The Battle for Hearts
By Abdullah Hakim Quick | 2026-01-15T12:08:00.73593+00:00 | Topic: Purification
The Battle for Hearts
By Abdullah Hakim Quick
Opening Prayers and Greetings
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger, the Seal of Prophets and Messengers.
O Allah, send blessings and peace upon Your servant and Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family and companions. All praises are due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and surely Allah is the Friend and Protector of the righteous. And I bear witness that Allah is One and has no partners, that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, is His Servant and His last Messenger.
May Allah always and constantly send peace and blessings to Muhammad, to all of his companions, to all of his family, all those who call to his way, and establish his sunnah to the day of judgment. My beloved brothers and sisters, I begin with the greeting words of Paradise. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Gratitude and the Call to Straightforward Speech
Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah over and over again for being able to experience this conference and to see so many of you, who have now grown up in a state of Islam, taking a leadership responsibility. I've come to you from thousands of miles, and I want to speak to you today, not just from the mind, but from the heart. And Allah tells us, Allah tells us in the oft-repeated words: O you who believe, have the consciousness of Allah and speak a straightforward word.
He would repair your deeds and forgive you of your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, has surely gained a mighty triumph. And so I want to speak to you today, in the spirit of straightforwardness and honesty and sincerity.
Signs of Change and Our Responsibility
Because the time is short, and there are many serious things that are happening in this world, right here in the city. We should be aware of the fact, that this earth is in a serious state of change. Even in Toronto, even in Canada, we thought for a long time that in Canada, we are free of everything in the world, but no, just recently, Toronto shook.
And people couldn't believe it. And they turned around 5.0 on the Richter scale. It is a sign. And we have to wake up, especially the Muslims, to the responsibility that we are carrying on our shoulders.
The Final Message and the Last Speech
The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was the last of a long series of messengers. Prophets came to China, to India, to Southeast Asia, to Africa, to Europe, to the Americas, to the Middle East. Every nation received a messenger. The seal of these messengers is our beloved Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
And in his last speech that he gave to his followers, he reminded them of the mercy of Allah and made it clear that the property of a believer, the life and the property of every believer is sacred. Respect the life and property of every believer. It is forbidden to take usury, interest. He made it clear that men have rights over women and women have rights over men.
There is no superiority of the Arabs over the non-Arabs or the opposite, or white over black or the opposite. It is only taqwa, piety and right action, Allah consciousness that separates the believers. Every Muslim is a brother or sister to another. Do not carry out injustice against your brothers and sisters.
Warning About Shaytan's Tactics
And he told them clearly, there will be no prophet after me. This is the final ummah. This is the last community. But one important issue that he spoke about which many people pass over. He said: Beware of the Shaytan for the safety of your religion.
The Shaytan has lost all hope that he will ever be followed in this land. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, but in small things. Beware of him in small things.
So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) tells us, in the major issues, he will not lead you astray. You will know what your salat is. You will know what fasting is. You will know what zakat is. You will know what hajj is. But there are other issues, minor issues where he can take you astray. Beware of him.
The Battle for Hearts
I want to sound an emergency, like the fire alarm that went off here yesterday. This is another kind of fire alarm. It's an emergency of a struggle that is going on. It is an ancient struggle, but it has reached a climax point. And in the year 2000, in the major magazines, there were missionaries, Christian missionaries, who were sent into the lands of Islam, and they openly stated that we are involved in a battle for the hearts.
They did not talk about a heart war or a genocide. They talked about a battle for the hearts. Unashamedly, and they said clearly, dealing with the African continent, and I was surprised to see this in a major magazine, they said the major obstacle to the spread of our teachings in Africa is Islam.
They were clear with it. And they did not hide the reality that they knew was coming to the surface, that Muslims today have tremendous potential. You will find masjids all over the world. I recently came from Australia, and there I met an aboriginal chief in Melbourne, and he came to me and he told me he had embraced Islam and his people were embracing Islam. And we never thought that Islam would reach such a far area and people who were so cut off from society. But it is reaching the four corners of the earth.
