The Blind Heart

The Blind Heart

Dr. Bilal Philips

Opening

All praise is due to Allah, and may Allah's peace and blessings be on the last messenger of Allah.

Introduction: The Blind Heart

The blind heart. This title is taken from a verse in Surah Al-Hajj, verse 46, where Allah says:

"Indeed, it is not the sight which becomes blind, but the hearts in the chest that become blind."

Al-Shanqiti, the author of Adwaa Al-Bayan, one of the books of Tafsir (Tafsir of the Quran by the Quran), said that because the blindness of the eyes, along with the sight of the heart, is not harmful, Allah used this metaphor, and that is in contrast with the opposite. For one whose eyes are blind can reflect and benefit from the sight of the heart.

Indeed, it is not the sight which becomes blind, but the hearts in the chest which become blind.

The Worst Calamity

Allah talks here about a particular kind of blindness. If somebody were to ask you, what's the worst thing that could happen to you? A lot of people would say, to lose my sight, to become blind, physically blind. This is amongst the worst things that could happen.

Imagine, you can't see anything. You have to function in the world without being able to see. However, the Prophet ﷺ quoted Allah as saying:

"Indeed, if I test my creature by taking his sight, and he is patient, I will replace them with paradise."

If I test my creature, my slave (عَبْدِي), by taking his sight – this is the worst thing we said could happen to us, lose your sight. If he is patient, Allah promises to replace the loss of his sight with paradise. To be patient means that his heart has to still be able to reflect.

His heart still sees what is right. He has lost the sight of his eyes, but his heart is still in the right place, is still seeing what is right. What is right is that we are patient with the trials of life.

Understanding Through the Heart

Whatever Allah puts on us is for a good purpose. No matter how bad it may seem, no matter how painful it may be, if Allah has put it on us, it is for our benefit. If our hearts can reflect on that, can understand it, then we see.

If our hearts can't, our hearts can't accept it, then our hearts become blind. And this life becomes wretched.

Elsewhere in the Quran, in Surah Al-Isra, verse 72, Allah says:

"Whoever was blind in this life will be more blind and astray in the next."

Whoever was blind in this life will be more blind and astray in the next. What does that mean? Whoever was blind in this life, in what sense? Blind physically or blind in the heart? Blind in the heart. Blindness of the heart.

If they have blindness of the heart, then they will be blind in the next life. As Allah said, in Surah Taha, verses 124 to 126, whoever turns away from remembering Me will have a wretched life. And I will resurrect him blind on the day of resurrection.

And he will say:

"My Lord, why have You raised me up blind when I used to have sight?"

"Thus did Our signs come to you, and you disregarded them. So in the same way on this day, you are disregarded."

The Heart: Not the Physical Organ

And of course when Allah speaks about the blind heart, He's not talking about the physical heart. When the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim)

"Indeed, Allah doesn't look at your forms, your face, your shape and your wealth. Instead He looks at your hearts and your deeds."

Indeed, Allah doesn't look at your forms, your face, your shape and your wealth. Instead He looks at your hearts and your deeds. And on another occasion He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599)

"Indeed, there is a clump of flesh in the body. If it becomes good, the whole body becomes good. And if it goes bad, the whole body becomes bad. Indeed, it is the heart."

Taking Care of Our Hearts

So Allah and the Prophet ﷺ in his sunnah stressed the importance of taking care of our hearts. We tend to be more concerned with taking care of our bodies, how we look, the kind of clothes we wear, our form, our outer form – this is what is most important to us. But reality is that what should be most important is our hearts.

And of course, when Allah and his messenger refer to the heart, they're not talking about the physical heart in the body. Because that heart can be replaced. In 1967, Dr. Christian Barnard replaced the first human heart with another heart.

That man lived for 18 days. And in 2001, Drs. Gray and Downling replaced another man's heart, a man by the name of Robert Tools, replaced his heart with a mechanical heart.

