Emptying Your Heart: Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed | Quran Everyday Quotes

Emptying Your Heart: Attachments, Dunya, and Devotion to Allah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

The Qur'an and Its Examples — Surah Az-Zumar, Verses 27–31

Keeping track of the verses — this is verse 27 to verse 31 in Surah Az-Zumar. Allah starts by saying:

Verily, We have mentioned every type of example for the people in this Qur'an, so that they may take heed.

So in the Qur'an, one of the scenes — in Shahadah Salatul Kamal al-Muftah — is the examples of the Qur'an. It's an entire series that's already been recorded by one of my teachers. It hasn't been released yet. It's going to be published in a few weeks or so — so stay tuned for that.

But just as a side note: examples, similarities, and metaphors help people understand things. It makes it easier to understand when you give an example of something. It's very common in every type of education, every walk of life — you give an example of something, it becomes a little easier to understand. The Qur'an is full of amazing examples. Every example that will benefit mankind until the Day of Judgment has been given in the Qur'an. There are so many great examples.

There is one book in Arabic that's really good on this subject. Many of us cannot even understand and comprehend the writing of it — it is very advanced. This upcoming series is going to be in English — short 8–9 minute videos.

The Qur'an — Straight and Without Crookedness

The Qur'an is in the Arabic language. It has no crookedness. It's very, very straight. It has no ifs, ands, and buts. There's no ambiguity. It's very concrete. No one can question anything in the Qur'an. So that people may fear.

The Example of Two People — Masters and Slaves

Then Allah gives an example. Allah gives an example of two people — rajulan, of a person. This example is relevant to the people of Makkah, but I'm going to give many examples that make it relevant for us today. First I'll translate.

In those days, there were masters and slaves. Alhamdulillah, we have no more slavery. And this example was given in Makkah. Islam and deen came to emancipate slavery — to make everyone equal. The first criticism of Islam from the chiefs of Makkah was:

"Why is it that only the lowly people of our community are following you? These are low people in our society." This was something shared among all the leaders of Quraysh. They said, "We can't sit next to them." They said, "Okay, believe in Allah — we can do that. Saying that Muhammad is a great person — we already know that he is an amazing person. The Qur'an — an amazing book."

These people — Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab — every night they would sneak out. When the Prophet ﷺ would recite Qur'an in his house, they would sneak to his house, stand outside, and listen to him recite Qur'an. And they would go away every night. Allah talks about this in Surah Al-Isra:

That these people — they come and they pay attention to the verses of the Qur'an. They were marveled by the Qur'an. They were captured by the person of the Prophet ﷺ. They already believed in Allah, but their belief in Allah was a little bit crooked — they believed in Allah, but they also believed in idols that help you get closer to Allah. That was their belief.

If you ask them:

If you ask them, "Who created the sky and the earth?" — these idol worshippers, if you ask them, they would say: "Allah." Really?

If you ask them, "Who sends down the rain from the sky and gives you sustenance?" — they would say: "Allah." But their belief in Allah was a little crooked. They said, "We cannot talk to Allah directly. To get to Allah, we have to go through these idols." That was their belief in Allah.

So believing in Allah was not some alien idea for them. They already had a belief in Allah. The person of the Prophet ﷺ was already there in front of them. They already loved him. The Qur'an — they were already marveled by it. So what was the problem then?

One of their biggest problems was: how can we sit with our slaves? Bilal is a slave. Are you saying we have to stand in the same row and eat from the same tablecloth? This is not going to happen.

And Allah is saying to the Prophet ﷺ — one time, the most stern tone that Allah ever used speaking to His Beloved ﷺ in the Qur'an — when he was sitting with the chiefs of Makkah, a blind person came in who was also not from the high class of the community, and he kind of ignored that person to speak to these chiefs because they weren't comfortable being around that person. Allah said: don't do that again. Forget those people. Those other people are closer to Allah.

So this was an issue for them. And then Islam comes. And then what is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq doing? One of the first things he did — after being the first person to believe in the Prophet ﷺ — he started buying slaves and freeing them. He would buy a slave, free them, buy a slave, free them. And the story of Bilal is amazing.

