The Living Heart: Responding To Allah's Remembrance And Revelation

Softening the Heart: A Reminder for the Believers

Allah describes the believers, reprimanding the Sahaba over a certain characteristic of their heart — how soft their heart was and how effective it would be when hearing the ayat of the Qur'an being recited to them. We find in the opposite, in another ayah, Allah talks about Banu Israel — specifically about the yahood. After the entire story of Allah mentioning how they were commanded to slaughter a cow, and they wanted to ask about all the different qualities about the cow, Allah mentions after that — that their hearts became even harder as a result of the sternness and as a result of their stubbornness which they had with Musa alayhis salam.

Their hearts became even harder than rocks. And Allah describes why some of their hearts were even harder than rocks — because rocks are such that if water is dripping on a rock, or you have a river gushing through and flowing through rocks, eventually that rock will crack and split. So even the rock has the ability to break and become soft. But their hearts became harder than this.

The Context of the Ayah in Surah Al-Hadid

Has it not occurred to those who have believed that their hearts should fear the remembrance of Allah and what He has sent down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Book before, and its length was long for them, and their hearts were hardened, and many of them were transgressors.

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiallahu anhu narrates — in the narration of Muslim — that between us accepting Islam and this ayah being revealed, there was only four years. What had happened was, obviously at the time when the Muslims were in Makkah al-Mukarramah, they were faced with a lot of difficulties and trials and tribulations. They had to endure the test of the polytheists — how they were persecuting them and stopping them from praying Salah, and all the different difficulties they had to deal with.

When they went to Madinah al-Munawwarah, there was a more welcoming group — the Ansar were welcoming them and they themselves had accepted Islam also. So they had a bit more ease in Madinah al-Munawwarah. We already know that the Sahaba were affected when the Qur'an was recited to them, by doing the dhikr of Allah — they would cry, they would think about death, they would do everything for the sake of Allah, for the sake of the akhirah. But when they went to Madinah al-Munawwarah, because they were not doing the same level of mujahidah — the same level of struggle that they had to endure in Makkah al-Mukarramah — their hearts were not as affected as prior to the hijrah.

So Allah then revealed these ayat: Has a time not come for those that believe that their hearts submit completely to Allah? Dhikr Allah could refer to — as the Mufassirun mention — the actual dhikr of Allah, and وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ refers to the Qur'an. Or both of them are qualities of the Qur'an. And that they should not be like those from the people of the book — that there was a long gap in time, either between their prophets that were sent, or between them having long aspirations and hopes — and as a result, their hearts became hardened.

The Dead Earth and the Dead Heart

Right after this, Allah mentions: Know that Allah can give life to the earth after it is dead. When we see the earth is completely barren, dry, arid — there hasn't been any rain — after rain falls, there is a new smell that comes, that smell of new and fresh rain falling, and then small plants start to sprout. We see that the earth is becoming alive again.

So Allah mentioned this ayah right after to show that just as how Allah can give life to a dead land by sending rain, wahi — be it the Qur'an or the dhikr of Allah, things related to our deen — that is like rain. And that can give life to a dead heart also.

Now, many of us — just as how the Sahaba had that ease, and what happened was their hearts were not as effective to the Qur'an and the deen itself compared to when they were in Makkah — so similarly for us when we are inundated with the bounties of Allah. Living in the West. Having all the different types of ease — safety, food, availability of food, shelter — all of this causes our hearts to tend to become hardened. And we are not affected by Quranic ayat that talk about Jahannam, or that talk about Jannah, or where Allah is warning about His punishment.

When we hear those ayat, when we read those ayat — the question to ask is: are we affected? Do our hearts tremble out of fear? Or out of love or yearning for Jannah or Allah? When we hear talks given — whether you are listening to an audio talk online, or you come to the masjid, listening to the khutbah on a weekly basis — does it have an effect upon one's heart? That is something to ask ourselves.

Qaswatul Qalb — Hardness of Heart

Qaswatul qalb — that is a sifah, a quality. Hard-heartedness. That is a quality of the Ahlul Kitab, the yahood. That is a quality of the kuffar — that their hearts are not softened when they hear the remembrance of Allah, the Qur'an being recited, the dhikr of Allah. Whereas in a believer — the Sahaba — when hearing about these things, just mentioning death, thinking about the akhirah, reciting Qur'an — their eyes would profusely cry with tears. We are not at that level. But if we ourselves are not thinking about death, and that doesn't cause any type of change, and we are not stirred within our hearts — then our hearts are hardened.

Every single one of us here is a believer, and we have a fertile heart. It is just a matter of how much rain we are putting in — how much recitation of Qur'an, remembrance of the akhirah, the majalis, the gatherings of deen, ilm, dhikr — all of those different things are sources of softening one's heart.

