The Purity of a Believer’s Heart Towards His Fellow Believer

The Purity of a Believer's Heart Towards His Fellow Believer

How unfortunately political differences, ideological differences, sometimes ethnical and family differences — how much damage it can really cause for the community. How much of that power that you have, that you can really use for influencing khair in this dunya, will wither away and disappear because unfortunately we're not united. Our hearts are not clean towards one another.

We're coming towards an election, a very serious election. And now people are talking about this, and now hearts are unfortunately holding grudge against each other based on their political affiliations. We're talking about serious matters in our community regarding what's happening in Palestine, in Gaza, and elsewhere in the world, while your brothers and sisters need your support — and we have in our hearts, unfortunately, something not as pure as it should be.

We get divided over some personal issues. I have an issue with this individual or that organization and we make a big deal out of it. And we lose with that the power that Allah promised if our hearts were united.

Salamatul Sadr — Purity of the Heart

My dear brothers and sisters, this is what we call salamatul sadr — that you have that purity of the heart towards your brothers and sisters. It is extremely important, because no one on the Day of Judgment will be saved unless they come as Allah says:

Those who come on the Day of Judgment to Allah with a pure heart, with a sound heart. I want to have that heart. I don't want to live my life holding grudge against anybody. I don't want to hurt myself or hurt any brother or sister in my community because of that. It is extremely important, my dear brothers and sisters, to do that. It is so crucial to have that sense of purity of the heart towards one another.

The Story of the Man of Jannah

How is that even possible? There is a hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As. He said: one day we were sitting around the Prophet ﷺ and then he said to us, "Someone is going to come out from this area." He said, "Someone's going to come out right now. He is from the people of Jannah."

So an Ansari man came out. You could see that he had made wudu and the water was still dripping off of his beard. But he didn't look like anyone special. He was not someone you would recognize from the major names of the Sahabah. He was just an average person. And so the people looked at him, praised Allah, and moved on.

The following day the Prophet ﷺ, in another gathering, said, "Someone's going to come out from this area and this person is from the people of Jannah." And it was the same man. Now people got curious. When the third time happened, one of the Sahabah, Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As, said, "I need to know why. I need to know why this man was so special to Allah. The Prophet ﷺ guarantees Jannah for him."

So he went to his house and pretended that he needed shelter there for a few days. He spent three days and three nights with him. He said, "I did not see anything unique about his ibadah. Nothing unique. He wasn't the type of person waking up every single night for tahajjud. He wasn't fasting Mondays and Thursdays."

He said, "The only thing I could recognize about him was that at night, when he sleeps and he wakes up and kind of rolls over, he just remembers Allah. He makes dhikr when he rolls over from one side to the other. That's the only thing I could recognize about his night."

Then on the third day, he said to him, "Listen, my dear brother. I swear — look, there's nothing between me and my father. I have no problem. I didn't even need to be here. But I heard the Prophet ﷺ say such and such about you and I wanted to know why. What's so special? I haven't seen anything unique that you do. Tell me — what exactly makes you so special? What kind of ibadah do you have that I need to convey to others?"

He said, "Look, whatever you've seen from me — that's who I am. I don't do anything special." He said, "However, when I go to sleep at night, I make sure my heart is pure. I remove any ill feeling I have towards anybody. I don't have any jealousy. I don't have any rancor. I don't have any hatred towards any believer around me — for anything that Allah has blessed them with. I don't really look at that stuff."

Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As said, "This is the one. I swear it must be this one that brought you where you are. And it is so hard to accomplish."

The Best Among the People

My dear brothers and sisters, to have a pure heart is not easy. It is not easy, wallahi. Because when you look at this dunya, our nafs always goes down there. Our nafs will always desire what other people have in their possession — whether it's something materialistic like a house or a car, or even, subhanAllah, the peace they have in their family life, or their children and their tarbiyah. We always look at others and we compare ourselves to them. And we start desiring these things. It is so hard to keep a pure heart, ya jama'a.

That's why this is among the most rewarding things. Rasulullah ﷺ was asked: "Who is the best among the people?" He replied:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4216)

"Everyone who is makhmum al-qalb, saduq al-lisan — pure of heart and truthful in speech." The Sahabah said, "Ya Rasulullah, we understand what it means to be truthful in speech. But what is makhmum al-qalb? What does that even mean?" So even the Sahabah did not know the word itself. He said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4216)

"The righteous, the pure one — whose heart has no ill feeling, no transgression, no hasad, no hatred, no ghil, no envy." Who can live at that level of purity, ya jama'a? It is an ongoing struggle. But it is extremely, extremely important.

Deeds Presented on Mondays and Thursdays

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2565)

Every Monday and Thursday, your deeds of the week are presented before Allah. The deeds of the people will be reviewed before Allah, and Allah will forgive everybody — except the mushrikeen — until they say, "Ya Rabbi, these two people have issues between them. They're not doing well with each other." And Allah says: "Give them some time. Wait for them. Don't forgive them yet — wait for them until they reconcile," which means until their hearts become at ease with one another.

