WATCH YOUR TONGUE TO KNOW THE STATE OF YOUR HEART!!

Did you ever get a chance to take a closer look into your HEART? Imagine there comes a device which is capable of giving you the exact view into your heart (not the medical view, like the veins and the arteries) but the SPIRITUAL VIEW. It shows the diseases that you have in your heart like HYPOCRISY, JEALOUSY, ILL FEELINGS TOWARDS OTHERS, VULGARITY etc. and then the machine is capable of generating a PURITY REPORT of the heart, and classifies it either a pure clean sound heart or a diseased hardened heart.

WHAT WOULD YOUR HEART LOOK LIKE?

Allah talks a lot about the heart in the Quran and it’s a long subject to be discussed but just trying to give you the juice of it.

Allah talks about (only sharing a few)

1. Hard Heart قَسْوَةُ الْقَلْب : The hearts becoming hard which means then no good can enter and the hearts are sealed.
2. Sound Heartقَلْبٍ سَلِيْم : A sound heart like the heart of Ibrahim AS that would be the only thing that would benefit on the day of judgment.
3. Returning (to Allah) Heart قَلْبٍ مُنِيْب : A heart that keeps returning to Allah.

To summarize all of this and to make it easy to understand, our hearts should be سَلِيْم  (sound) and مُنِيْب (returning) and they should not be قَسْوَة (hard).

The Prophet ﷺ further elaborates this by giving us the detailed description of a heart that is pure.

He used the word مَخْمُوْمُ الْقَلْب   (Pure heart) and also described its five qualities. The heart that:

1. Has Taqwa of Allah.
2. Is pure.
3. Doesn’t has the desire to sin.
4. Doesn’t has the desire to transgress (go beyond the limits set by Allah).
5. Doesn’t has resentment and ill feelings.
6. Doesn’t has jealousy.

When you hear all of this the natural question that comes to your mind HOW DO I KNOW WHAT IS THE STATE OF MY HEART? Allah gives us a hint in the Ayah 118 of Surah البقرة and that is the crux!

“Those who do not know say, “why does Allah not speak to us (directly) or there comes to us a sign?” Thus those before them spoke like their words. THEIR HEARTS RESEMBLE EACH OTHER. We have shown clearly the signs to people who are certain in faith.”

In simple words

if you want TO KNOW THE CONDITION OF YOUR HEART THEN WATCH CLOSELY THE CONDITION OF YOUR TONGUE.

Because what you say is a reflection of your heart, if the heart is pure, clean and sound; then the tongue would only say what is pure, clean and sound and thus would never engage in لَغْو  (useless stuff).

So here are the key takeaways:

1. OBSERVE: Watch your tongue closely to know the condition of your heart. Observe it specifically for the following things
   • What sort of things does it say most of the times? Are they PURPOSEFUL?
   • Do they impact others with good and positivity, hope etc? OR
   • Is it engaged in useless conversations like backbiting, ridiculing, just cracking jokes, vulgar talks, at others or the worst case saying bad about Allah or His messengers or his book etc.
2. RECTIFY: Once you identify, then try to rectify it by taking baby steps. Suppose you talk vulgar and when you start talking you cant say words without using abusive language and you have other problems as well, then FOCUS ON 1 PROBLEM AT A TIME may be (your words). Once you rectify it then switch to the next.
   • Feed good to your mind daily by
     • RECITING AND LISTENING TO THE QURAN WITH UNDERSTANDING (THE BEST)
     • Listening to lectures
     • Reading good books
   • Surround yourself with good people. Be smart about negative people.
   • STOP! FILTER! THEN SAY!
3. PRAY: Pray to Allah. It would be better to learn the prayers taught by the Prophet ﷺ.

   • يَا مُقَلِّبُ الْقُلُوْب ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِيْ عَلٰيْ دِيْنِكَ {“O turner of hearts, make my heart firm on your deen”}

   • أَللّٰهُمَّ اٰتِ نَفْسِىْ تَقْوَاهَا وَ زَكِّهَا اَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا اَنْتَ وَلِيُّهَا وَ مَوْلَاهَا {“O Allah grant my nafs its taqwa and purify it over and over again, You are its best purifier and You are its guardian and its supporter.”}

May Allah make our hearts pure and clean that keep returning to Allah again and again and prevent them from becoming hard and therefore sealed.