Umayyah ibn Khalaf was there. Abu Bakr said to him, after seeing Bilal getting tortured so much, "Sell him to me." And Umayyah ibn Khalaf said, "You know, this person is not worth anything. He doesn't have too many good traits. How much are you going to offer?" He said, in one narration, "I'll give 100 dinars." Umayyah ibn Khalaf left and said to Abu Bakr, "Abu Bakr, I thought you were a smart businessman. This person is not worth 100 dinars. If you offered me 10, I would have given him to you for 10. You offered too much for something that is not worth it." Abu Bakr looked at him and said, "You know what? You are not the smart businessman. Because he is worth more than my entire wealth. If you asked me to give 10,000 or 20,000, I wouldn't have hesitated. Because I want the reward from Allah. You're the fool, not me. 100 dinars is nothing for the pleasure of Allah."

The Two Hearts — The Central Example

So this was the background of this ayah. Allah is talking about these masters and slaves, and He says the first example is of a slave who has many owners, and the second is of a slave who has one master.

Today's equivalent would be a person who works at one place, but during those working hours is also working two or three different jobs simultaneously — their attention is completely divided. This is the modern phenomenon of multitasking. "Yeah, I can multitask. I can eat, pack my kit, and watch YouTube at the same time." Just eat food, brother. Do all that later.

There are so many ironies in the world today. One irony — one person came to me. Allah gave him guidance and helped him. He said, "I need you to write a letter for me to my employer. I want to grow a beard and my employer doesn't allow it." I said, "No problem, I'll help you." And he comes in, and the letterhead is from Budweiser. The irony — the letterhead is from Budweiser, and in the body I am writing: "I want to keep a beard because it is the obligation of my deen. It is a sunnah of my Prophet. I have to keep it." And I'm looking at the letterhead, and I'm looking at the body, and I'm saying, "Where do I have to sign?" Of course I wrote what I had to write. He worked at some machinery at Budweiser — he didn't work directly with the product — but he didn't have enough knowledge to understand that working at that place was problematic. Alhamdulillah, inshallah, he is now in guidance.

The irony of our age is that we have so many modes of communication, but we're still not communicating with each other. We have so many different channels of communication, but we're still so isolated. Before, we had so few channels of communication, but we were so connected. You're alone in the middle of a crowd. And people at the time of the Prophet ﷺ were in the middle of a crowd while being in a state of complete inner presence. Today, you're right in front of someone but no one really cares about you. You might always be around people but have only three or four real friends.

So you have this one person who, while working at his computer, is also doing freelancing on Fiverr, and also checking emails and doing call desk work for somebody else — three or four jobs at the same time. As an employer, you want that employee who is loyal to you only, and doing nothing else during those hours. Similarly, Allah appreciates that heart that is only loyal to Him — that heart that has nothing else. It is salim — salaman li-rajul — it is pure, free, only for Allah. Nothing else in it.

The Hadith — One Concern vs. Many Concerns

There is a hadith where the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 257)

A person who puts all of his other concerns on one side, and he only has one concern — the concern of the Hereafter, the concern of: "What does Allah think of me?" — Allah will suffice him for all his other concerns. All of those get taken care of. That is 100% guaranteed. It is a 100% guaranteed investment. You invest in Allah, Allah will take care of everything.

And the reason I'm talking about this is because this is something I'm suffering from too. Because the world we live in today, we have so many different things going on. Studies, exams, relationships, friends, entertainment, shows we have to keep up with, sports teams we have to follow, fashion trends — there are so many things going on at the same time. And you have to fit Allah into your schedule. You have to fit deen in. And it just keeps pounding upon you.

So what should I do? How do I fix this problem? And is this even a problem? If it's a problem, there is a solution. Allah is first telling us — a heart that does not have too many attachments, whose only attachment is to Allah and deen — what happens to that person?

The Prophet ﷺ said: a person who puts all of his worries aside — the worry of money, the worry of achievements, everything else of this world — and his only concern is: "If Allah looks at my life right now, would He be happy with me?" — Allah will take care of everything else for that person.

