Curing the Sick Heart

Curing the Sick Heart

"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

"May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you."

Opening

I thought it was me. I ask Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) in beginning who has gathered us and allowed us the opportunity to sit with each other, seeking his mercy and his remembrance to gather us all once again in the best of ziyafah, in the best of gatherings with our Nabi Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in Jannatul Firdaus,

"O Allah, accept."

It is always an honor and a privilege to visit my brothers here in Birmingham. And I pray that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) continues to bless our brothers here at Green Lane, our sisters at Green Lane Masjid. May Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) continue to provide for them and strengthen them and honor them and cause them to be leaders in good for others to follow. May Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) preserve our masjid, our institutions and make it a place of comparability that we seek to attain similar to it.

"O Allah, accept."

I'm arriving from Glasgow. I was in Glasgow for the weekend and I was on my way to London tomorrow. I have a few events there. And subhanAllah, it's not befitting that I travel through the UK and not visit my brothers at Green Lane Masjid. And I've only arrived here today for that one particular reason, which is to be with our blessed community here.

May Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) make the time that we spend together one that we earn his reward, earn his blessing and that it is a way of us saving and salvaging ourselves from Jahannam.

"O Allah, accept."

The Heart in Islamic Terminology

Today I want to speak about Al-Qalb, the heart. Al-Fuad, which is another word for heart. And Al-Sadr, which is another word for heart. And all three mean the same thing in the English language, but have different meanings in the language of the Qur'an.

And in understanding the different contexts that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) uses the word Qalb and Sadr and Fuad, sometimes in the very same ayah that Allah will use two different words, Fuad and Qalb in the same ayah in Surah Al-Qasas, because he intends two different things by the same place.

A lot of mention has been placed by Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) in the Qur'an with regards to the need to monitor, heal, protect, investigate the internal state that each and every one of us lives.

The Prophet's Teaching on the Heart

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in the authentic hadith, it's found in the 4th hadith of Imam Nawawi, it's a hadith in the Sahih. He says (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), giving us a similitude:

"In a human being's body, physically, not spiritually, physically he's speaking (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), there's a morsel of flesh. There is a piece of you, if it's healthy, if it's well, if it's looked after, the rest of your body, the rest of your condition follows suit to it, is healthy and well. And if it is infirm, if it is diseased, the rest of you as a person, even if you seek to build muscle, even if you seek to eat healthy, just because that small part of you, that integral part of you is unwell, the rest of you is infirm and sickly. Indeed that place is the heart."

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in giving us that imagery of a physical heart, he's giving us the similitude, the example, the parable of the spiritual heart.

The Qur'an's Guidance for the Heart

And very early on in the Qur'an, Allah wants you and I to know that the heart is of great concern. Therefore, when you open the Qur'an, you're confronted with Surat al-Fatiha. And immediately after Surat al-Fatiha is the answer to what you ask him for.

Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) he asks us to ask him, O Allah, guide us. Give us hidayah. Hidayah to a straight and level, moderate path. A balanced way of life. The path of those whom you have given before us. You led them to it, O Allah. Not the path that others have fallen away from, have been misguided from. Earning your anger and falling away from the truth. Ameen.

So Allah then gives you the answer:

"You want that hidayah, that hudah. Ihdina. Thalikal Kitab. You'll find it in this book. It has no doubt ambiguity. There's nothing in it that's gonna confuse you. If your heart is clean and receptive. Thalikal Kitab. La rayba fee. It is a guidance. Lil mutaqeem."

A little while later, you continue reading in that chapter, which Allah is telling us where this guidance is, where to attain it. He says that there are some people, their hearts:

"khulubuhum qasiyah."

He gives us the example of nations who lived before us, that their greatest flaw, the thing that led them to worship a golden calf, the thing that led them to earn Allah's anger, or to be misguided, or to lose the scripture, was that their heart, which is the compass of life, it is where your fitrah lays. It is a seat of consciousness and awareness. It's where your sight is supposed to be monitored by its sight.

He says (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) that some hearts can become harder than rock:

"Fahiya ka'l-hijaarati aw ashaddu qaswah. And not just rock, but even worse than rock."

"Fahiya ka'l-hijaarati aw ashaddu qaswah. And not just rock, but even worse than rock."

