My respected Brothers and Sisters,
Do you know who you are? I mean, do you know who you REALLY are? This might seem a rather silly question. Most people would reply by saying, “Of course, I know who I am!” And if they are asked to explain, they’d probably give you their full CV: name, address, date of birth, marital status, qualifications, hobbies and so forth. But that’s only a biography. You and I and he and she are much more than a biography.
Rasool-Allah once said that “He who knows himself, will know his Lord.” What did he mean by this? How can we know Allah by knowing ourselves better?
When someone asks you, who are you? How many of us are likely to say, “I am an eternal Soul, living inside a mortal body for a few short years; and when my body dies and returns to the earth whence it came, my Soul will fly like a celestial bird, through the heavenly spheres, beyond time and space, to return to its Maker. ”This is the real meaning of “Inna lil laahi wa inna ilayhir raaji oon;” “From Allah we’ve come, and to Allah we will return.” (Quran 2:156)
We are essentially spiritual beings, not just physical bodies. Each one of us has an individual personality. By the way, a person, or personality derives from the Greek “Persona” which means an actor’s mask. We wear different masks; a mask for the public, our public ‘persona’ and a private mask, our private persona. We may think we know who we are, but Allah alone knows what lies behind the mask!
We have a body which is physical, a mind or intellect which is rational (or sometimes irrational). We have a heart which is emotional, subject to constant changes, influenced by likes and dislikes. Then at the very core of our being, within the fu’ad, which the innermost sanctuary of the heart, we have a Soul, a Ruuh. The Quran tells us about the Ruuh, the Soul:
“They shall ask you about the Soul. Say, it is of the Command of your Lord (min ‘amri Rabbi)and of knowledge you have been given only a little.” (Quran 17:85)
What little we know about the Soul is that it is the “Breath of Allah” that was inspired into us before we were born. It is not of earthly substance, and it will not die when our bodies are laid to rest. The interesting thing is that the Soul has an imprint of Allah’s Names, Asma ul Husna. Your Soul and my Soul, and the Soul of every human being that ever was and ever will be, was asked by Allah, “Alasta bi Rabbikum? (am I not your Lord?) and they all answered in one thunderous voice: Bala shahidna! (Yes, indeed You are! We cannot say on the Day of Judgement that we weren’t aware of this).” [Quran 7:172]S
So you see, my dear Sisters and Brothers, our Soul already knows Allah. Allah’s Beautiful Names are already imprinted on our Soul. We all love wisdom; Allah is Most Wise. We all love generosity, and you and I can be a little bit generous, but Allah is Al Ghanee, the Most Generous. You and I love to show mercy and compassion. Allah is Al Rahman, Al Raheem. The Most Merciful, the Ever Compassionate.
800 years ago, Jalaluddin Rumi wrote that we seekers are constantly knocking on the door, but we are knocking from the inside! What we seek is not out there! It’s already here within our hearts, within the kernel, the fu’ad of the spiritual heart. That’s where our Ruuh is. But it’s hidden away, covered with the rust of our forgetfulness, our distraction and our sinful behaviour.
Allah warns us, (in Sura As-Shu’ara 26:88-89) that:
“None shall enter the Garden except those who come to Allah with a sound heart,” (a qalb saleem). Allah reminds us, in a beautiful Hadith Qudsi, that: “The heavens and the earth cannot Me, but the pure heart of My believing servant contains Me.”
Within our spiritual heart there is a lifelong battle between the forces of heaven and earth. Our nafs al ammara bis sow, the (lower Self that clings to the earth), and our nafs al law-waamah, (the self-blaming nafs). These demonic and angelic forces struggle to control our behaviour. When our demons win, we give in to our anger, our greed, our selfishness, arrogance and lust. When our higher Self prevails, we are kind, generous, forgiving and patient.
We can control these demons in our lower Self by treating them like wild animals that need to be tamed. Do not deny them. Acknowledge them, but be a good zoo-keeper. Keep your wild beasts under control. Always refer to your Higher Self. Refer to your Soul, your Ruuh, the ‘breath of Allah’ within you. The Ruuh never changes, but the spiritual heart, the Qalb, is always susceptible to change. And that’s where we have the greatest challenge: to keep our spiritual heart pure and focussed on the beautiful Names of Allah imprinted on our Ruuh.
We can’t do this on our own. We need Allah’s help. We beg Allah to keep our hearts filled with careful Allah-awareness.
Prophet Muhammad sws often recited this duah. Please memorise it and use it:
“Ya Muqallibul quloob, thabbit qalbee ala deenik!”
“O Turner of the hearts, please turn my heart towards you Religion!”
It’s a very short duah, but it’s so powerful, and it says so much! I pray that Allah will accept this duah from all of us. Through our Salaah and our Dhikr and all our good works, I pray that Allah will turn our hearts constantly towards his beautiful way of life, towards constant remembrance of Allah in our thoughts, our words and our deeds. Say, Ameen!
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Why does Allah say that the first thing that you and I will be questioned about on the Day of Judgement is our Salaah, our Prayers? We try to do our prayers properly, according to the Sunnah. We try to pray on time. We try to follow the right procedure. But is that all? What’s the most important part that is sometimes missing from our prayers?
It’s mindfulness; it’s concentration, focus. Quite often we’ve taken Wudu properly and followed the correct physical motions in prayer, but our hearts and minds are somewhere else. We start thinking about what we still have to do, and we lose focus on the prayers. Our voices recite beautifully, but we’re now flying on auto-pilot. No wonder our prayers are not answered! To make our salaah effective, we must become completely oblivious to everything except Allah’s Presence. We must imagine that we are standing in the grand audience hall of the Creator of the Universe; Allah is waiting to hear every whisper of prayer.
Dear brothers and sisters, in our Salaah, every limb faces Makkah. Our hearts and minds must be focussed likewise. Empty yourself of all silly thoughts and focus your entire being: your body, mind, heart and Soul on Allah’s presence. It’s not easy, and it will take lots of time, concentration, practice and patience. But the reward is truly worthwhile. We will definitely have our prayers answered!
I pray that Allah will help you and me to purify our hearts, and to perfect our prayers, and likewise, the prayers of all our generations to come.
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