And he lived for 5 months. So, when their hearts were changed, did they change? No. So when Allah and the Prophet speak about the heart, they're speaking about the essence of the human being.

The essence, the internal being, you. Not the physical external, but you, your essence, your soul. And your soul resides according to the Quran and the Sunnah in the place of the heart.

And that's why it's referred to as the heart. But not the physical thing, because that might be confusing to you. So Allah tells us to be concerned about our souls, ourselves.

We have to take care of these selves. And this is most important. Because otherwise this life becomes wasted.

The Wretched Life

And the life becomes wretched. Because Allah had said in the previous verses what I mentioned:

"Whoever turns away from remembering Me will have a wretched life."

One who doesn't look after his or her heart, their life will be wretched. They will never find happiness, real happiness. And this is what is happening in the society around us. When we look in the media, the media shows us certain individuals, singers, actors, and others who seem to have everything.

Their lives are full with wealth and pleasure and fun and everything. But you hear about them killing themselves. Taking drugs.

Their lives are a mess. In spite of all of those things, the wealth, the beauty, how handsome, how beautiful they look. In spite of all of that they still end up killing themselves.

Abusing themselves. Harming themselves with drugs and these kinds of things. Why? Because their hearts were blind.

Blinded.

"Allah sealed their hearts."

Because they turned away.

They turned away from Allah. And they indulged in the forbidden things. In evil, in sin and corruption.

Then their hearts become darkened. Blind ultimately. So instead for the believer, for the Muslim, he or she should be concerned about their heart.

A Dua About the Heart

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught us a dua. A dua about the heart. Which we all should learn.

It was narrated by Ibn Umar. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi 3482, Sunan al-Nasa'i 5536)

"O Allah, I seek refuge in you from a heart without fear, and I seek refuge in you from a prayer unanswered, an unsatisfied soul, a knowledge of no benefit. I seek refuge in you from these four."

O Allah, I seek refuge in you from a heart without fear. A heart which has no fear of Allah. That is the blind heart.

It has no fear of Allah. It is not conscious of Allah. It is not guided by Allah in any way, shape or form.

As a result, وَمِنْ دُعَاءِ لَا يُسْمَعُ – one's heart that is blind when he or she makes dua, is Allah going to hear it? Is Allah going to answer that dua? No. Because the heart is blind. It's only going through the ritual.

The person whose heart is not conscious of Allah when he or she raises their hands in prayer, it is just a ritual. So it will not be answered.

وَمِنْ نَفْسٍ لَا تَشْبَعُ – the soul that is unsatisfied.

The Unsatisfied Soul

What happens when the heart is blind? The soul can never be satisfied. It seeks satisfaction from the things around like through drugs, through women, through wealth, through power, through all kinds of things of the material things of this world. It will seek happiness through it.

Satisfaction, contentment. But will it reach it? Will it achieve it? No. That blind heart will never be satisfied.

That's why the Prophet ﷺ said that if the child of Adam were given a valley of gold, it would want another valley. Never satisfied. But real wealth is the wealth which is in the heart.

As the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Wealth, true wealth is not from a lot of property. However, true wealth is the wealth of the soul."

Signs of the Blind Heart

So, if we are to understand what the blind heart is, and how to cure it, we need to know what are the signs of the blind heart, based on what we have covered so far.

We can look at the signs of the blind heart. The first sign of the blind heart is negligence of Allah.

First Sign: Negligence of Allah

It is a heart which is full of doubt. Not sure about Allah and about anything. It's the type of heart who easily is set on ease by the question, who created Allah? We're supposed to believe in Allah, but then who created Allah? That is the heart which is doubtful.

It is not really conscious. You can't ask the question, who created Allah? Because Allah had no beginning. You can't create what has no beginning.

You can only create something which has a beginning. So to ask, who created Allah, is a nonsensical question. It's a question which is ridiculous.