The Condition for Receiving Guidance

See, the Qur'an wasn't meant for everyone. It was meant for everyone to hear it and want to believe in it, but it wasn't meant for everyone to be able to access it, and receive it, and understand it, and practice it. Not everyone is worthy of the Qur'an.

So after Allah says:

"It's a guidance"

"He gives you a condition."

It's not gonna be a guidance for everyone. There are people, wallahi, may Allah protect us, who know the Qur'an better than you and I. There are orientalist scholars, who analyze the verbs, and the structures, and the i'rab, who tread the Qur'an letter by letter, but it finds in their heart no space or room. It's purely academic. It's purely investigated. Why? It's not about the knowledge of the Qur'an. It's not about the letter of the Qur'an.

Allah tells you that this Qur'an:

"There's a ta'leel, there's a reason, there's a purpose for it. It will be a guide, but for who? For those who approach it with a sincerity and a piety of heart."

When Hearts Turn Away

And therefore anytime, before we begin our discussion, anytime, ya akhi, you're confronted with something in the Qur'an, ya ukhti, anytime you read from the Qur'an, you hear something, the message of the Qur'an, and you understand it, but it doesn't move you to change, it doesn't move you to action,

then know that the problem is not in the Qur'an, the problem is that your heart doesn't have the necessary quality to receive its guidance.

So Allah tells us about those nations before us:

In Surah As-Saff, Allah says, "when they departed from the truth, when the letter of the law, when the Torah and the Injil and the Psalms of Dawood, when they read it, but it was like a burden on the back of a donkey, it's like someone just carrying burdens. They're just carrying books on their back, things in their mind, information, that the heart doesn't receive."

In Surah As-Saff, Allah says, "when they departed from the truth, when the letter of the law, when the Torah and the Injil and the Psalms of Dawood, when they read it, but it was like a burden on the back of a donkey, it's like someone just carrying burdens. They're just carrying books on their back, things in their mind, information, that the heart doesn't receive."

"When they departed from the truth, they chose not to practice it, they didn't access it. Allah also made their hearts turn away from words that they parrot and recite, but don't seek to practice and implement."

Five Warning Signs of a Sick Heart

So we need to speak about some of the illnesses so that we determine our condition. And in determining our condition, we can then begin to seek a diagnosis and then seek to make after the diagnosis a plan of action to heal it.

First Warning Sign: Distance from the Qur'an

Have you ever sat with the Qur'an and felt tired from it? Have you ever recited the Qur'an intending to read a certain section but put it away before you finished? Have you ever had a day or two or three or a week go by where the Qur'an wasn't a part of your life?

Is the wording of the Qur'an strange to you? And if it's strange to you, do you seek to become acquainted with it, to become a friend to it (صَاحِبُ الْقُرْآنِ - sahibul quran), a companion to the Qur'an? Is it something that you think about when you're idle and alone, a word or a verse or an ayah or a hadith that reminds you of a verse from the Qur'an?

Do you instruct others in it even if all you know is just a verse? Do you seek to be from the best of humanity where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) says:

"The best of you is the one who acquires the Qur'an and teaches it to others."

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

Is the Qur'an on your shelf, dusty? Is your Qur'an worn out or is it brand new? Do you have your own Qur'an? Do you have your personal Qur'an that's your Mus'haf? Have you ever written anything from the Qur'an? Have you wanted to have that nobility to be a scribe of the Qur'an?

Do you seek to master its tajweed? Do you care just about the tone and the sound? Or do you want the precision of its reading? How often do you listen to it and follow the reciter? How many verses a day do you memorize? How many verses a week, maybe a month have you memorized?

Do you have a plan and a niyyah to commit the Qur'an to memory before your death? Knowing that if you die and you haven't achieved it, you will get the reward as if you achieved it?

See, many of those are questions that are embarrassing for myself and you. Wallahi for myself and you. For myself and my family and you. For yourself and your family.

What love do you have for the Book of Allah? Is it emotional? That if you see someone rip it, you get upset? Because we have these kind of things where it's sathi, it's like the skin of an apple. The Qur'an. Astaghfirullah, ya akhi. How could you put it on the lower shelf? It has to be on the higher shelf. We think, alhamdulillah, we honor the Qur'an.

