When the Heart Is Weak

Dear readers,
I found this wonderful article which I think is beautiful and ought to be shared with you. The writer is Umm Ryan from UK. Enjoy!

When the heart is weak…

When the heart is weak, we - insaan, tend to choose the easy option when it comes to decision making. We choose the option that is most pleasing to our nafs (our desires) and do not choose the option that would ultimately be more useful and beneficial to our akhirah.
This week, I have been worrying about the future of my children. What would happen to them if I were to die? This painful question led me to mentally list down all the things I would like to have in place before I die. Things that really wouldn’t make a difference in their life, and things that I wouldn’t really care about once in the grave.
Why is it that the majority of our thoughts are connected with the dunya and all that we can obtain? Why is it that our achings and cravings are not linked to our final resting place? And yet we cry and wonder why it is that we don’t ‘feel close to Allah’! How can we when our minds are not filled with His remembrance! There is something very important to think about here. When the heart is weak, the believer’s thoughts are preoccupied with the dunya and as the heart is the vehicle for one’s actions, the believer does not make correct choices or perform the best of actions. When the heart is weak, the muslim forgets that this life is temporary and transient. The muslim whose heart is weak, forgets that the choices he makes in this life WILL have an effect on his place in the next life and also his real happiness in this life.
I’ll give you an example related to the above. A brother on Islam Channel, last night asked the Sheikh if the Islamic Shariah Mortgage is halal or haram. The sheikh immediately asked him to consult his heart and he would find his answer there. The brother was really trying to get an answer from the Sheikh and sounded frustrated at the answers he was being given. The Sheikh ended his question with something that gave me so much food for thought. He said (paraphrasing): “My dear brother, my sincere advice to you is this: You are thinking about stability here and owning a house here for a few years, but you are not thinking about the house you will be living in until the Day of Judgment commences. A house that you will spend a long time living in. Do not think about here, think about there. Stay away from all grey areas and insha’Allah you will succeed. When the heart is weak, we look for this fatwa and this answer. But this is wrong because we are only satisfying ourselves. Increase in your faith and then look into your heart, and you will know your answer.”
It is amazing that when the heart is weak, we seem to forget our very purpose of existence and live in this dunya as if this is our permanent home. Making decisions for here and not dreaming of what we could have ‘there’. Allah Mustan! My question today is, how can we remove ourselves from this ignorant state and strengthen our hearts so that our everyday actions are in line with what is to come? One answer and one answer alone: The remembrance of Allah (Swt). But, and until the next time I write, how can you remember your loved one, if you do not love him and how can you love someone if you do not know him. So, the starting point for anyone trying to increase in their faith and journey to Allah (Swt) is knowing Allah (Swt). For, when the servant knows his Lord, he falls in love and a sweet relationship is cultivated. And of course when a person is in love, what can fill his mind with thoughts other than the one to whom he is in love with?!