Allah is the creator of everything. Or some people will say, out of negligence of Allah, I didn't ask Allah to create me, so why should I have to pray and do all these other things? I didn't ask Him to create me. Have you heard that question before? You heard people say that? I didn't ask Allah to create me.

Some people say that. This is again signs of a blind heart. You don't want to die.

You're happy that you're living, but you're not thankful to Allah that He brought you into this world. This is a doubtful heart. Negligent of Allah.

Such a person of course, salah, either he or she is not praying. They only pray when mom and dad says pray. If mom and dad are standing around, then they will pray.

But if mom and dad don't see them and they're off with their friends, etc. No salah. Salah is only something that they do when somebody is around to order them to do it.

That is negligence of Allah. If a person, if you feel that, then know that you have a degree of blindness of the heart.

Second Sign: Admonition Has No Effect

The second sign is admonition or advice has no effect. Admonition or advice has no effect. Meaning, people advise you to what's right, do this.

You shouldn't really do this. Has no effect. In fact, you dislike the truth.

When people come to you the truth, you don't like to hear it. It's difficult to accept. You can't submit to it.

Advice has no effect. Whether somebody told you don't do it or they told you do it, it's all the same, you're gonna do it anyway.

Third Sign: No Guilt When Sin Is Committed

The third sign is no guilt or pain when sin is committed.

Instead, pleasure and peace of mind. When a person does a sin, does what is haram, what is forbidden, they don't feel any guilt. They don't feel any pain.

There's no feeling, sense of wrongness there. Instead, what happens? They feel pleasure. Doing that sin, they only feel pleasure and peace of mind.

They feel good. That was nice. That is the sign among the signs of the blind heart.

Fourth Sign: Discomfort With the Righteous

The fourth and last one which I'm mentioning to you is discomfort being in the company of the righteous and comfort in the company of the corrupt.

Meaning, when you're invited to be amongst good people, you feel uncomfortable. Oh, they're talking about stuff, they're talking about Islam, I don't really feel like being around them.

No, I prefer to be with the other guys who are talking about what? Talking about cars and women, drugs, having a good time, hip-hop, whatever, bop.

That's among the signs of the blind heart. So we have to ask ourselves to the degree that we have these four signs, major signs, and there are other signs.

I'm only mentioning four of the major signs. The more of those signs we have, the more blind our hearts are. The less we have, the more our hearts are alive.

The Cure for the Blind Heart

So what is the cure? How do we cure these illnesses? These diseases that are blinding our hearts? Well, there are four basic cures that we can look at.

First Cure: Sincere Remembrance of Allah

The first cure is sincere remembrance of Allah. To remember Allah sincerely, either by dhikr, dhikrullah, to say, subhanallah, alhamdulillah, wa la ilaha illallah, wa allahu akbar, to say these words of remembrance which the Prophet ﷺ told us, say them understanding what they mean, saying them at the appropriate times.

When we finish eating, alhamdulillah. When we see something amazing, allahu akbar. When we see something which catches our attention, subhanallah.

So we use these phrases and we say them with meaning. We make them a part of our daily life. This is one of the ways of curing the blind heart.

Also, dua that we turn to Allah in sincere repentance. Turn to Allah, call on Him, be conscious of Him. Make dua which has meaning, not just rattle off Arabic phrases and words but actually think about what you're saying.

Say it in your own language. Say it because you're communicating, we're talking about dua, not salah, but dua. Make dua after the prayers, make dua to Allah sincerely from your heart, asking Allah to help you.

We say it:

"O Allah show us the straight path."

[Quran 1:6]

We need to ask for it regularly. This will help to cure us of the negligence of Allah.

And also the Quran, this is a part of remembrance of Allah. To read the Quran regularly, to read it and reflect on its meanings, even just a little bit every day, in the morning with our families. Read the Quran.

This will help us to remember Allah. It will help us to reflect on Allah. It is all a part of dhikrullah.