You'd never in the masjid see a Qur'an on the floor. We put it on high shelves. We put it in a place that we honor it. But the greatest honor of the Qur'an is that we don't put it down physically. We usually put it down emotionally and spiritually.

The Prophet's Complaint About Our Neglect

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) complained about you and I. May Allah protect us, ya Rabb. He says in Surah Al-Furqan:

"The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) called out to his Lord, Ya Rabb, O my Lord, my people, those who were unbelievers from Quraysh. And as Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim also says, those who were from our ummah, those who believe in the Qur'an. They took it. They received it, but then they gave it a level of abandonment."

And I might abandon the Qur'an maybe more than you. Al-Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim he says, of the first ways that our ummah left the Qur'an, forgot the Qur'an, put the Qur'an aside, one of the first ways is that we don't use it as a medicine.

You know, I wasn't feeling well, (جَزَاهُ اللهُ خَيْرًا - jazahullahu khairan) my dear brother, he made me some ginger tea, bismillah. Your throat, mashallah. Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim says, no, actually you didn't begin with the sunnah. The sunnah was (التداوي بالقرآن - al-tadawi bil quran)

The Qur'an as Medicine

The first thing that the ummah did in leaving the Qur'an, we forgot to recite the Fatiha, the Prophet (صلی الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). You know, he would sit in his bed. He's covered himself (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) with his

blanket before he would go to sleep, on his mat, on his place he's gonna sleep.

He would cup his hands together, he would recite from the Qur'an, surah al-Fatiha and other hadith, ayat al-kursi. And he would wipe upon himself the parts that weren't covered with clothing or his blanket, (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)

Whenever Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn would come, he would sit him on his lap (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and he would recite upon them الْمُعَوّذات. He would recite upon them the Qur'an. It's a dawah.

Some of the sahaba, they returned to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) they have been given a present, it was a payment. As they were going by, they found an unbelieving family. They don't believe in Allah, they don't believe in the Qur'an. But they had a sick child.

And they said to them, if we help you with your sick child, you don't believe in what we believe, you don't believe in the word of Allah. But if we help you with our word of Allah, if we made a ruqya with it, would you reward us? They said, yes, of course. So they read upon the child surah al-Fatiha.

And he became better. So the family gave them a sheep. And they argued with each other, the hadith is in al-Bukhari. They said, no, no, no, don't eat the sheep yet. Don't take it yet. Because we didn't receive news from the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) if what we did was correct or not.

Their fitrah taught them that the Qur'an is a cure, because they know this from the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). But can we use it for this child? Can we use it for someone who's not believing? Can we take a payment for it? Can it be eaten?

When they returned to al-Madinah, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), they tell him the story. And he says, where is the rest of the meat? They said here, he said, give me some of it, because I'm your teacher, (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) Who taught you I deserve payment as well (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)

Living by the Qur'an

How much of the Qur'an is a part of your life? What routine in your day has been built around the Qur'an? You know the Sahaba, (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُمْ أَرْضَاهُمْ) they used to measure distance by how many ayat they could read in it.

They say, oh, you know that guy, he lives 40 ayat away. Not 40 steps, not 40 meters, 40 ayah away. Oh, how long will it take you to go and come back? I don't want to wait here all day. No, no, no, it's like me reading Surah al-Mulk.

If you read Surah al-Mulk, by the time you finish, I'll be back. That's how they measured their life. That's how they, how long between Adhan and Iqamah? It's about 40 ayah.

This is how they used to measure everything. Their concept of time, even though they had timekeeping, even though they could keep time, they measured it with the thing that was an essential in their life. If you had no property, if you had nothing, your greatest value was the Qur'an you knew.

A man got married, he doesn't even have a ring of iron. Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says, you don't have anything? Do you have silver? No gold, no silver? Do you have a ring of iron? He says, not even a ring of iron. Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says, what do you have?

He says:

"I know two surahs from the Qur'an"

"I give you her in marriage because of the knowledge that you have of these two Surahs, you must teach her these two Surahs." Sahih al-Bukhari

It's wealth. It's an inheritance. It's the inheritance of our Nabi Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).