How We Wake Up in the Morning

There is another beautiful hadith, and it's about how we wake up in the morning. It is very important how we get out of our bed. That's why in the army, one of the first things they teach you is to make your bed.

There are so many du'as of the morning. If you put all the morning du'as together, it'll take you half an hour to read them. Of course, deen is so easy — you can do it simultaneously. You can be driving, eating, getting ready — and reading the du'as at the same time. Because deen is not like pre-med where you have to do a set of pre-requisites before you can enter. Imagine getting in the car required a half-hour preparation ritual first. But it doesn't. You get in the car and say the du'a simultaneously. It doesn't take any extra time from your life. It just takes awareness. That's all.

The du'a when you wake up:

Now, the Prophet ﷺ says: a person who wakes up in the morning, and the overarching thoughts in his or her mind are things of dunya — whatever it may be — the product I put on eBay isn't sold yet, my order on Amazon didn't arrive, my exams are coming — for me, I give an example: a person who wakes up in the morning and one of the first things they do is pick up their phone. Think about how different it is today — there were no phones 30–40 years ago. What would be the first thing someone did when they woke up in the morning? Kiss their wife's forehead, go kiss their kids' foreheads, pray.

Wallahi, there was a 15-year-old kid who told me the last time his father kissed him goodnight that he remembers is when he was 6 years old. How could you be so unaware? If you have children, even if they're 1, 2, or 3 years old, it is so important. Love is something that's developed, nurtured, invested in. Because the word muhabba comes from habb. What does habb mean? A seed. How do you plant a tree? You take a little date seed, you dig the ground, you make sure the soil is fertile, you plant it deep, you water it, you ensure exposure to the sun, you make sure it's the right environment — and then after all these things, you get the tree. It's not that you just have a baby or get married and everything is automatically lovey-dovey. That's not how it works. You have to invest in it.

Even though we're present, we're absent. We're right in front of you, but we're somewhere else. We're looking straight at the person's face while our mind is on a flight to Mexico. And we come home and we're on the phone. We have so many other thoughts in our mind.

The Person Who Wakes Up for Dunya

The Prophet ﷺ said about the person who wakes up in the morning consumed by the concerns of dunya:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 257)

First: جَعَلَ اللَّهُ فَقْرَهُ بَيْنَ عَيْنَيْهِ — Allah stamps poverty between this person's eyes. It doesn't matter what this person is going to do. Even though they might have the most money, they will always feel poor. They will always feel that they don't have something the other person has. I have friends who have amazing cars that the world would love to have, but they are in such a bad state of mind because they know someone else has a better car — better headers, better supercharger, better this, better that. That is فَقْرٌ بَيْنَ عَيْنَيْهِ. As the shaykh says it best: modern-day poverty is feeling poor in the midst of affluence. You're elite, but you're not happy. That poverty is always with you — wherever you go, it is there. You can't escape it.

Second: وَشَتَّتَ عَلَيْهِ شَمْلَهُ — Allah scatters this person's affairs. Imagine taking a piece of paper — if you drop it on the floor, someone can pick it up in not even a second. But if you put that same piece of paper through a shredder and throw the shreds all around the room, it will take you much longer to collect them, and you might not even be able to. There might be a particle here, a particle there, a particle over there. Allah says: those matters of your life that were so easy to handle — I shred them for you. So now you're going from here to there, north, south, west, east, this state, that state — but your affairs are not getting done. So busy all day. The one word I have a pet peeve with: busy.

I picked up my son from school — he was 6 or 7 years old. I said, "Yusuf, how was your day at school?" He said, "Abuji, busy." I almost fell off my seat. "What? Busy?" "Yeah, busy." "Okay, what did you do?" "Math class..." And he stretched every word. And that's what we do in real life. We stretch everything. We make ourselves, we convince ourselves, that we are so busy because we are so occupied — from here to there to there — and things are still not getting done. You don't say, "I have this job, I have that job, I'm doing this" — but our ends are still not meeting.