Second Cure: Righteous Deeds

The second cure is righteous deeds. Do the good things that we know we should be doing. Do the right thing.

In the different circumstances we catch ourselves in, try to do the right thing. And do it when people advise us. Right? When people advise us to do good things, try to do them.

In fact we should go and seek out good deeds, good things, good actions, good words, and to do and to say them as much as we can. Because being good is what is required of us. Being good is what is required of us.

Being bad, though it may make you popular in some circles, being bad, you're the hero. You're the baddest guy on the block. Right? So you're the hero.

But really you've lost your way. Because success in this life will depend on how good you are. Failure will depend on how bad you are.

Third Cure: Repentance and Remorse

The third cure for the blind heart is repentance and remorse. That you feel bad about what you did. Maybe the first time you did that bad thing, you're still feeling no guilt.

But you stop yourself and say, hey, you know, this is not a good thing. I really shouldn't be doing it. Though you don't necessarily feel it in your heart, but if at least you try to stop yourself, tell yourself that it's not good.

If you do it more and more times eventually, then your heart will come alive and realize and accept and reflect and know that what you're doing is not right. So you repent to Allah. You say, Astaghfirullah.

I seek your forgiveness O Allah. And you say it reflecting and thinking about what you're doing. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had said that we should seek forgiveness from Allah and that he himself used to do it more than a hundred times every day.

Astaghfirullah. Astaghfirullah. But when we do it, we should think about what we're seeking Allah's forgiveness for.

Not just to do it as a ritual, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah. And if you keep doing that, you can do it faster and faster Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah. So you can finish off your hundred in a minute, but you didn't know what you said and your heart wasn't in it.

So there you're still in the blind state. For you to come alive, you have to think, you have to reflect, your heart has to be involved in istaghfar and seeking forgiveness from Allah.

Fourth Cure: Seek the Company of the Righteous

And the fourth principle is to seek the company of the righteous.

You have to change your company. If the people around you are not good, they're not encouraging you to be good, they are themselves blind. Their hearts are blind.

Then you have to leave them. You have to go and find those who will help you to keep your heart alive. Help you for your heart to reflect because they're conscious.

They're aware. This is the challenge. The challenge of overcoming the blind heart.

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Closing Dua

As Allah said:

"Indeed, it is not the sight which becomes blind but the hearts in the chest that become blind."

[Quran 22:46]

I ask Allah to help us to cure our hearts and bring them alive that they would reflect and remove the blindness from them. Protect us. Help us to protect our hearts.

Questions and Answers Session

Question: Sheikh, you mentioned that the heart is not the real heart.

Answer: No, the heart is a real heart. Right? The heart is a real heart. But I said the heart in these verses and in the Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ it refers to the location and not the physical heart. It's still real.

The heart which means the soul is still real. The fact that Angel Gabriel took out the Prophet's heart and cleaned it on two occasions doesn't mean that the heart which we spoke about here is different or that that heart is referring only to the physical – as I said that spiritual heart, the heart of us, our core, when you talk about you know you love somebody with all your heart I mean is it really that physical thing in there? No. But that is the location so if Angel Gabriel took out the heart and cleansed it the physical as well as spiritual this was a miracle, a miracle by Allah which was done through Angel Gabriel. You think anybody can take your heart out now cut it open and clean it? Clean it of sin? Well maybe if you have a lot of cholesterol it can clean out some of the things that are clogging it up for you but clean it of sin? No.

Or can they pour Iman in it?

Like Angel Gabriel did into the heart of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)? No. So what we are talking about as I said in the very beginning was not that physical organ pumping blood but the heart of the individual, the core, the soul, the essence.

Question: How do you know what signs or what signs tell you that Allah has forgiven you?