Second Warning Sign: Lack of Love for the Prophet

See, the Qur'an tells you straight away where your heart is. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ) he said:

"You will know whether your heart is awake, alive. You can tell whether your heart is clean, is pure, is saleem in three places. And we're only gonna look at the first of them."

"At the time you hear or recite the word of Allah, is your heart with it? Are you awake? Are you a part of it? Or are you distant from the word of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى)?"

Our hearts have veils upon them. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has blessed some of us more than others. Some of us, the ghilaf, the veil, the covering, the shroud, the kafan that covers our heart may be thin, may be one layer.

For others, it becomes:

"For others, it's a rusting, ran. Ran is an envelopment of the heart. These people, the reason they're unable to come to truth is because their heart has become rusted, has been covered over, you can't penetrate it." Quran 83:14

May Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) protect us, ya Rabb.

So let's begin our journey of curing and healing our hearts by mentioning 5 of its greatest warning signs. I'm gonna speak of 5 things, there's many others. But these are some of the 5 greatest things that you and I need to look at to cleanse ourselves and be ready to protect our heart and get it ready for its cure.

The first of them we began with which is the Qur'an. The second is the love of our Nabi Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)

And that is best indicated as Al-Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim says in Jalail Afhan in his book about the salawat and the durood upon the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). By how often you mention him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).

It would be inconceivable for any of the sahaba to not mention our Nabi Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) in their day at least a hundred times. This is the opinion of Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Al-Qayyim.

He goes, there's no indication that any of the sahaba in any course of their life in any of them that they didn't have a mention of salah and salam upon our Nabi Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). And that if a person was negligent in it, they were counted that there was something wrong with their heart. Something's not right.

If you don't have that habit of showing your love for the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). Why is it called love for the Prophet? What do you love with? You love with your heart. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says:

"You cannot be complete in iman. You cannot consolidate, attain a completion of iman until you love me (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). More than you love your father, your mother, your children, your own self. (صلی الله عليه وسلم. Fidaka Abi Wa Ummiya Rasulullah."Sahih al-Bukhari

May my father and mother be sacrificed, die to save him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).

The Benefits of Salawat

This was, you know, the sahaba. When you consider their love for the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and try to put it in a balance and consider our love of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). It's very telling why they were chosen by Allah to be created, to live in his time. And why we were chosen to be created and live so far away from his time.

Because it's not your choice. You can't choose when you're born. Allah made that fate, that qadr for you. And Allah fated for you to be so distant from him in time for a reason. And Allah destined for them to be in his time for a reason. Abu Bakr (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ) didn't just come up by accident.

He was chosen by Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى). Because his heart had love for Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم). You can tell whether your heart has love for the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) in terms of what you are willing to do for him. And one of the first things that tells you what you do for him is your salawat (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) upon our Nabi Muhammad

Al-Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim, he writes in the same book, many different blessings, benefits that are recorded in the sunnah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and in hadith that he spoke about his own mention. And things that are mentioned by the sahaba about mentioning him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).

From them, for every time you mention him, Allah mentions you. He sends salawat upon you. Sends blessings upon you:

"It is Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) who will send his blessings upon you. And he will cause his angels to do that for you." Quran 33:43

For what reason? Your blessings upon him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). Every time you mention him, Allah mentions you 10 times. Every time you mention him, all these in the authentic, in the sahih.

Every time you mention him and ask Allah for him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)Allah returns his soul to him so he responds (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). How? In what way? Allah knows. But this is what he said:

"Allah returns my soul to me" Sunan Abu Dawud

Every time you mention him, send salawat upon him (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ):

"displayed to me." Sunan Abu Dawud

He knows it:

"The most worthy of my shafa'ah on the day of judgment, the one who will be most worthy of it is the one who mentions and asks Allah to send his blessings upon me (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)." Sahih al-Bukhari

Third Warning Sign: Lack of Service to Others

Number three, know where your heart is, how clean it is, how pure it is, how adulterated or impure it is from your service and concern for others. And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), if we can look at his life

and define his life in one thing, in one objective, is that he was there to serve anyone who he encountered, rich or poor, dark or light, tall or short, man or woman, Arabi or Ajami.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)'s life was a life of service and that's why Allah says:

"The concept of rahma is that you are there to provide a dispensation of compassion to the one who cannot receive it except through you (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)." Quran 21:107

Not only was he a rahma to mankind and to the jinn, but even to the animals. I want you, go further than the animals, even to the trees (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).

