Heart : A Peephole to Your Future

Ever dreamt a dream that was all about things you were going through? And the fears, joys, tension, hopes, etc. of your real life, all followed you in that dream?

Our dreams are like a mirror to our real life. They tell us what awaits us when we wake up.

Similarly, this world is a Dream too. And somehow it is a clear mirror of what awaits us when we will wake up on the Day of Judgement. So what is it exactly that indicates what awaits us on the Big day?

Our heart.

Here is what Allah has to say:

“It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. And to Allah belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and ever is Allah Knowing and Wise.”

Surah Fath - (48:4)

The pious, the blessed ones, the ones loved by Allah are bestowed upon by golden gift of Faith. And the verse clearly says that those with Faith have hearts filled with tranquility. This tranquility further strengthens Faith.

SubhanAllah! Such are the hearts of those who will be among the successful ones on the Day of Judgement.

To get an idea of what awaits us in the future, let's ask : does my heart feel tranquil? Does it feel tranquil in sadness? Forget sadness, does it even flow with peace when I am doing the happiest of activities such as dining out, shopping or talking to a friend? Is the peace we feel even a shadow of the sort of peace that Allah bestows upon His loved ones?

The answer certainly determines what awaits us in the future.

The rest, I shall leave on the All-knowing and Wise who is also very Merciful.

Of Cursed Blessings and Blessed Curses

Everything in this world is the test from Allah.

Health and sickness – Friendship and enmity – Wealth and poverty – Wisdom and ignorance – Hope and despair – Prosperity and loss – And so on…

None of these things are blessings or curses on their own. As Muslims, we perceive all these elements in a very different light.  We believe that anything that brings us closer to Allah, that makes us more muttaqi, and eventually more deserving of Jannah is a blessing. And anything that kills the quality of our eemaan and actions and eventually exposes us to the wrath of Allah on the day of Qayamah, is a curse.

So blessings may come our way disguised as curses and curses as blessings.

Coming to a few examples – It is said that poverty is a curse and yet it is possible that poverty may bring a person very close to Allah and actually be a blessing. Another example would be of education. Education makes man civil and yet it also has the power to induce arrogance – one of the worst sins – in hearts.

We must note that there are some things that humans are more likely to make good and bad uses of.

Like the Prophet (SAW) said,

"There are two blessings which many people lose: (They are) Health and free time for doing good."

Hadith # 421, Book 76, Sahih Bukari.

So in spite of health and free time inherently being blessings, they turn into curses because of our lack of their use. They will be liabilities for us on the day of Qayamah.

Similarly, while wealth is perceived as one of the greatest assets for man, the Prophet (SAW) said,

“… I am afraid that worldly wealth will be given to you in abundance as it was given to those (nations) before you, and you will start competing each other for it as the previous nations competed for it, and then it will divert you (from good) as it diverted them."

Hadith # 433, Book 76, Sahih Bukhari

The challenge in this world is to realize that things that might make us feel utterly blessed, may actually be curses because of the way we make use of them – such as wealth, knowledge, power, friendship, etc. Because of how we will be answerable about them in the Final day.

And losses, sorrows, pains and calamities which might be so unwelcome might become a means of salvation simply because how close they brought us back to the True Beloved.

Men of Today and Yesterday - A Summary

If one wishes to speak to one's Lord, one prays to Him and if one wishes to hear one's Lord, Quran speaks out and so vividly it does so that a heart which has even one tiny shred of Emaan softens, and wishes to do nothing else but submit to the All Merciful, All Forgiving.

I happened to re-read Surah Al Fajr and it has become my third favourite Surah after Surah Ikhlaas and Surah Al Asr. It is as succinct and wholesome as a summary can get, a summary of what Man has done on Earth and what Man shall get right at the end - each one, his due share.

Here is the translation of Surah 89: Al Fajr by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. I typed it out from my own copy of Quran, so there is no error.

By the Dawn

By the ten Nights

By the Even and Odd (contrasted)

And by the Night when it passeth away;-

Is there (not) in these an adjuration (or evidence) for those who understand?

Seest thou not how thy Lord dealth with the ‘Ad (people). –

Of the (city of) Iram, with lofty pillars

The like of which were not produced in (all) the land?

And with the Thamud (people) who cut out (huge) rocks in the valley? –

And with Pharoah, lord of Stakes?

(All) these transgressed beyond bounds in the lands.

And heaped therein mischief (on mischief).

Therefore did thy Lord pour on them a scourge of diverse chastisements:

For thy Lord is watchful.

Now, as for man, when his Lord trieth him, giving him honour and gifts, then saith he, (puffed up), “My Lord hath honoured me.”

But when He trieth him, restricting his subsistence from him, then saith he (in despair), “My Lord hath humiliated me!”

Nay, nay! But ye honour not the orphans!

Nor do ye encourage one another to feed the poor! –

And thy Lord cometh, and His angels, rank upon rank,

And Hell, - that Day, is brought (face to face), on that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance profit him?

He will say: “Ah! Would that I had sent forth (Good Deeds) for (this) my (Future) Life!”

For, that Day His Chastisement will be such as none else can inflict,

And His bonds will be such as none (other) can bind.

(To the righteous soul will be said:) “O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction!

“Come back thou to thy Lord, - well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him!

“Enter thou, then, among My Devotees!

“Yea, enter thou My Heaven!”