Answer: Just know that if you are sincere, if one is sincere in asking Allah's forgiveness then Allah will forgive you no matter how many times that we turn back to Allah if we are sincere he will forgive that is certainty. If we are praying to Allah not certain that he is going to forgive us then our prayer of seeking forgiveness is going to be defective when we pray to Allah as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said:

"Call on Allah being certain that he answers your prayers."

[Sunan al-Tirmidhi 3479]

So when we turn to him in repentance we have to certainly believe that he will forgive us because if we don't believe that if we have doubt about Allah's forgiveness then we will not turn to him sincerely.

Question: Question about a woman who every time she reminds her husband to go and pray keeps saying Inshallah, Inshallah you know there will come a time when I will pray.

Answer: Well that is not a good relationship because obviously it is not built on worshipping Allah and remember that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) had said:

"Marriage is half of the religion."

It is half of the religion so that half is not being fulfilled in that marriage so if that woman has tried tried to encourage him and he still refuses to pray then the best thing is to leave him it is the best thing to leave him if he is not changing he is not making any effort just saying Inshallah, Inshallah, Inshallah things can only get worse.

Question: What if you have like a Muslim friend and you tell him to pray with you but he refuses?

Answer: If you have a Muslim friend and you ask him to pray with you and he refuses well, the best thing is to find out why try to find out why is he refusing so, if he has some mistaken idea then you try to correct that idea if he does know he should be praying and everything but he just doesn't want to pray then you need to find another friend because remember as the prophet said you will be raised on the day of judgment with your friends.

Question: How can a heart be blind?

Answer:

(Directed to the audience) Can somebody explain for him how the heart can be blind please somebody was awake in the lecture how can your heart be blind can you explain?

Audience response: Like, if you don't believe in Allah, if you don't fear Allah, if you don't fear Allah and if you don't pray or do any of that sort of stuff and you hang around with non-Muslim people – that's how your heart becomes blind if you don't fear Allah then you won't do the right thing you won't be able to see the right thing to do.

Question: If you do not believe in Allah will you go to hell fire?

Answer: If you don't believe in Allah yes, you will go to hell.

Question: What about if you had no time in school to pray?

Answer: If the school you pray when you go home if you didn't have a chance to pray at school, do you pray when you go home? If it's asr time, if you didn't pray dhuhr and it's asr time you pray your dhuhr first and then your asr.

Question: How about if there's not a better friend than the friend that doesn't pray?

Answer: If all the people around you don't pray is that what you're saying? Well you have to go find someplace else where people pray, or you have to convince them to pray you have to talk to them you have to find out why they're not praying you have to encourage them until you get some of them to pray with you.

Questioner: How about if they don't want to?

Answer: If they don't want to then you have to find some people who want to pray and make them your friends.

Question: As you were saying earlier in the lecture you were saying something about how the son of Adam even though if he had one valley of gold he would want another what do you exactly mean about that?

Answer: Well it means that you're never satisfied if you had one valley of gold you should say that should be enough for you but no, when you have one valley of gold you want another valley of gold meaning the more you have, the more you want or they say the grass is always greener on the other side. That's what it means that we're never satisfied. The more you have, ok right now you want to have a motorbike you get a motorbike, then you want to have a car you get a car, you want to have an airplane you know, after the airplane you want to have a rocket ship you know, whatever, you're never satisfied that is how human beings are.

Question: Recently I came across a hadith that says that a brother shouldn't hit a Muslim brother in the face because Allah created man in his form. I was wondering because my friend said that his is a pronoun going back to the man himself. I say that it's actually going back to Allah meaning that Allah created human in the form of Allah not resembling just in the same form i.e. you can see, you can hear, so on. He insists that the pronoun

goes back to man and this doesn't concur with the Quran that says nothing is like Allah. I wish if you can clarify anything to this.

Answer: Shaykh Nasser al-Din al-Albani one of the leading hadith scholars of this century he held the same position that the pronoun when it says Allah created Adam in his form that his form refers to the form in which he created Adam not in Allah's form that this was his opinion and he brought other hadith to support that and I believe also that is the strongest opinion.