The Story of the Weeping Tree

The authentic hadith in Al-Bukhari Muslim, Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)mashallah, it's beautiful to see your masjid has been renovated. And mashallah, the brothers, they gave me a nice tour before we prayed Salatul Maghrib. You know, you have a new minbar now.

I stood on the old minbar, I haven't had the honor of standing on this minbar. May Allah give us the life and the energy, ya Rabb. Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), a minbar, a pulpit was made for him.

But where he used to stand, there used to be a tree. You'd say, a tree where? In the masjid? Yes, of course in the masjid. Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) was a conservationist.

There was a little tree growing in the place that they're building a masjid around it. They came to cut it down. He said, why? Leave the tree. Why do you want to cut the tree? Leave it. It's a living thing. They left it.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) used to sit with his back to it. Stand and lean on it when he got tired (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). The tree used to listen to his Qur'an. When you go to the masjid of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) there's the place, it is called the musalla, musalla an-nabiyy.

They have that marble encasing that covers where the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) used to stand in prayer, in the rawda. In that encasing, you'll see a pole that's attached to it. If you look at the top in green writing, in green and gold, it said that this is ustwanat al-hannana.

This post is where the hannana, the tree, that hannal jiz', the weeping tree, used to stand (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). It was right beside his place of prayer. It's like it was next to him in his salah all the time (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). And all of a sudden, he now stands on the pulpit. When he ascended the minbar, the tree cried.

hannal jiz'

You say, what do you mean cried, brother Yahya? Ya'ni, water was coming from it? No. Loudly.

fafazi' an-naas People got scared.

You don't expect a tree to make noise. See, science today tells us, we don't need science to confirm the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), but science today tells us, you will see farmers who talk to their trees, they give them better fruit. Some of them, they play music and other things.

Trees communicate with each other through their roots. If you don't believe me, google it. Do trees speak? Vegetables know when they're being eaten. Like you can demonstrate, they have, they release chemical signatures that they know something is happening to them. That other vegetables around them, they have the same reaction, they said, uh-oh, Shaykh Yahya is going to eat me. I'm a carrot.

It's something they know, they can sense. So there's this tree that you think is just something, it's not worth anything. But it used to listen to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). When the Prophet stood further away and is beginning to talk, the tree began to scream, to cry.

fafazi' an-naas Everyone got scared. The Prophet came down from the minbar وَضَمَّ الْجِذْعَ wa dhamma al-jizah and he hugged it (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) wa washwasha ilayh and he whispered to it. وَحَسٌ عَلَيْهِ wa hassa alayh and he patted it.

hatta askata until he made it stop crying.

Do you know what the Prophet said to the tree (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)? He said to the tree, if you are quiet now, if you be quiet now, I will ask Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) to plant you for me in Jannah. So this is the tree of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) in Jannah.

It was rahma to everything around him. It concerned him.

Fourth Warning Sign: Uncontrolled Anger

The fourth thing that you know, whether your heart is alive, whether your heart is saleem, is pure, is clean, is available for Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) is in your moments of anger.

And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), he says to the man:

"Don't be angry." Sahih al-Bukhari

It doesn't mean don't become emotionally angry. It means don't let that anger that's inside cause you to act outside in a foolish way. The seat of all anger, the seat of all sins is in your heart, begins inside. Just like the seat of all good deeds and all عَمَلٌ صَالِحُ is in your heart.

How do we define iman? What's the definition of iman?

"It is what is in the heart."

"And that the tongue speaks to describe what it feels."

"And your body acts to confirm what's in your heart."

And of the things that poison your heart and remove iman, the first sin is anger. All of our other sins come from anger. Your jealousy is because you're angry. You're angry with Allah (جَلٌ جَلالة) He didn't give you what He gave that person. So you're angry with that person. You're angry, you're rebelling against Allah.

Fifth Warning Sign: Lack of Ta'zeem (Reverence)

Number 5, so that we can begin talking about the cures and the things that bless us and benefit us. Is that you don't have تَعْظِيمٌ لِشَعَائِرِ اللهِ

Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) says:

"What does it mean you don't honor the things that are sacred to Allah? You don't honor the sanctity of the things that you and I have been blessed with." Quran 22:32

Five Cures for the Heart

Just like we spoke about 5 things that we should be careful with. Let's speak about 5 healing things for our hearts. 5 healing things.