Now that's a very dangerous statement, ya jama'a. Of course it is a general statement. But still, it is a very dangerous one — that holding a grudge against someone can delay acquiring that forgiveness from Allah. I would put every effort and every energy that I have in order to get that forgiveness from Allah.

The First to Enter Jannah

Brothers and sisters, the Prophet ﷺ mentioned the people who will be among the first group to enter Jannah. He said:

Those are the people who have no quarrel between them in the dunya. No tabaghud — no hatred in their hearts. They did not carry any hatred during their lifetime. Their hearts were always pure. Their hearts are like one — united. They all have the same concern and that's to please Allah. Even if it means stepping on their ego for the sake of Allah.

Allah described the people of Jannah — that He will remove all hatred and all grudge from their hearts on the Day of Judgment, and they will be pleased with each other in Jannah. May Allah make us among them, ya Rabbil 'Alamin.

The Example of Prophet Yusuf

Brothers and sisters, we have seen that example in one of the most, subhanAllah, difficult scenarios when it comes to family feuds — the story of Nabi Allah Yusuf alayhi salam. Can you imagine — Yusuf alayhi salam, when he was young, very innocent, he had no crime, other than being handsome, being so kind, and his father gave him extra attention. It was because of that that his siblings unfortunately envied him, and they put him into the water well. They almost killed him — and that was the intention.

But after a very, very long time — you know what happened to Yusuf alayhi salam — when he had the power, the ultimate power in that moment to finish them, to torture them, to do whatever he would do with them — when he had that power, what was his choice? To forgive them. "It's okay. No harm today. May Allah forgive you."

And when he spoke to them about what happened, who did he blame? He said it was because of what the Shaytan did to us. He didn't say, "Because of what you did to me" — that would have been a fair and truthful statement. But he chose to say, "Because of what the Shaytan did between you and I." Can you imagine what a pure heart he had alayhi salam in a moment like that? The power of a pure heart — to overlook and forgive when you have all the resources to cause so much damage and harm, but you chose to forgive. Now that is truly a pure heart.

The Instructions of the Prophet ﷺ

Who can get to that level of forgiveness, my dear brothers and sisters? The Prophet ﷺ gave us all these instructions: Don't envy one another. Don't hate one another. Don't cause damage to the relationship. Don't sever this relationship. And be brothers for the sake of Allah — be among yourselves like brothers and sisters for the sake of Allah.

Allah described the believer, saying that those who forgive and reconcile — the reward is with Allah. If you want the reward from the people for your kindness, they will always disappoint you. You will never feel comfortable dealing with anybody then. But because I expect my reward from Allah, that puts me at ease. Because I know I'm not being kind to people because of who they are — it's because of who I am. Not because they deserve that kindness. It's because I deserve to be kind. Because I want to be kind. Because I want the reward from Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ encouraged us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 45)

"You are not a true believer until you love for your brothers and sisters what you love for yourself." If you love good for yourself, wish them good as well. And if you hate bad things happening to you, you should hate that same thing for them.

Avoiding Evil Assumptions

Allah goes to the extent that you're not even allowed to have a bad assumption about the people. To that level — you hear a rumor, someone tells you a story or an event, and you start assuming the worst of your brothers and sisters? Whether they're local to you or somewhere else, even regarding what happens to our brothers and sisters in Gaza — never ever do that to them. Allah says:

"O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion — indeed, some suspicion is sinful." There is so much in our deen to promote khair for us and to avoid that.

The Elevation Through Forgiveness

Lastly, the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2588)

"No one practices forgiveness except that Allah will elevate them in honor and dignity." When you forgive, that is an elevation of your status with Allah. And if Allah does that for you, you will see how much your status will improve among the people in the dunya as well.

Keep your heart pure, my dear brothers and sisters.

Working on the Heart — A Second Reminder

Our ulema remind us that salamatul sadr — the purity of the heart — is one of the religious obligations that resides in the heart. That ibadah is in the heart. Which means most of us, unfortunately, focus more on our wudu, our salah, our tahajjud, our fasting, our qiyam. But rarely will you find people who sit down and silently work on their heart — to remove all grudges, to purify it, to let go of all the jealousy, the attachment to the dunya, the fear of Allah. Just to sit down and work on this.

How many of us would do that? Brothers and sisters, if you would like to reach that level of purity of the heart, you're going to have to start working on it. Which means you're going to need to spend some time — just like you come and sit down here for 30 minutes to pray Salatul Jumu'ah — I need to dedicate 30 minutes of my day and my night. 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes — as much time as you can — just to sit down and reflect and purify this heart. This is how it works.

Our ulema say that is why you cannot attain this through qiyam alone. You can't get this only through your voluntary prayers. You have to do it through contemplation — sitting there intentionally and purifying your heart.

May Allah purify your hearts, ya Rabbal 'Alamin.