Muslims have an enormous amount of wealth. Recently it's said that in Saudi Arabia not only is there oil wealth, but now they said there is gold wealth, and there are huge veins of gold that we knew about in between Mecca and Medina, that some believe it was connected to Nabi Suleiman (peace be upon him). But now it has come forward of these huge gold deposits there. In Afghanistan, huge deposits of minerals. In Somalia, oil wealth, mineral wealth. In Nigeria, you can list the Muslim countries and you will see the wealth that lies beneath our lands.
Our young people are multiplying. Many societies in the West are getting smaller and smaller, and they are described as graying societies. But our societies are getting larger and larger and larger from the bottom up. And people also embracing Islam. And so there is great potential.
The Potential of the Muslim Ummah
The Need for Internal Change
And Muslims now are crying for change. We are crying for a political system, crying for a social system, crying for Islamic economics, crying for the Khalifa. But Allah told us:
Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change that which is in themselves. And we have heard this before. And I want to repeat to you the importance of this.
Remember, the missionaries said, it is a battle for the hearts. They wanted Africa to be a Christian continent by the year 2000. Alhamdulillah, they failed. We're not talking about relief. Anybody who brings relief to the poor or suffering, whether Christian, Muslim, whoever, they have done a good deed. But to try to take people off the path and to put them backwards in their belief, this is something which they described as a battle. But a battle for the inside.
The Heart: A Lump of Flesh
And that goes right along with what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) had said when he spoke about the body and saying:
Sahih al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599
That in the body, there is a lump of flesh. If it is good and sound, the whole body is sound. And if it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted. That is the heart.
The Significance of the Heart
I want to take it a step further today. Because for a long time, we spoke about the superficial aspects of the heart. But I want to look at this very seriously. Because the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has mentioned the heart on many occasions and came forward to the believers.
And it is reported that a person by the name of Wabisa ibn Ma'bad, he came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and asked about birr. He asked about piety. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told him:
Musnad Ahmad 18002
Ask your heart. He did not say, ask your mind. He said, ask your heart.
Scientific Understanding of the Heart
Why would he look at this? Why would he focus on the heart of an individual? We are taught in school that the body is controlled by the brain. The brain gives the signal to the rest of the limbs. The heart is pumping blood. But now even science has come forward to support what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said.
When he lined the Muslims up, he said, shoulder to shoulder, fill in the gaps, so that the Shaytan will not come between you, so your hearts will not go against each other. Why did he say the hearts?
Scientists now look at the heart. It seems like a little lump of flesh. It is the most important organ in the body. The heart beats over 100,000 times per day. Your heart is beating. In a year, your heart will beat over 40 million times. Just think about that. The vascular system in your body, the veins and arteries that are being pumped by this organ, are about 60,000 miles long. One human being, your vascular system 60,000 miles long, twice the circumference of the earth.
The Heart's Intelligence
Your heart is not just a lump of flesh. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said it was a lump of flesh. In other hadith, he talks about something higher than this. Even the scientists now have come forward, and they have shown that the heart has its own brain. The heart has got neurons. It has its own intelligence. It has nerve cells. About 40,000 nerve cells are in your heart.
And these cells transmit information from the heart to the brain. Your heart determines to a great extent what your brain will tell your body. We used to think it was only the brain. But now even scientists recognize that the heart controls the brain.
The Heart's Knowledge
But the knowledge of the heart is not just accumulated knowledge like your brain. Your brain is your computer. The heart has intuitive knowledge. It has basira. It has reflective knowledge, emotional knowledge. It deals with the greater picture. You could even say humanistic knowledge.
That your heart is the real gateway to your soul. It is the real connection that connects your soul, ar-ruh, from Allah to the rest of your body. And so your emotions, your decisions made through your heart affect your mind and your future.
The Attack on Hearts
May Allah protect us from his plan. He understands this. And the heart is like there's a fortress. And the fortress has certain gates around it. The ulema have shown us there are gates surrounding the fortress to your heart.