First Cure: Good Company

The first of them is good company. People who have good hearts, their hearts attract your heart. And if you look around you, ya Akhi, and you see people with hard hearts, it's because in your heart, there is

hardness.

In all of the languages of the world:

Birds of a feather flock together. You know, you can be in China, someone will tell you in Cantonese, look at those birds, they're all together because they look the same. All those hearts, it's not about the physical.

You can have one person tall, one person short, one person Arabi, one person white. But they all have one thing in common, their hearts are the same. Who are the people who have similar hearts to you?

Look at the hadith of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) in Sahih Muslim. He says:

"Taqwa is in here, in your chest, in your heart." Sahih Muslim

Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) tells you:

"Don't let anyone eat your food unless you're sure they have Taqwa." Sunan Abu Dawud

Second Cure: Halal Food

Number two, the food you eat affects your condition of life. Just like the food you eat affects your health. If you eat a high fat diet, if you're not careful, you know, subhanAllah, it affects you. You have to eat that which will nurture you.

In the same way, the food you eat, make sure it nurtures you from halal. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas (رَضِيَ الله عَنْهُ), he's one of the ten who the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said to him in his life, I guarantee for you to enter Jannah. الله أَكْبَر

He's one of the uncles of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) one of the greatest military commanders of our ummah.

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas, one of the greatest things that he was known for:

That whenever he put his hands up to Allah, Allah answered him straight away. Immediately. Straight away he'd say, يَا رَبِّ straight away.

So they asked him, why do you think Allah has given you this? يَعْنِي there's other sahaba, they don't have this. What made you so special, ya Sa'd? What's your special secret?

He said:

"Wallahi, I don't know, I'm not really sure. But if you were to ask me, I would say to you, the only thing I think that I'm maybe different, maybe than others in, from the day I became a Muslim. Nothing entered into me. I never put anything in my mouth except that I knew where it was from and that I was allowed to consume it and that it was good for me to eat. Those three things."

Third Cure: Charity (Sadaqah)

Number three is الصدقة charity. Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said in the hadith of Muslim, the hadith of Umar:

"Sadaqah is evidence." Sahih Muslim

What does that mean, evidence? It means on the day of judgment, I have proof. Ya Rabb, that man, that sister, that thing, that masjid, Ya Allah, there's my proof that what you blessed me with, I didn't only enjoy it but I gave it to those who could not enjoy it themselves and earn it themselves. It's a burhan, it's an evidence for you.

Fourth Cure: Humility

Number four, number four in our relationship with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is that we put ourselves in humility in jobs that we normally do not want to do. And what you would see from many of the sahabah, (رَضْوَانُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِمْ). There were those of them who were esteemed and noble, but they would do jobs that breaks their spirit, that increases their humility.

Fifth Cure: Visiting the Sick

And fifth and finally from the things that we seek to do to increase and cure our heart is to visit the sick and to visit hospitals and to visit old age homes and to visit our elders. Doesn't have to be related to you. Wallahi, wallahi, wallahi.

The one of us who visits a hospital regularly earns greater reward, ya Akhi. You can earn a greater reward by going to a hospital that's near here than having sat here and read a juzb. Go to a cancer ward.

I'm not even talking about Muslims. Go to a cancer ward and comfort people. Just talk with people. Go to the old age home where there's Muslims and non-Muslims. Visit your brothers.

said: (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) Prophet

"The one who has no rahmah in their heart, let him put his hand on the head of a yateem. Just touch the yateem. Don't even talk to him. Just stroke the head of a yateem, your heart will be soft. The rahmah will enter." Sunan at-Tirmidhi

Conclusion

Akhi, you need to be civic in your duties. It's easy to be kind to those who are kind to us. It's easy to be kind to those who are in our faith. It's easy to be kind to those who we love and are regular in our home.

It is difficult when we forget people. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) was the one who never forgot a sahabi.

Open your heart. See the pain that is found in our community. See what is missing and what you can do in the way that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) taught us to do. That is the sunnah. That is the sunnah of our Nabi Muhammad (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). This is enough.