Question: When you went to a doctor appointment and you missed Dhuhr and Asr and you come home at Isha time what do you do?

Answer: If you go for a doctor's appointment and you miss Dhuhr and Asr and Maghrib that's a very long doctor's appointment you must be having open heart surgery and brain surgery and everything all together to get that one that's a serious surgery. No, I don't think that's too likely to happen really you know, maybe you might miss your Asr. The point is what you do is if you know you're going to the doctor's office is going to take a period of time in which you're going to miss one of your prayers then you make the intention to join your prayers say before you go to the office to the doctor's office, it's like Dhuhr time, so what you do is you pray Dhuhr and Asr at that time and then go, you understand? And if you know you're going to be delayed and miss Maghrib, then you make the intention to pray Maghrib and Isha together, you understand?

Question: If you have a blind heart are you going to go to hell?

Answer: If you have a blind heart you're on a road to hell as long as you don't wake up and see again, then you will end up in hell, but you can change it if these descriptions that I gave you of the blind heart, if it matches you, then know you can change it, because there is a way to change it, so don't give up.

Question: My friend wants to know if you're in a Somali tribe is it haram?

Answer: The question is about tribalism. Tribalism where a person feels that his tribe is superior to other tribes, you know this is something hated in Islam it is haram because we're all from Adam, Adam is our parents. The prophet said Adam is from dust, we're all the same. Having a tribe is like having a family you know the tribe is only an extended family so everybody belongs to some family or some tribe, so there's nothing wrong with being within a tribe but when you start to feel that you are superior to others simply because you're born in this tribe or in this place this is what is haram.

Question: If you make a mistake in salah, what do you do?

Answer: If you make a mistake in salah it depends on the kind of mistake. That kind of mistake, if instead of saying subhanallah al adheem for example you said subhanallah al a'la it's ok that's alright, you catch yourself. It's only if you make a mistake where you forget a raka, you know you went from standing all the way down to sujud, you left out ruku something like this, then you have to repeat the raka and at the end of it you make two sujud, two prostrations for forgetfulness. Little mistakes are ok, it's alright mistake in Quranic recitation it's ok.

Question:

Assalamu alaikum shaykh, what kind of nasihah would you give to parents that invoke kufr standards onto their children, as far as when it's appropriate to get married?

Answer: General advice is that when young people are able to get married, they have the means or they can get your support then they should be encouraged to marry. Early marriage is something which is encouraged in the sunnah. Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) had said:

"O young people whoever amongst you is able should marry."

[Sahih al-Bukhari 5065, Sahih Muslim 1400]

So this is something encouraged in Islam and delaying marriage is really only asking for trouble so my general advice to parents would be to encourage their youth to marry younger to avoid falling into boyfriend girlfriend relations and other forms of corruption.

Question: I was asking if a young child like a youth can he have a blind heart and if he does, will Allah forgive him more easily than a grown adult who has a blind heart?

Answer: A youth can have a blind heart, sure but that heart if he is not below puberty then it doesn't affect him once he reaches puberty, reaches manhood, becomes a young man now then that blind heart is going to be counted against him.

Question: Is it true that all Christians go to hell?

Answer: It is not necessarily so. Is it true that all Muslims are going to paradise? It depends on the person. If the person is a true Muslim then he will go to paradise. If he is a Christian who believes that Jesus was God then of course he will not go to paradise with that belief unless his situation was that he didn't receive the message and then Allah has another arrangement for those people who didn't receive the message.

Question from the sisters: I heard that some of the people who are not Muslims and do not have access to find the truth have a chance to go to heaven is that true?

Answer: Yes it is true as the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) had said those people who didn't receive the message would be brought back before the final judgment and a messenger would be sent to them.

Last question: When you are praying the shaytan says bad things in your head.

(The transcript ends here with the question incomplete)