Third: Despite this person being so busy, they can only get what was already decreed for them. They cannot get more. It's not that if you make more effort, you'll get more. Your car is in mud, and the tires are spinning and spinning, burning — but you're in the same place. You're not moving one step forward.

The Person Who Wakes Up for the Akhirah

Now the opposite. A person who wakes up in the morning, and the greatest concern in their heart is the Hereafter — وَمَنْ أَكَبَّ هَمَّهُ لِلْآخِرَةِ. This is a practical thing you can do: put your phone five feet away from you at night. So when you wake up in the morning, even if you missed Fajr salah — wake up, go to wudu, pray, make du'a, and then go to your phone. That's not much more difficult. But if you can just change your priorities first thing in the morning — instead of checking your phone and your social media feed, right when you wake up you say:

Then — according to the Prophet's ﷺ hadith:

First: جَعَلَ اللَّهُ غِنَاهُ فِي قَلْبِهِ — Allah puts richness in this person's heart. At their heart, this person feels like they are not in need of anything other than Allah. When you feel like that, you will never be jealous of somebody. You will never envy somebody. Because all you are worried about is what Allah has in His treasures for you. Nothing else. As the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6446; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1051)

The best affluence is the richness of the heart. If Allah makes your heart content, it is the best treasure to have. It is the best commodity to live with.

Second: Those shreds of paper that were all scattered around the room — Allah puts them all together for you. Things that should have taken an average person 6 months, you accomplish in 1 month. Things that take an average person 1 month, you bring in 1 week. Things that take 1 week, you bring in 1 day. Everything is getting done in smaller periods of time. You see our elders of the past — the Salaf al-Saliheen — they wrote books in such a short lifespan that if we even tried to read them in our whole life, we cannot. How did they have so much barakah?

Third: وَأَتَتْهُ الدُّنْيَا وَهِيَ رَاغِمَةٌ — And the dunya comes to this person, even though this person does not even need it. Allah keeps on presenting this person with more and more — and the reason Allah presents this person with more is because he or she keeps on spending it in the way of Allah. As the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 71; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1037)

"I am merely a distributor, and Allah is the Giver." And we become that person — just distributing on behalf of Allah. A distributor never thinks the goods are his. He never has pride in them, because they don't belong to him. They belong to Allah. So you always have that in the back of your head: "My time is not mine — it is a gift from Allah, for this person. My energy is not mine — it is from Allah, for this person." And you start distributing all the resources you have. Imagine a life like that.

The Two Hearts — They Can Never Be Equal

So this ayah gives the example: a person whose heart has so many different attachments, and a person whose heart has very few attachments — they can never be equal. They can never be equal.

Think about it this way. Whenever we travel, if you're a father, or you have nephews or nieces — you travel to Florida and you see a child who resembles your own child. Even though it's not your child, you naturally get more attracted to that child. You start talking to them. Now — if there is a servant, for example, there is Maryam living in Canton in 2020. When Allah sees her — and Allah sees us, He knows what we say, He knows the whispers of our hearts, He knows the thought before it even comes to our minds — if when Allah looks at this Maryam in 2020 in Canton, and she reminds Allah of Maryam alayhi salam, a servant whom Allah loves so much, then Allah will have more affection for that person. Allah will look at that person with more of an eye of mercy and grace.

Allah sees a person named Abdullah in America in 2020 — and this person's walking, talking, and lifestyle resembles his Beloved Rasool ﷺ. Don't you think Allah will look at him in a better way? With more affection, more grace, an eye of mercy?

We are always looking at how to be presentable, how to look better, how to appear better. But the only compliment that truly matters is Allah's. Just like in a wedding — a bride may receive 500 compliments in a day, but the only compliment that really matters to her is her husband's. If he forgets to compliment her, all 500 others mean nothing. The one whose compliment matters most is what is most anticipated. All that really matters is: when Allah looks at you, is Allah pleased with you?

Empty Your Heart

One great scholar said:

Empty your heart. Any utensil — if it is already filled with something, you cannot add something new into it. You have to take everything out first, and then add something new. Similarly is the heart. Allah cannot enter a heart which has so many other things in it. You have to empty it first. You have to clean it out.