There is a battle for the heart that is going on right now. They want to capture your heart. They want to take your heart away from the love of Allah and the love of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and the following of the sunnah and take you on to another path. And so the evil one attacks the hearts.
Disease of the Heart: Hasad (Jealousy)
How does he get into this? One of the ways or diseases of the heart which have been recognized by the great scholars of Islam is hasad. It is jealousy. The evil one will attack your heart. You will do good deeds. You will appear to be a pious Muslim. You will come back from hajj. You will finish your fasting in Ramadan.
And then you become jealous of another person. She has a new baby. Ali's got a new car. He pulls up in his new Lamborghini. And that's okay. If you want one like Ali, that's fine. But if you want that car and you hate to see Ali in his car. You hate to see Zainab and her new baby. And so hasad will come.
And some people say, Well, that's an ugly baby anyway. Look at that car. He stole that car. He's copying the kuffar. I don't want anything to do with him. Hasad comes in.
What did the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) say? Beware of jealousy. It will eat up your good deeds like a fire eats up firewood. It will burn up your hajj. Burn up your fasting. Destroy everything that you are doing. And so there is a battle that is going on.
Coming from the inside. And we should recognize that if somebody gets material wealth. Say Alhamdulillah for that person. Because getting wealth is not necessarily a blessing. You will go to many Muslim countries and they have a lot of wealth. But they leave in the masjid. They're leaving their faith. So the wealth did not help them.
Disease of the Heart: Ghadab (Anger)
Another area that the evil one attacks our hearts is through anger. It is through uncontrolled anger. We can't control ourselves. Some people don't have enough emotions. They see Islam under attack and they feel nothing. But other people have too much anger. And we see it now in the Muslim world. And this I say to the young people. It is a danger. You have to control yourself.
You will see another Muslim. He has a different opinion. And you start to get angry. And when they debate with somebody they foam at the mouth. They start shaking in their body. And sometimes they will actually commit violence against another person. And so, too much ghadab. Anger, uncontrolled anger. We need to be able to control ourselves. Seek refuge from Allah, from the evil one.
Disease of the Heart: Shahwa (Desires)
Another way that we are being attacked in the battle of the hearts is not just a physical war. It is a war of desires. A shahwa. The desires will kill your heart. And the scholars have told us if you eat food and you eat too much and you are overly filled with food and you start to get lazy and ignorant and you will leave your Islamic practices and it will actually affect your heart.
And so, desires. And we see it today pumped up in front of us with the billboards. We see it on the trains. We see it in the television, in the movies. All around us, our desires are being pumped up. The television is now showing movies to the younger generation that would be considered XXX movies before. Now it's a regular thing. They pump up people's desires.
And some Muslims get pumped up with their desires. They're watching the movie and it's time to get married and they want their husband. They say, OK, here is Zayd. You will marry Zayd. Zayd, it must be Superman. They want him to be Superman. They expect their wife to be Miss Universe who's Hafiz of the Quran and a black belt in karate.
That's what some of them will say in Muslim Harmony. The brother come to me, he said he wants his wife must be 5'10". She must be Hafiz of Quran. She must be a PhD. She must be beautiful. I said, brother, what are you? If you want this, you want Miss Universe in hijab. Are you Mr. Universe in a kufi? What do you have? Come down to reality.
The Reality of True Love
We are human beings. Love is not something, it's not infatuation. This is shaytanic. That Cupid comes along and strikes you and you hopelessly in love. True love develops between individuals when they love Allah and His Messenger. When they strive together. When they make dua together. When they move in the path of Allah. So, desires is a serious way that we are under attack.
Disease of the Heart: Al-'Ajalah (Haste)
Another way and it's interesting that the scholars have brought this out. They said one of the ways that the heart can be affected is haste. Doing things too quickly. Doing it too quickly. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2012)
"He said, haste is from the devil."
So, take your time. Take your time when you want to get married. Find out about your husband. Find out about your wife. She said, no, I want to marry him. He looks good. He has nice curl in his hair. He's a handsome man. I want to marry him.
