How to Remember Allah in Your Heart | Quran/Hadith
In today’s topic, I will tell you how to remember Allah in today’s article…
Understanding the True Meaning of the Heart
First of all, what do you mean by the heart? The heart that exists within your body, that is beating, that is pumping…
If you consider it to be the heart about which the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said that if there is a single vein in your body and it becomes impure, then the entire body is impure, and if it is pure, then the entire body is pure—this is what is meant by the heart.
But if you think of it as the heart that pumps within your body, then that is not truly the heart. Because the heart that pumps is also made of clay, and it will eventually return to clay, therefore, if it is removed from your body, then the point that exists within your soul is what is called the heart.
The Concept of Multiple Hearts (Quloob)
Now, since there are multiple hearts, we will understand “quloob” as referring to many hearts.
These multiple hearts have different names. Just as there are certain points within a human being that we call hearts, they each have their own names.
For example:
- The first point is called the qalb
- The second is the rooh
- The third is the sir
- The fourth is the khafi
- The fifth is the akhfa
- The sixth is the nafsi
- The seventh is known as Sultan ul Azkar
The Role of a Perfect Friend of Allah
And besides that, the heart is illuminated by the light of Allah only when a perfect friend of Allah Himself invokes the remembrance of Allah, utters the name of Allah, and witnesses it with their own eyes.
Only then does that subtle aspect, which we call the lataif, become alive. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
“Beware of the insight of a believer, for he sees with the light of Allah.”
When a perfect friend of Allah gazes upon the heart of someone who seeks Allah, he illuminates that heart with the remembrance of Allah.
This is because, previously, that heart was heedless of Allah’s remembrance, and its qalb was engrossed in worldly love.
The Heart and Worldly Distractions
Just as the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “In your body, there is a single vein; if it becomes impure, then the entire body is impure, and if it becomes pure, then the entire body is pure”—this is what we refer to as the heart.
Now, think about it: if the main engine of a car is not functioning properly, how can the car run smoothly?
In the same way, if your heart is not sound, how can you engage in the worship of Allah and perform righteous deeds?
When your heart, influenced by the love of the world and by the distractions of this dunya—especially in today’s era where various afflictions are prevalent—for example, what people see on social media, or the new gatherings and the new colors and sins that emerge in the world—then the love of this world and the darkness of those sins become attached to your heart.
The Darkness of the World Coating the Heart
So, that darkness of the world, that blackness—for instance, if a person’s eyes were blindfolded with a black strip, they would be unable to see anything.
In the same way, when the heart becomes coated with the darkness and the rust of the world, the heart too becomes blind.
There is a saying that when a person is asleep, it is almost like being dead, since an asleep person is not aware.
Similarly, when a person’s heart is not in the remembrance of Allah, it is as if it is asleep; but when it awakens to the remembrance of Allah, the heart comes to life.
The Heart as the King and the Intellect as the Minister
Imam Ghazali says that the heart is the king of the entire body, and the intellect is its minister.
So, you can understand that if the heart is asleep, it’s like a kingdom where the king is unconscious—in that scenario, what can the minister do?
The minister would be vulnerable and would fall prey to the enemies.
But if that king of the body were awake, and if he also granted some authority to the minister, and both the king and the minister worked together to govern that kingdom, then you can well imagine that there would be no need for any enemy to attack.
If the intellect is the minister, it then directs the hands, the feet, the eyes, and the ears.
And if the intellect aligns with the awakened king, it will lead those limbs toward righteous actions.
However, if the king is dead, then whom will the intellect guide?
And similarly, for that king to remain alive, he also needs light, and that light enters him when his heart is pure.
The Importance of a Pure Heart
The example is that light does not enter a dirty vessel; just as milk spoils if poured into a dirty container, in the same way, light cannot enter a dirty heart.
This is why a believer, guided by a perfect man, when he engages in remembrance, his heart becomes pure, and then the light and the radiance of Allah shine within it.
Diseases of the Heart
And in this way, there are certain maladies of the heart as well:
- Heedlessness – being forgetful of Allah
- Anger – harboring wrath
- Greed – a desire for worldly things and avarice
- Envy – jealousy and hatred toward others
- Arrogance – pride and conceit
All of these are ailments of the soul, born from the carnal self.
When all these diseases reside within a person, how can that person contain the light of Allah?
Reviving the Heart Through Divine Light
Therefore, in order to hold that light, the perfect friend of Allah, the believer, engages in remembrance, and through that remembrance, the heart becomes purified.
When the perfect guide looks upon your heart with his enlightened gaze, he revives it, because, as the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
“Beware of the insight of a believer, for he sees with the light of Allah.”
And when he gazes upon your heart with that light, your heart too will begin to remember Allah and will come alive in that remembrance.