Signs of a Sound Heart (Qalb Saleem)

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There are five things that constitute a sound heart (Qalb Saleem):
1. الذي ينفق ماله في سبيل الله“
A person is able to spend his wealth in the path of Allah (SWT).” i.e. having a giving nature
2. الذي يرشد اهله الي الحق“A person is able to guide and instruct their family towards that which is the reality/the truth.”What is ‘truth’? امر بالمعروف و نهي عن المنكر “To promote virtue and prohibit vice.”3. الذي يكون قلبه خاليا عن غلبة الشهوات“A person, his heart be in such a state that it is free from his carnal and base desires dominating his life.” i.e. Being the slave/servant of Allah, not a slave/servant of the nafs.
4. الذي يكون قلبه خاليا عن العقائد الباطلة“A person, his heart if free from corrupted, distorted beliefs.”
5. الذي يكون قلبه خاليا عما سواك تبارك و تعالي“A person, his heart is free from everything else other than Allah (SWT).”

Initial steps to take to attain a pure heart:
To make Taubah (repentance). There are three general requirements when repenting:
To remove yourself from the sin that you are doing.
Feel regret – Nadamat
To make a resolution to never return to that sin.
If you have wronged another human then there is a fourth condition which is to clear things up with that person and ask for forgiveness.

Symptoms of a sick heart:
-Making false gods-
-Love of wealth - حب المال-
-Love for fame - حب الجاه-
-Love of fulfilling lustful desires – حب الباه-
-False love for things

A few things to do in order to abstain from sin:
1. To be in the company of the Ahlullah.
2. Constantly remember Allah (SWT).
3. To be in public the same way you are in private.
4. To recite the Qur’an.

THE SMILE

THE FISHERMAN--------------- An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The investment banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, "Only a little while."
The investment banker then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"
The fisherman said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."
The investment banker then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening and spend time with my family, I have a full and busy life."

The investment banker scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to a big town and eventually to the city where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise."

The fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?" To which the investment banker replied, "15 to 20 years." "But what then?" asked the fisherman. The investment banker laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions? Then what?" The investment banker said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings and spend time with your family.

" WELL THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW!!!

Fulfillment of Rights

Hazrat Thanwi (RA) said:
“Sometimes involvement with the Qu’ran Shareef also becomes unlawful. For example: a man wishes to do Hifz but has the responsibility of providing for his family. It will be unlawful for such a man to involve himself with hifz of the Qur’an which is Mustahab, since it is his obligatory duty fardh-e-ayn to provide for his family.”
NOTE: This prohibition will only apply if involvement in the pursuit of Hifz results in the neglect of the Huqooq of one’s family. If a man possesses the ability to execute both tasks simultaneously, it will not be unlawful.

SubhanAllah. This shows the great status of fulfilment of rights of the fellow slaves and those who are under our guardianship and responsibility. Unfortunately, in our day and age, Deen has become a platform of fulfillment of fantasies, feeling a good vibe, and getting a name.
Many a time you see people whose household situation is such which is in dire need of spiritual, financial, or emotional support. There is no one else to look after the household affairs and be there for the assistance of the family. In that time of dire need you see that a person gets a sudden urge (out of nowhere) to go to study overseas, become the next Imam Ghazali, or go on an adventurous journey to seek out the Shaykh of his dreams who will make him the next Shaykh Abdul Qader Jeelani.

It should be understood well, that these types of sudden bursts of energy are nothing but a deception from shaytan. Shaytan knows that “I can never make the practicing believer drink wine, abandon salah, commit zina, etc. But I can deceive him into other such predicaments by which he becomes deprived of Allah’s mercy and grace, and eventually I make him a “bankrupt destitute” (as far as imaan and a`maal is concerned).

One of the ways shaytan makes a believer a “bankrupt destitute” is through mixing up priorities for him and making him become oblivious of his obligatory duties and magnifying the unnecessary actions. An example of this is a person who prays tahajjud all night and does zikr, and then sleeps through fajr prayer which is an absolute fardh.
He feels very pleased with his great feat of spirituality, but he doesn’t know that shaytan is laughing at him at that moment.
By this, he also becomes deprived of Allah’s mercy and grace and incredibly loses out spiritually, turning into a “bankrupt destitute” as it has mentioned extensively in the ahaadith.

• It is mentioned in a famous and known hadith of Sahih Muslim:
  Rasulullah (salallahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Do you know who is the bankrupt destitute?” So the Sahabah (ridhwanullahi alaihim) answered, “He is the one who has no money and possessions.”
  The Messenger of Allah (salallahu alaihi wa sallam) then said: “The bankrupt destitute of my Ummah is the one who will come on the Day of Judgmennt with lots of prayer, fasting and charity in his account. But he will come (in such a state) that he had abused a person physically, or slandered someone, or usurped the wealth of someone else, or shed the blood of someone, thus, each person will be given his due right on that Day from his good deeds to make up for the rights of theirs which he had violated. When all of his good deeds will be finished and wiped out before fulfilment of everyone’s due rights (which he had violated), then the people will cast their sins upon him, then he will be thrown headlong into the fire.”

Mullah Ali Qari (rahimahullah) comments on this hadith saying: “From this hadithh it is understood that in the matter of huququl-ibaad (due rights of the slaves), there is no pardon from Allah Ta`ala nor any intercession which will be accepted, unless He wishes to satisfy the opposing party which demands their rights. (Mirqatul Mafatih ; Vol. 9, pg. 314.)

May Allah Ta`ala save us from not fulfilling our rights which are due to others, and save us from oppression and grant us a correct understanding of our priorities in this path. Aameen.

THE SMILE : BREAKING BAD NEWS SUBTLY

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At dawn the telephone rings. "Hello, Master Carlos? This is Arnaldo your country house caretaker"
"Ah yes, Mr Arnaldo. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?"
"Um, I am just calling to advise you, sir! that your parrot died"
"My parrot? Dead? The one that won the competition?"
"That's the one."
"Darn! That's such a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. Oh well...what did he die from?"
"From eating rotten meat."
"Rotten meat? Who was so mean as to give him meat?"
"Nobody. He ate the meat of one of the dead horses."
"Dead horse? What dead horse Mr. Arnaldo?"
"Why those pure breed ones that you had, sir. They died from all that work pulling the water cart." "Are you insane? What water cart?"
"The one we used to put out the fire."
"Good Lord! What fire are you talking about, man?"
"The one at your house! A candle fell and then the curtain caught on fire."
"What.....!!!But there's electricity at the house!!!! What was the candle for???"
"For the funeral."
"WHAT FUNERAL???!!!!!"
"Your brother's! He showed up one night out of the blue and I thought he was a thief, so I shot him."