At the heart of beginnings

I like to share with you one of the most engaging books I’ve read on the subject of heart by Hamza Yusuf.

The title is “Purification of the Heart – Signs, Symptoms, And Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart” – Transalation and Commentary of Imam al-Mawlud’s Matharat al-Qulub. You can find this book at Kinokuniya KLCC.

A subject of paramount importance but often neglected by us. So important that Imam Ghazali (an 11th century master scholar of the science of purification), highlighted that it is indeed an obligation on everyone to learn the diseases that affect their hearts and learn its cures.

The prophet of Islam (pbuh), spoke of heart as the archive of knowledge and a vessel sensitive to the deeds of the body.  Any atrocity, crime, mistake, offense or wrongdoings will hurt the heart. In the beginning, all of our hearts are in its pure state. The fitrah we call it. Our heart in this fitrah state, accepts faith and prefers morality.

As time goes by, we learn stuff that corrupts, feelings of anxieties from people around us and the environment. Heart, being vulnerable is susceptible to agitation and rebellion. Hamza stated in the book, those who are protected are people of prayer, people who establishes prayer and guard its performance with a humble and open heart connected with Allah s.w.t. Especially the ones that remembers God at all times. “They are the ones, who remember God as they are standing, sitting and reclining on their sides.” (Quran, 3:191)

All major crimes are rooted from the first sin we commit (tentu pembaca pernah mendengar kisah Habil dan Qabil – bagaimana pembunuhan berasal hanya dari hati yang dengki). Remember the pure heart in its fitrah state? At the first act of sin, it will go through a state of spiritual agitation and we often tries to cover it up, by suppresing it. As more and more sins being committed, the pure heart, will show symptoms of its troubles.

That is the reason why, people (regardless of age) are involved with alcohol, drugs, sexual experimentation, ‘rasuah’, ‘gila harta dan pangkat’, ’simpan mistress, sugar daddy’ and etc. Because they are suppresing the ‘warning signs’ from their hearts. By doing these things, they are trying to cut off their hearts with the natural feelings found there.

As long as we ignore the ‘warning signs’, the sicker the heart becomes, and most unfortunate, dies before you even had the chance to save it. We don’t want our hearts to die, because when it dies, we will become as disbelievers (al-kafirun). Na’uzubillah. I’m sure we’ve heard of people searching for themselves, cries of anxiety, gelisah, tidak tenang, tidak tenteram and etc. These are all the warning signs from our fitrah heart. By ignoring the signs, you starve the heart – its nourishment of faith, morality, awareness of God.

If we really examined ourselves, the trials and tribulations that we go through every day, wars and other conflicts in this world, every act of injustice are rooted in human hearts (like spousal abuse, extra-marital affairs, manipulation, deceit, office politics, any forms of cruelty or ‘penganiayaan’ etc).

Impure and corrupt heart, oppresses.

Sahabat-sahabat yang di kasihi,

I’m sure anyone who reads this, is a somebody to someone . A son, daughter, father, mother, husband, wife, fiancee, boss, employee, teacher, leader or a friend to someone. With an impure heart, we will hurt someone (ultimately ourselves). Often we hear statement of regrets. But regrets are not enough, regret carries no explicit admission that one is responsible for an incident, while remorse implies a sense of guilty responsibility and a greater feeling of personal pain and anguish.

Are we ‘remorseful’ enough? 

Like a famous saying, ‘Don’t do unto others, what you don’t want others do unto you’. To avoid this, is to learn and acquire as much knowledge to guard our fitrah heart, in its original faith and purity — untuk menyembah Allah serta taat pada suruhan Rasul-Nya dan akan kembali pada-Nya suatu masa nanti.

As a closing, I quote from the book (par 2, pg 21) – “Purification is a life-long process, not something that is applied once and then forgotten. Purity of heart never survives a passive relationship. One must always guard his or her heart.”