Before you can furnish a home, you have to move the old furniture out. Same thing with the utensil — before you can add something, you take the old out first. Same thing with the heart. We go to Madinah and Makkah, but the heart is already full of other things. Once I was in Madinah on Hajj. I walked into the restaurant for breakfast one day after Fajr salah. I was blown away. Wallahi, I am not joking — I came to the hall, and 90% of the youth that were there from our group were all on iPads and phones. And they were watching a famous boxing match. All around the tables. All around the buffet. How do you even remember there is a boxing match when you are in Madinah? If you are in Madinah, you should forget about everything. If you want to benefit from the anwar, the noor of Madinah and Makkah, you should forget about everything.

You know, the Prophet ﷺ — there is a hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal. He said: I was walking with the Prophet ﷺ, and all of a sudden the Prophet stops and does sajdah. Just a few moments before, they were walking together. All of a sudden he stops — he receives a wahi — and he falls into sajdah. Mu'adh ibn Jabal says, "The sajdah became so long, I thought he had passed away." Then he gets up. "What happened?" He said, "Allah told me something today — that whoever sends salawat upon me, Allah will send salawat upon that person. Allah will bless that person. This is such a great ni'mah Allah has given me, I had to be in sajdah out of gratitude."

Before he was even able to respond, the Prophet ﷺ says: "Who are you?" He forgot who the person was. Because for that one sajdah, he had completely emptied his heart. He had to have the person reintroduce himself. "I am this person." Sometimes Aisha would come at the time of Tahajjud to bring him some water or to serve him, and he would say, "Who?" "Aisha." "Aisha who?" "Your wife." "Who?" "The daughter of Abu Bakr." "Oh!" — Completely free of anything. Completely present with Allah.

Today, we are in salah, but everything is with us. And these people, they were professional at emptying. They knew how to give their full presence.

So — empty your heart from attachments other than Allah, and your heart will be filled with the recognition of Allah. Filled with it. If you cannot empty it, then there is no place for Allah in it.

Alhamdulillah — And Gratitude for the Tawfiq

Right after the example in these ayaat, Allah says Alhamdulillah. The mufassirun ask: how does that connect? He takes an example, and then right after He says Alhamdulillah? Because if a person reaches that level — if they are able to remove things from their heart — they should always say Alhamdulillah. It is because of Allah that it is like that. As the saying goes: وَمَا تَوْفِيقِي إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ — Everything good in my life is a tawfiq from Allah.

All of us sitting here today — we came, yes, on our own strength. We drove here. But who gave us the ability to come here? Allah. Allah is the one who gives us opportunities. A businessman always asks for more opportunities to do business. Similarly for us: the more opportunities we have to get closer to Allah, the more potential we have. So the fact that we came here today — this is the tawfiq of Allah.

The Seven Who Are Shaded by Allah

For the brothers and sisters who are sitting here: the Prophet ﷺ said that a person whose heart is attached to the masjid — he or she will be among the seven shaded on the Day of Judgment. Your heart, even though you're not in the masjid, is attached to the masjid. So many of us whose hearts are attached to Madinah — we're not in Madinah, but our hearts are still there. We may close the Qur'an, but our hearts are still attached to the Qur'an.

The Du'a of the Prophet ﷺ

There is a du'a the Prophet ﷺ used to make:

O Allah, I ask You for Your love. I ask You to love those who love You. And I ask You to make me love those actions that bring me near to You.

Today, we don't have love for those actions. We ask Allah that Allah puts in our hearts the love for those actions that will bring us near to Him. Because a person follows what he or she loves. As it is said:

You become obedient to what you love. And imagine if what we love is what brings us close to Allah — then that is what we will always be doing.

Closing Du'a

Allah make us among those who truly have that in our hearts. Empty our hearts from all the other things of dunya. Make us among those who wake up in the morning, keep our phones on one side, do everything else first, and then return to our dunya. Allah make us among those whose matters and affairs are pulled together for them, so we can get a lot done in less time — and not be among those who have so many things scattered, who become so busy in life they don't even have time for their own families, their own parents, their own children — and for whom life becomes a misery.