The Heart of a Believer

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted from a swuhbah from Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 20^th April 2010. 

Shaykh Nazhim (q.s.) says billions of people receive Guidance and realign their lives based on a single hadits of Rasulullah (s.a.w.).  To understand the deeper matters in religion would be very difficult without support.  We need the support of someone who can open the door to these treasures.  The keys to unlock such treasures have been Given by Allah (s.w.t.) to some of His servants, the Chosen.  These Chosen are those who have completely abandoned dunya.  They are purified, constantly striving to increase in their understanding. 

Pure milk is clean but if it is poured into a dirty pot, that milk would immediately become contaminated and impure – it must then be thrown away.  Allah (s.w.t.) does that not pour heavenly grants of pure illuminated knowledge into the hearts of the impure ones; only those with pure hearts will Receive such heavenly grants from their Lord.  Allah (s.w.t.) Looks into our hearts and He Chooses from amongst them, those who will be recipients of Divine Honour. 

In a hadits qudsi, Allah (s.w.t.) Declared, “Neither My earth nor My heavens can contain Me, but the heart of a believing servant.”  A true believer has a heart with an unlimited capacity, and in such a heart, one will find Allah (s.w.t.).  Our true heavenly being has no limits.  When we say our heart has an unlimited capacity, we mean it from our point of view, not from the Divine point of view, as only Allah (s.w.t.) is truly without any limits. 

That “unlimited” capacity Bestowed by Allah (s.w.t.) on our Hearts, is an Honour for us.  We have been Gifted with an understanding so wide, so far above the rest of Creation.  Although our station above the rest of Creation, we are still part of the Creation.  We are always servants of Allah (s.w.t.), and will never be part of Divinity.  Divinity is beyond all Creation, none may draw near.  It is impossible for a creature to reach the level of the Creator.  Creation is merely witnessing the Oneness of Allah (s.w.t.).  They witness His Beautiful Names and Attributes, but they cannot enter Divinity.  That is the limit. 

Every creature has its status, and it witnesses His Names and Attributes from its own station.  We have been given the highest station of all of Creation from which to bear witness to His Oneness.  Our highest rank in Creation means that our horizon seems endless, hence why the heart of a believer that contains Allah (s.w.t.) is the limit, a limit only we can attain.  No other creature in Creation can comprehend that limit, but beyond it, even we cannot tread.  It is Divinity. 

Despite our station, we are always weak.  We are always at point of zero, and Allah (s.w.t.) is the One.  If the zero is placed on the left of the 1, we get a number 01.  That still equals to 1, and that is our original position – a zero.  But if Allah (s.w.t.) wants to Elevate us, He Moves our 0 to the right of the 1, and we become 10; we now have a value.  In that way, Allah (s.w.t.) Gives us Value, if we seek knowledge of Value.  Allah (s.w.t.) has Honoured us by Giving Understanding so that we devote ourselves to His worship.  That is an Honour without equal.  No other creature has been offered such a Gift. 

Those who seek secret knowledge from the Divine, must know that it is only poured into the hearts of the pure.  Such knowledge cannot come from other than the heavens.  Knowledge of worldly matters will never be found in such inspirations.  Such knowledge has no value in the Divine Presence.  Only Divine Knowledge has value.  Such knowledge filled the Oceans of Knowledge that was in the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) heart.  We must try to take from that Ocean, even if it be just one drop or less than that. 

We were not Sent by Allah (s.w.t.) to this Earth to study dunya.  We were never Sent to master that filth.  Yet today, the emphasis all over the world, is the seeking of  worldly knowledge.  People study it day and night, and they are teaching only that worldly knowledge to all levels in society.  We were never Sent to learn how to become rich or how to build empires.  We can never bringing those onto the final stage of our journey. 

The Prophet (s.a.w.) was Given the keys to all knowledge of dunya and akhirah but he never bothered with the knowledge of dunya.  The Prophet (s.a.w.) exhorted the ummah to seek beneficial knowledge and not to waste time on meaningless activities, and a life spent in pursuing amusement and entertainment.  By acquiring useless knowledge, we lose our value in the Divine Presence.  Rasulullah (s.a.w.) was always aware that knowledge of dunya is worthless.  He never taught it nor encouraged us to seek mastery in it.  Rasulullah (s.a.w.) came to take us from this worldly life to the Divine.  The believers have a duty to seek knowledge that unlocks the understanding of their souls.  The soul belongs to the heavens.  By taking such beneficial knowledge from Rasulullah’s (s.a.w.) heart, we achieve honour and rank. 

The purpose of being a scholar is not to acquire respect from the people around us.  Many scholars enjoy strutting dressed in their scholarly garb.  That is not supposed to be the aim of their existence.  Their sole aim should be to become a fountain of sincere advice to their communities, to teach their followers real knowledge – where they are now, where they have been invited to, and to show them the stairway to spiritual ascension - not to the bowels of dunya. 

The ummah is now plunged into darkness.  It is enveloped by a spiritual darkness that has spread to the four corners of the world.  When it is spiritually dark, we cannot find our way.  When we lose our way, we go astray.  We must seek those who are the warisat al-anbiya’, the inheritors of the Seal of Prophets (s.a.w.).  Their hearts are those of the believing servants, and into such pure hearts are Poured Nur, Divine Illumination, that lights up the darkness around us.  We must be with them and they will lead us to back to Paradise.