I want to know first, brother. Do you have a job? Can you support your family? What recommendations do you have? What is the level of your deen? That's what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to look at. Don't do things in haste. Take your time.
Ulema have only allowed us haste in certain occasions. If it's time for salat, then make your salat. If you have azad war rahila, you have the ability to go to hajj, don't wait until you're 50, 60 years old. Go to hajj. Go right away. But in our affairs, we need to have moderation.
Disease of the Heart: Suwa Dhan (Suspicion)
Another important issue that the scholars have spoken about and it will destroy the heart and that is suspicion. Suwa dhan. That you suspect other people. You look at a person and you judge that person by their outward makeup and you suspect the wrong things. And the evil one can come into our hearts and take us off the path.
So we need to never forget that there is an internal struggle that is going on.
A New Perspective on the Heart
I want to take the study of the heart to a new perspective. We have understood that the knowledge of the heart is intuitive knowledge. It is emotional knowledge. It is humanistic knowledge. It is the knowledge of the human being. The essence of what is really going on. That is the kind of knowledge that we need in our community today.
The Role of Masajid
And I say this to the younger generation. We have built masjids in many cases for the wrong purposes. Yes, the main purpose of the masjid is to make sujood. But in the masjid of Rasulullah (peace and blessings be upon him), there was also ta'aleem. There was education. There was the remembrance of Allah. Even political decisions were made in the masjid.
And so it is an all-purpose community center. It is the focus of the community in the masjid. And so our communities need to base themselves on the house of Allah.
The Reality of Today's Muslim Population
This knowledge of the direction of Islam, the heart will look at the real reality of Muslims. What is the real reality today? A recent study was done and it showed that 48% of the world population is under 24 years old. 48% of people on earth. They're under 24.
In Africa and most of the Muslim countries, over 60% of the population is under 24 years old. You take all of the Muslims today and bring them on one field and you will see the majority are teenagers, young adults. This is the real Muslim community.
Five Global Crises Facing Youth
What is facing the youth in the world today? These will be the crises that we will need to have the scholars to look at. Our leaders, our communities, our families. There are five issues that we will have to face. And I say this to you with: Speak a straightforward word.
It was identified that the crisis of the younger generation going into the 21st century, there are five things which are crises.
Crisis One: Violence
Number one, violence. This generation is facing violence like no other time. There are more ways to kill people today than any other time. And quiet as it's kept, Muslims have the largest refugee population on earth. It's us. The largest population driven out of their homes.
So we will have to be dealing with violence and people who are traumatized. Traumatized. And we will have to try to establish a state of peace within ourselves, within our masajid, within our communities and inshallah within our countries.
Crisis Two: Erosion of Traditional Values
Number two, of the problems which have been identified as international problems amongst the youth and it hits us as well, they call it the erosion of traditional values. And what that means is that people, young people of every religion are leaving. They leave their church. They leave their synagogue. They leave their temple. They want nothing to do with their families.
They would rather eat McDonald's. If you ask them, would you like a nice plate of biryani? Would you like your injera or something nice? Many people say, no, I want Kentucky Fried Chicken. Like nobody else fries chicken but people in Kentucky. I want McDonald's. The Golden Arches. This is a battle for the hearts.
It's a psychological battle which is going on. Take them away from their tradition. Take them away from their Islamic way of doing things and so they will be so confused and so plastic and so artificial that they won't be able to worship Allah properly.
Practical Solutions Needed
Take them off the path. And this is a struggle in our own community with the young people need to have practical forms of Islam, practical forms of Dawah. Not just talking but we need to provide solutions to the problems of society and do it as a Muslim. Help the homeless as a Muslim. Do relief as a Muslim and your actions will speak louder than your words.
Crisis Three: Poverty
Number three of the crises of the 21st century facing the younger generation all over the world, poverty. The majority of the wealth is controlled by a tiny minority. The majority of the wealth. And so we will have to be involved in relief. Relief should be part of our life. It's another word for Sadaqah. For Zakat. We need to constantly give of ourselves.
