your doors. May Allah subhanaw taala forgive all of us, may Allah subhanaw taala grant us, our parents, our families, good health. May Allah subhanaw taala fill our hearts with His love with his fear. My last panel tried to guide our hearts and we almost panel tharla

enable us to fill our hearts with His love Allahumma Amin Subhanak alone will be handed a shadow Allah ilaha illa Anta esta Furukawa to Lake wa salaam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa wabarakatuh