highlights
34 highlights saved, filed under philosophy.
- 01
It is to actively and sincerely seek purification of the heart by removing four things: love of praise; fear of blame; desire for worldly benefit from people; and fear of harm from people.
- 02
The Prophet said: Be mindful of God, and God will protect you. Be mindful of God, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of God. If you seek help, seek help from God. Know that if the whole world were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. And if the whole world were to gather together to harm you, it would harm you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted, and the ink has dried.
- 03
One must have courtesy with regard to God—behave properly with respect to His presence—if he or she wishes to purify the heart. But how does one achieve this courtesy? Imam Mawlūd mentions two requisite qualities associated with courtesy: modesty (ḥayā’) and humility (dhul).
- 04
awesome realization that each of us, at every moment, lives and acts before the august presence of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the one God besides whom there is no power or might in all the universe.
- 05
When we seriously reflect on God’s perfect watch over His creation and the countless blessings He sends down, and then consider the kind of deeds we bring before Him, what can we possibly feel except humility and shame? These strong feelings should lead us to implore God to change our state, make our desires consonant with His pleasure, giving up our designs for God’s designs. This is pure courtesy with respect to God, a requisite for spiritual purification.
- 06
The Prophet said, “None of you [fully] believes until his desires are in accordance with what I have brought.”
- 07
A person should not seek anything from God’s servants. If one wants anything, one should seek it from God, the Sovereign of the heavens and the earth.
- 08
The basic rule is to ask God and then work; that is, one should utilize the means (asbāb) that one must use in order to achieve something in this world.
- 09
Imam Mawlūd then says that one should hasten “to fulfill [God’s] command” and be “wary of the subtle encroachment of bad manners,” namely, faults that one is unaware of. A hadith states, “One of you will say a word and give it no consideration, though it will drag the person [who uttered it] through Hellfire for 70 years.”
- 10
Freedom has real meaning when, for example, a situation of temptation arises and one remains God-fearing, steadfast, and in control of one’s actions. This holds true even when the temptation produces flickers of desire in a person who nonetheless refrains from indulging.
- 11
According to a prophetic tradition, each morning, when the limbs and organs awaken in the spiritual world, they shudder and say to the tongue, “Fear God concerning us! For if you are upright, then we are upright; and if you deviate, we too deviate.”
- 12
Engaging in the regular remembrance of God (dhikr) safeguards the tongue and replaces idle talk with words and phrases that raise one in honor. The tongue is essential in developing courtesy with God, which is the whole point of existence.
- 13
The Prophet stated, “If the son of Adam sins, a black spot appears in the heart. And if the person repents, it is erased. But if he does not, it continues to grow until the whole heart becomes pitch black.”
- 14
Purity of heart never survives a passive relationship. One must always guard his or her heart.
- 15
Imam ʿAlī said, “The worst person is the miser. In this world, he is deprived of his own wealth, and in the Hereafter, he is punished.”
- 16
The Prophet once asked some clansmen about their leader. They mentioned his name and said, “But he is a bit of a miser.” The Prophet said, “A leader should never be a miser.” Then he added, “Do you know of any disease that is worse than miserliness?”
- 17
The cure for hatred is straightforward. One should pray for the person toward whom he feels hatred, making specific supplications that mention this person by name, asking God to give this person good things in this life and the next. When one does this with sincerity, hearts mend. If one truly wants to purify his or her heart and root out disease, there must be total sincerity in carrying out the treatments and conviction that these cures are effective.
- 18
Envy is a rejection of God’s apportionment in the world. Thus, one is opposing how God meted out sustenance in accord with His wisdom. Therefore, one must oppose his own ego’s desires and seek treatment for this disease with the healing force of acceptance of the divine decree and prayer on behalf of one’s enemies in a way that suppresses the ego [nafs].
- 19
The great Muslim scholar, Ibn ʿaṭā’allāh (d. 709/1309), said, “If you desire immortal glory, seek glory in the Immortal.”
- 20
The Prophet said, “Remember often the destroyer of pleasure,” that is, death.
- 21
Someone once asked ʿĀ’ishah j, the Prophet’s wife, about the most wondrous aspect she observed of the Prophet . She said, “Everything about him was wondrous. But I will say this: when the veiling of the night came, and when every lover went to his lover, he went to be with God.”
- 22
“And you will think that you tarried [on earth] only for a short while” (QUR’AN, 17:52).
- 23
An Islamic tradition attributed to Jesus states, “The world is a bridge; so pass over it to the next world, but do not try to build on it.”
- 24
The Prophet said, “Whoever is not thankful to people will not be thankful to God.”
- 25
A blessing (niʿmah) is something that God bestows. One of God’s names is al-Munʿim, the Bestower of Blessing. Envy, then, is to desire that a person lose whatever blessing God has given him or her. It is tantamount to saying that God should not have given this person a blessing or, worse yet, that He was wrong to do so “because I deserve it more.”
- 26
God is all-wise in what He gives to people. If one questions the blessing a person has received, then he or she is actually questioning the Giver. This makes envy reprehensible and forbidden.
- 27
Resentment may prevent one from accomplishing significant achievements. A person who shuns envy, even when others around him seem to be passing him by, is motivated to excel, unimpeded by depression and resentment.
- 28
Imam al-Ghazālī makes a distinction between various strains of envy. He states that if one hates envy and is ashamed that he or she harbors it, the person is not essentially an envious person. It is important to be aware of the feelings that reside in one’s heart. This self-awareness is essential for the purpose of purification.
- 29
“Whoever is safe from the covetousness of his own soul, he is truly successful” (QUR’AN , 59:9).
- 30
The Prophet said, “There is a tree in Paradise reserved for one whose own faults preoccupied him from considering the faults of others.”
- 31
“And whoever fears God, He will make for him a way out. And He will provide for him in a way he never expected. And whoever trusts in God, He is sufficient for him” (QUR’AN , 65:2–3).
- 32
The Prophet said, “Contentment is a treasure that is never exhausted.”
- 33
The heart also needs to breathe, and the breath of the heart is none other than the remembrance of God. Without it, the spiritual heart dies.
- 34
One can say that Islam in essence is a program to restore purity and calm to the heart through the remembrance of God.