Crisis Four: Disease
Number four of the crises facing the younger generation, it is disease. There are diseases now coming up which were never known by previous generations. Striking the land. And we have seen this in Africa, in Asia, in South America, how the diseases are rampaging in many of the countries.
We will have to face this and our scientists need to bring Islamic solutions, bring back holistic science where we use chemistry and biology to serve the creator and not to serve the military industrial complex. And so the fight against disease.
Crisis Five: Drugs
Number five is drugs. As quiet as it's kept, drugs is destroying our younger generation. And as we sit in a conference, there are many young people who are involved in street gangs. They wear the colors of their posse. They take Bay'ah not to the Imam or the Sheikh, they take a pledge to the gang leader and they will die for him. And what is the basis? Drugs.
They are selling illegal drugs. And so there are many people in our community who will not only sell drugs, they will take drugs and they need help. So we will have to develop detoxication centers to take people off the drugs in an Islamic way.
Community Action Against Drugs
We will have to protect our masjids and our areas from drug dealers coming into our area. In Cape Town, the people stood up with the Imams and took a stance against the drug dealers and cleaned out their areas of the
drugs, helped the people off the drugs, and for the younger generation give them serious lessons about the danger of drugs. Preventative medicine. Not just after the drugs, before the drugs. Let them see what these dangerous chemicals can do to the body. And so the younger generation will be facing these problems.
The Comprehensive Role of Masajid
So our masjids need to deal not only with sujood but we need to deal with education, with employment, with hunger and poverty, with health issues, with drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure time activities. What are the people doing on Friday night? Where do they go on Saturday night? The community needs to provide solid activities for the weekend because that is the time the shaytan marches publicly.
Inclusion and Leadership
Girls and young women need to be not only protected but included in Islamic leadership. It is a crucial issue for the future. And finally, the younger generation need to be involved in the leadership, not put to the side, not only for youth programs, but the younger generation need to give their opinion to the masjids, to our leaders in which direction we should go.
Because many of us we are not in touch with the technology. I was born in B.C. and some people say B.C. you are that old, you are like the Flintstones. No, I was born before computers. And now some people can even say I was born in B.F. I was born before Facebook because the Facebook generation is a new mindset altogether.
The Path Forward
But it is through the understanding of the technologies, the understanding of the living real world around us, with the remembrance of Allah, with our taqwa strong, with our sources authentic, holding on to the sunnah, turning to Allah and knowing the environment around us, we need to go to our hearts as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ask your heart, go to your heart. That is the real brain: intuitive, emotional, well informed knowledge. That is what we need today to break down some of the divisions and schisms that are between believers.
Unity Among Muslims
There is no reason why Muslims should be fighting other Muslims. There is no reason why a Muslim should have hatred in their heart for another person who is making Salat and believes in the same Lord and Messenger as him. Clear your hearts of all of this. This is not the way of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
If your brother or sister is off the path and doing wrong, make dua for them. Pray for them. Give them advice and pray for them. That is the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
No Hatred for Non-Muslims
There is no reason why we should have hatred in our hearts for non-Muslims, for people of other faith. There is no hatred in the heart because every human being is born on the fitrah. Every human being is Muslim and born in a natural way and it is their parents that take them astray.
So within every human being that you see outside in the streets there is a potential Muslim, a potential ally, a potential human being who needs the mercy of Islam and the mercy of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) who is described as Rahmatan Lil Alameen, he was a mercy for all of the worlds.
Closing Du'a
And so I leave you with these thoughts and I ask Allah to empower the younger generation from this conference, that this will become a step-off board into relevant programs in our communities which will serve the needs of Muslims on the ground and the crises that young people are facing in the streets.
May Allah convert all of the gang leaders. May all the gang leaders take shahada. May all of the gang followers become followers of Rasulullah (peace and blessings be upon him). And may they use the energy that they have to fight for their drugs to stand up for the truth and to stand up for what is right.
And may Allah forgive us for the mistakes that we have made, for we know not what we do. I say this and I ask Allah forgiveness for me and you and for all Muslims from all sins. And peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.