Remedies for a Hard Heart

1. Remembering Death

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has mentioned in a hadith that one narration mentions that which obliterates, dissolves, and completely destroys — ladhdhat. Everyone has desires, and as a result of these desires, when you are pursuing the dunya, your heart tends to become hardened. So when we are pursuing our desires and we have false aspirations or long hopes for anything of the worldly matter, then our heart becomes hardened. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has mentioned that the thing which will stop a person pursuing their desires is al-mawt — remembering yourself of death.

This is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam grabbed Abdullah ibn Umar radiallahu anhuma by his shoulders — not just telling him verbally, but grabbed him by his shoulders to show the importance of what he was about to tell him:

"Be in the dunya as if you are a stranger or a traveler." And: when you are in the night, do not wait for the morning; when you are in the morning, do not wait for the night. No one is guaranteed life till the evening, or till the morning. When you remember death — actually contemplating over it, not simply once in a while, but on a daily basis — visiting the graves, seeing the people that died at a young age — that will be a self-reflection, and that will help soften one's heart. Because we don't know when we come out from the masjid, when we are driving back home — anything can happen. It is in the hands of Allah. So when we think about death, that is something that will soften one's heart.

2. Spending Time with the Fuqara and Masakin

The second thing: the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has mentioned spending time with the fuqara — the poor people. We have fuqara and masakin within our own community and within this country also. But typically when you go to countries abroad, they are deprived — they don't have those bounties that we have. Without electricity, without a microwave, without an oven — all of these things that we take for granted. When you actually see how they live their life and you spend time with them, that will soften one's heart. Because their inclination is generally more towards the akhirah — their heart is more inclined towards the akhirah, where the basic needs — they survive without what we may deem to be necessary in the time and place that we are living in.

I remember, for example, in Africa — studying in Zambia for a couple of years there — the roads aren't paved. The children, when they walk, many of them don't have shoes. Aside from walking, they are just running barefoot on the ground. And we look at ourselves — we have all these different types of shoes: for every single sport that we play, for every single occasion that we have, we have different types of shoes. Is it permissible to have? Yes, it is ja'iz to have. But typically what happens is that the consequence of that is sometimes our heart becomes heedless of Allah, and we are engaged in the bounties itself — and hence our hearts become hardened.

Allah describes the hearts of the kuffar — that when Allah is mentioned, things related to Allah, their hearts become agitated; they don't want to listen. So when we are reminded about Allah — when we are praying Salah — is our heart inclined to do that act of 'ibadah? Or do we feel like we want to just run away as soon as we come into the masjid? When we are praying in Salah, we want to finish it immediately. When we are reciting Qur'an, we want to just finish whatever portion that we are reciting, rather than enjoying reading the Qur'an. Those are all signs of a person's heart being hardened.

Allah describes this — and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself narrated this du'a:

"O Allah, let me live as a miskeen, let me die as a miskeen, and resurrect me amongst the group of the masakin." Some scholars have mentioned this miskeen as actually showing humility and humbleness to Allah. And some have mentioned it as living a basic, very simplistic lifestyle — and being resurrected amongst the group of the poor on the Day of Judgement. Because the fuqara will enter into Jannah 500 years before the rich individuals. Why? Because they have less to account for — they have less reckoning.

I give this example: you go to the different stores, you have a fast lane. What is the condition of the fast checkout? You need to have 10 items or less. If you have more than that, then you have to wait in the long line. In the akhirah, the fuqara have less than 10 items — figuratively speaking. Jannah will have a reckoning: Allah will look into our deeds — did you use these blessings properly, or did you misuse them? So spending time with the fuqara, you get a different perspective and you actually become grateful for the bounties that you have. That is one source of softening the heart.

3. Spending Time with Orphans

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has mentioned also specifically spending time with orphans — and putting your hand on the orphan's head. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself was an orphan. And some of our great scholars like Ibn Hajar and Imam Suyuti — many of our great scholars were themselves orphans, because Allah had a special status saved for them, and they became great scholars. So spending time with orphans, looking after them — that is a source for softening one's heart also.

4. Contemplating the Ayat of the Akhirah

Another thing a person can do is contemplating over those ayat — specifically about Jahannam and the akhirah. Before you go to sleep: What did I do this day? What if I die in my sleep? What is going to happen to me on the Day of Judgement? How is Allah going to take my reckoning? How are my good deeds going to be? How are my bad deeds going to be? Did I fulfill the rights of everyone else? Or did I wrong anyone? Did I wrong my own self?

When thinking about that on a daily basis — one, two, three minutes a day — about how a person will die, how they will be in the grave, how they will be in the akhirah — these are the means of a person softening their own heart.

Closing Du'a

May Allah give us the tawfiq to soften our hearts, and be inclined towards the deen, and spend time with the fuqara, and look after the orphans.