Ibn al Qayyim
al Jawziyyah
(al Fawaaid p.111-112)
" The slave (of Allah) is not afflicted with
a punishment greater in severity then the hardening
of the heart and being distant from Allah. For the
Fire was created to melt the hardened heart. The
most distant heart from Allah is the heart which
is hardened. If the heart becomes hardened, the
eye becomes dry.
If four matters are exceeded in quantity, beyond
what is necessary, the heart shall become hardened:
Food, sleep, speech and sexual intercourse.
A body afflicted by disease does not derive nourishment
from food or water, similarly a heart diseased by
desire does not benefit from admonishment and exhortation.
Whosoever desires to purify his
heart, then let him prefer Allah to his desires.
The heart which is clinging to its
desires is veiled from Allah, commensurate to the
degree that it is attached to them, the hearts are
the vessels of Allah upon his earth, hence the most
beloved of them to him, are the ones most compassionate,
pure and resistant to deviation.
They (the transgressors) preoccupied
their hearts [in the pursuance] of the Dunya, would
that they preoccupied them with Allah and the hereafter,
then surely they would have reflected upon the intended
meaning of his poignant words and verses. Their
hearts would have returned to their masters with
wisdom, marvelously curious and [in possession]
of the rarest of precious gems.
If the heart is nourished with remembrance,
its thirst quenched with contemplation and cleansed
from corruption, it shall witness remarkable and
wondrous matters, inspiring wisdom.
Not every individual who is endowed
with knowledge and wisdom, and assumes its character
is from amongst its people. Rather the people of
knowledge and wisdom are those who infused life
into their hearts by slaying their desires. As for
the one who slays his heart and vitalized his
desires, then knowledge and wisdom is naked upon
his tongue.
The destruction of the heart occurs
by security [in this Dunya] and negligence, its
fortification occurs by fear and remembrance. If
the heart renounces the pleasures of the Dunya,
it settles upon the [pursuance of] pleasures of
the Hereafter, and amongst those who call towards
it.
Should the heart become content
with the pleasures of the Dunya, those pleasures
[of the hereafter] cease [to continue].
Yearning for Allah and his meeting
is like the gentle breeze blowing upon the heart,
extinguishing the blaze of the Dunya. Whosoever
caused his heart to settle with his Lord shall be
in a state, clam and tranquil, and whosoever sent
it amongst the people shall be disturbed and excessively
perturbed.
For the love of Allah shall not
enter a heart, which contains the love of this world,
except as a camel, which passes through the eye
of a needle.
Hence, the most beloved servant
before Allah is the one whom He places in His
servitude, whom He selects for His love, whom He
causes to purify his worship for Him, dedicates
his objectives for Him, his tongue for His remembrance,
and his limbs for His service.
The heart becomes sick, as the body
becomes sick, and its remedy is al-Tawbah and protection
[from transgression].
It becomes rusty as a mirror becomes
rusty, and its clarity is obtained by remembrance.
It becomes naked as the body becomes naked, and
its beautification is at-Taqwa. It becomes hungry
and thirsty as the body becomes hungry and thirst,
and its food and drink are knowledge, love, dependence,
repentance and servitude.”
