The Locks on the Heart

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted Imam Abu Muhammad Sahl ibn ‘Abdullah at-Tustari’s (q.s.) Tafsir at-Tustari. 

سُوۡرَةُ محَمَّد

أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ أَمۡ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبٍ أَقۡفَالُهَآ (٢٤) 

Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur’an, or are their hearts locked up by them? (Surah Muhammad:24) 

When Allah (s.w.t.) Created the hearts, He Secured them with locks.  The keys to those locks were the realities of faith, and the only ones who could open their hearts through those realities were the rusul, the awliya’ and the swiddiqun.  Other people leave this world without the locks on their hearts being opened.  The zuhhad, devout worshippers, and ‘ulama will leave this world with locked hearts because they sought the keys to them with the ‘aql, and thus strayed from the Path. 

If only they had sought them by having help of Divinely-Bestowed tawfiq, and fadhl, they would have attained them the keys.  The true Ka’bah is the heart of the prophets and the awliya’, the locus of the Almighty's Revelation.  The physical Ka’bah is a branch of that.  If it were not for the heart, of what use would the Ka’bah be?  The prophets and the awliya’ forsake their own desire and follow the desire of Allah (s.w.t.).  Whatever He Commands, they do.  Whoever He Denies fadhl, the awliya’ are indifferent.  Indeed in their eyes, such a thing is an enemy if it distracts them from the Real.