Hardening of the Heart 5/5
Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
Methods of Cure: (4) Good Deeds
The fourth way for us to soften our hearts is by way of good deeds.
Righteous deeds done sincerely for Allah will soften our hearts. In the
initial stages, maybe we can�t see how it softens our hearts, but we
have to stick with it and believe. As the Prophet Sallallahu �Alayhi wa
sallam told us, that the slave of Allah does not come closer to Him
except by doing the deeds that He has made compulsory for him. The
compulsory deeds � the 5 daily prayers, the fast, etc. While praying,
sometimes we wonder, "Where is the benefit? Where is the change?" The
point is that if we keep working at it, there will be benefit. We may
not see it immediately. It is something that becomes cumulative, like a
person growing. They can hardly wait till they are going to be big and
they put a mark on the wall, wondering when they are going to get up
there. They cannot perceive themselves growing because it is something
accumulating within them.
Similarly, righteous deeds� and the first of the righteous deeds are
the one that God commands. It is a mistake to go to the things that He
did not command us to do and to put all our focus on these areas and
leave the primary things that He commanded us to do. If we have not
established 5 times daily prayers on time, then it does not matter
whatever else we do. It is useless. This is the foundation � if we
cannot do what Allah has commanded us to do, has demanded of us, then
how can we please Him in anything else? Then, for us, pleasing God is
according to ourselves � what is pleasing to us will please God. This
is not pleasing God. We have to remember that the Prophet Sallallahu
�Alayhi wa sallam told us, "The Hell Fire is veiled by the things that
are pleasing to us and Paradise is veiled by the things that we do not
like."
"Things that we do not like" are not necessarily those things that are
evil, but those that our own nafs does not like because they require
work and effort. We like the easy way. So we would like not to pray and
if someone were to tell us that it is not necessary to pray, we would
say "Alhamdulillah!" This is our nature � we would be happy with that.
However, we should be sad because we can only pray in this life and in
the next, we have no chance to pray anymore. This is where prayer will
benefit us, because in the next life, we will want to pray. We will beg
Allah. Allah describes those who come before him for judgement: when
they see their deeds and they know that they have put themselves in
Hell. What will they do? Will they argue with Allah and ask why He has
put them in Hell? No, they will ask Allah for another chance to go back
and do what Allah has told them to do and more. [see Surah Al-A�raf
7:53] But Allah will know that they are lying for they would do the
same if sent back. For if Allah were to send us back, He will not send
us back with the knowledge that we have then. He would send us back
just as we were before.
Prayer is for OUR benefit. When we pray, we are not benefiting Allah.
If every human being on this earth prayed, it would not increase or
benefit Allah in any way, just as if nobody prayed, it would not
decrease or affect Allah in any way. Prayer is for OURSELVES. That is
why the Prophet used to say, "Bilal, give us ease by giving the call to
prayer." Prayer was considered a time of pleasure but for us it is a
burden. The sooner we finish, the better so we can get on with our
lives. That is a mistake� Our hearts have become hard.
Allah describes the Jews: after all the signs that were given to them,
with the passage of time, their hearts became hard. Our hearts have
become hard. We have accepted Islam, we are awakened to Islam and we
start to practise Islam, but time has passed and our hearts have become
hardened.
[Quran, Surah Al-Hadid 57:16 : "Has not the time arrived for the
Believers that their hearts in all humility should engage in the
remembrance of Allah and of the Truth which has been revealed to them,
and that they should not become like those to whom was given The Book
aforetime, but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard?
For many among them are rebellious transgressors."]
Prayer is not something that is pleasurable to us, but we have to keep
striving and recognise that this is natural. Iman increases and
decreases. The heart hardens and we fight against it and it softens� it
is a continual struggle until we die. We just pray that we die with
hearts that are soft and fearful. We have to keep struggling and it is
in that struggle that ultimately we do taste iman; that we do taste
what the salah was prescribed for; what the remembrance of Allah should
mean in our lives. The Prophet Sallallahu �Alayhi wa sallam describes
those who receive the shade of Allah�s throne on the day when there is
no shade: the one who remembers Allah and cries. His heart is soft.
[Bukhary, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 486: Narrated Abu Huraira: The
Prophet said Allah will give shade to seven (types of people) under His
Shade (on the Day of Resurrection). (one of them will be) a person who
remembers Allah and his eyes are then flooded with tears.]
[Bukhary, Volume 1, Book 11, Number 629: Narrated Abu Huraira: The
Prophet said, "Allah will give shade, to seven, on the Day when there
will be no shade but His. (These seven persons are) a just ruler, a
youth who has been brought up in the worship of Allah (i.e. worships
Allah sincerely from childhood), a man whose heart is attached to the
mosques (i.e. to pray the compulsory prayers in the mosque in
congregation), two persons who love each other only for Allah's sake
and they meet and part in Allah's cause only, a man who refuses the
call of a charming woman of noble birth for illicit intercourse with
her and says: I am afraid of Allah, a man who gives charitable gifts so
secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given
(i.e. nobody knows how much he has given in charity), and a person who
remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with
tears."]
So we should not shy away from good deeds for they will help to soften
our hearts. The Prophet Sallallahu �Alayhi wa sallam had said that
greeting our brothers or sisters with a smiling face is sadaqa. Nothing
should be too small for us: no good deed is so trivial that we scorn at
it. We should strive to do every good deed.
But we should begin with the things Allah has made compulsory. We
should establish the salah as Allah prescribed it; we have to establish
our zakah as it is supposed to be given; we have to fast as it is
supposed to be done and the hajj and umrah if we are able. These
fundamentals have to be established for the sake of Allah; they provide
the foundation for the softening of the heart. As we continue to do
these acts and voluntary versions of these acts, we come closer and
closer to Allah, until Allah says He becomes the eyes with which we
see, where we see only the things that Allah wants us to see. We avoid
the things that Allah does not want us to see; we turn away from them;
we don�t enjoy them. We only touch the things Allah wants us to touch;
we only take what Allah wants us to take; we only go to places that
Allah wants us to go� If we turn to Allah and we call on Him He will
answer our prayer. This is the promise of the Prophet Sallallahu
�Alayhi Wa sallam.
So my brothers and sisters, I ask you and myself to remember our
hearts; to reflect on the state of our hearts. Whenever we have a
moment, question: what state are we in? to work on our hearts until we
have succeeded in softening them, by the mercy and the grace of Allah.
We begin that process by turning to Allah. In our next prayer tonight,
let us turn back to Allah and beg him sincerely to soften our hearts
and when we do so, if we are sincere, our hearts will begin to soften.
It is the promise of Rasulullah Sallallahu �Alayhi Wa sallam. We should
read the Quran and do as much as we can of righteous deeds. We should
reflect on the next life by visiting the graves and by reading the
verses addressing them; by reading the statements of the Prophet
Sallallahu �Alayhi wa sallam about the next life. We should do these
things and strive to soften our hearts. As I said before, if after
doing them we cannot find softness in our hearts, then we need to make
ourselves cry. We need to force ourselves to cry because until we can
let go and let loose those feeling within ourselves, then the hearts
cannot become soft.
So I pray and I ask Allah to give us all soft hearts, hearts that are
filled with mercy for the creating of Allah, our children, our parents,
our brothers and sisters in Islam � even those towards people who are
not Muslims. I ask Allah to put in our hearts softness towards them in
the sense that it would guide us to carry the message to them as we
should. I ask Allah to give us success to turn back to the Quran, to
read it regularly, seeking understanding and guidance from it and I ask
Allah to give us soft hearts.
=====
Leo Imanov
Abdu-lLah
AllahsSlave
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