The Disease Of The Hearts And Their Cures
Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah / From Diseases Of The Heart And Their Cures
p11-12
Trans: Abu Rumaysah Published by: Al-Hidaayah Publishing
and Distribution
The hearts are of three types:
1. The correct heart that is secure from all desires that oppose the command of
Allaah and His prohibitions, and it is secure from all doubts that contradict
what He informs. Just as it is secure from worshipping anything else besides
Allaah and from seeking judgment from any person other than His Messenger.
2. The dead heart, this being the opposite of the correct heart containing no
life, neither knowing its Lord nor worshipping Him.
3. The heart that has some life but also has a defect. So it contains love of
Allaah, faith in Him, sincerity and trust towards Him from those things that
are essential to it remaining alive. It also contains love of vain desires and
preferences for them, despicable morals and manners from those things that
cause its death, and it is continuously wavering between these two conditions.
So the first type of heart is the living, soft and gentle heart. The second is
the dry, harsh and dead heart. The third is the heart which is diseased, it can
either be made secure or have its destruction sealed. All of the deceases of
the heart are founded upon desires and doubts. The life of the heart and its
illumination is the cause of all good to be found in it and its death and
darkness is the cause of all evil to be found in it.
The heart can never be alive and correct except through cognisance of the truth
and loving it and preferring it over everything else. There can never be any
happiness or joy or correction for it unless it makes its sole object of
worship and desire, Allaah (the Lord of the Worlds) alone.
This can never be perfected except through purification of the heart,
repentance and its relinquishing itself from all types of false love and
despicable manners. This can never be attained except through striving against
one’s soul that incites towards evil, and bringing it to account, and combating
the Shayateen from amongst Men and Jinn; from the human Shaytaans by turning
away from them and combating their evil with good; from the Shaytaans from
amongst the Jinn by holding fast to Allaah and knowing their plots and
objectives, and safeguarding oneself from them through remembrance of Allaah
the Exalted, and seeking refuge with Him from them.
The heart become defective and weak revolves around two basic matters; the
corruption of knowledge and the corruption of intent and these in turn lead to
two destructive illnesses – anger and misguidance. Misguidance being the end
result of the corruption of knowledge and anger being the end result of the
corruption of intent.
So these two diseases are the lords of all the ailments that afflict the heart.
Its cure lies in guidance based on knowledge (from the Qur’aan and the
authentic Sunnah). Guidance based on knowledge is to know the truth and to
follow it. The whole of the Qur’aan is a cure for these two diseases and others
and it contains perfect guidance.
www.islamicknowledge.co.uk
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