The Islamic Bulletin Volume XXII No. 27 Page 5 of them were different colors, and you put them inside of a bag, and shook the bag, and closing your eyes, reached inside that bag. And I told you to pull out marble number one and pull out marble number two and marble number three in order. What is the chance that you will pull out the ten marbles in order? Do you know what the chances are? 26 million in one. So what are the chances of the heaven and earth being thrown in a big bang; and orchestrated like they are. What’s the chance of that? We have to ask ourself a further question. When you see a bridge, or a building, or an automobile, you automatically consider the person or the company that constructed it. When you see an airplane, a rocket, or a satellite, or a large ship, you also think about how incredible an invention it is. When you see a nuclear plant, an orbiting space station, or a super international airport, you have to be thoroughly impressed with the engineering dynamic that are involved. Yet, these are just things that are manufactured by human beings. Then what about the human body; with its massive and intricate control systems? Think about it. Think about the brain; how it thinks, how it functions, how it analyses, how it stores information, retrieves information, distinguishes and categorizes information in a millionth of a second! And does it constantly. Think about the brain for more. This is the brain that made the automobile, the rocket ship, the boats, and so and so; think about the brain that makes everything. Think about your eyes. The human camera; that adjusts, focus, interprets, evaluates, applies color automatically; the natural reception and adjustment to light and distance. The eye is the world’s best camera. It can take flawless pictures and transfer them to the brain without any blurring. Six large powerful muscles control the eye and allow it to move in any desired direction. The focusing muscles of the eye move about 100,000 times a day. To give the leg muscles the same exercise would involve walking 50 miles a day. The delicate parts of this precision instrument are kept clean by the eyelids which act as window wipers. The retina can take ten different pictures each second or 800,000 pictures a day. You blink about 15 times a minute. Who created that? Who has mastered that? Who plans that? And who regulates that? Human beings? No of course not!! What about your eyes, your kidneys, your brain, your life, your breath, your children...what about that? Who gave you that? Is He not worthy of praise and thanks? Is He not worthy of your worship and recognition? Allah (SWT) has said to us in the Quran: ”I have not created the jinn, the spirits, nor the human beings, for any other purpose except to worship Me.” (Quran 51: 56) Our purpose in life is to recognize the Creator, to be grateful to the Creator, to worship the Creator, to surrender ourselves to the Ceator, and to obey the laws that He determined for us. In a nutshell, it means worship. This is our purpose in this life. What is the State of Your Heart? The Prophet (S) said, “Allah does not look at your outward appearance and your wealth, rather He looks at your hearts and deeds.” [Muslim] The Prophet (S) also said about your heart: “Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be sound, all the body is sound and which, if it be diseased, all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart.” [Al-Bukhari, Muslim] Sins have an effect on your heart; they can cause your heart to be sealed so that the light of knowledge does not reach it anymore and the word of Allah do not affect you anymore. There are many diseases we find in our hearts, like jealousy, envy, greed, lust, and showing off. Our aim should be to strive to purify our hearts and turn back to Allah with a sound heart. The Heart and the Mind When you say the word “Think!” most of us point to our heads, right? How many of us point to our hearts when we say “Think?” The Messenger of Allah (S) said, “Taqwa is here,” and he pointed to his chest. [Muslim] Subhanallah, one of the functions of the heart is ta’aqqul (understanding). Allah (SWT) gave us a heart to comprehend, to reflect, and to reason. Different Names for “Heart” in the Quran In the Quran, Allah (SWT) uses different words to describe the heart: qalb, fu’aad, and sadr. Qalb is the general word for heart and the root word means something that turns around, something that changes easily. When Allah (SWT) refers to emaan (faith) and the diseases of the heart, He uses the word qalb. Fu’aad comes from a root that means “burning” or a flame and is used when the heart is inflamed with emotion. A beautiful example is when Allah describes the state of the heart of the mother of Musa (A): “But there came to be a void in the heart (fu’aad) of the mother of Musa (Al-Qasas, 28:10) Imagine how her heart was inflamed with emotions while she put her newborn son into a river! Sadr means “chest.” When Allah (SWT) refers to secrets or motives, He uses the word sadr, like in Surah AlMulk: “He knows what is in every heart.” (Al-Mulk, 67:13) Subhanallah! Understanding and seeing the different word choices of the Quran open a door to a whole new world of meanings. Now the question is, what is your heart attached to? Is it attached to your house, money, favorite TV show, or to those special moments you spend with the Quran and reading about the Prophet? Allah (SWT) says in the Holy Quran: “…when the only one who will be saved is the one who comes before Allah with a heart devoted to Him.” (AshShu’ara, 26:89) How can you train your heart to become devoted and sound? First take this extremely important step and ask Allah by His beautiful names to purify your heart. He is Al-Wahhab (The Giver), so ask Him to give you a pure heart. He is AlQareeb (The Close One), so ask Him to make your heart close to Him. He is Al-Wadood (The Ever-Loving), so ask Him to fill your heart with love for Him. So let’s practice during the Holy month of Ramadan ways to make our hearts more devoted to Allah. With the Shaytaan chained during Ramadan, this month is the perfect time to make changes in our lives. Let us stop our bad traits this Ramadan and make a conscious decision to purify our hearts and our lives.
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