How to Start the Journey Back to Allah?
Purifying the nafs enables the heart to be set free, not only of whims and desires, but of doubt, worry, and other diseases.
How to Start the Journey Back to Allah?
By Marwa Abdalla
Once upon a time, we were in Jannah (Paradise).
Our father, Adam, and our mother, Hawa (Eve), were at home in the Divine presence. Then, by the decree and wisdom of Allah, they had to leave Paradise. But out of His Mercy, Allah showed them the way back to Him saying:
{قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ۖ فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَن تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ}
Translation: {So surely there will come to you a guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve} [Al-Baqarah:38].
Allah has given us the guidance and now we are all on a journey, a journey we must take, not only with our physical limbs, but with our hearts. It is the journey of the heart to get back home…
This example is etched in my mind. I heard it years ago, but still remember every word. Taken from an audio lecture by Sheikh Mokhtar Maghraoui, it introduces in a very simple way the beautiful knowledge of the heart, the knowledge that helps us purify and keep our hearts healthy so that they may undertake the journey to their Lord.
The Knowledge of the Heart
Since then, I have tried to learn more about the journey of the heart. I have found that although many people appreciate the importance of this knowledge, at the practical level it is often forgotten in the contexts of our busy lives, and to this I admit I am no exception.
But understanding the importance of the heart and working to purify it and make it sound should be of utmost importance to all Muslims. Allah tells us in the Quran that this knowledge is part of the reason for which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent:
{لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ}
Translation: {Certainly did Allah confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error} ['Āli `Imrān:164].
A Simple Equation
Islam does not tell us that the only thing which we should focus on is the heart. Rather, Islam teaches that the heart serves as an internal compass to help a person navigate this life.
In order for the heart to work correctly, it must be fueled with beneficial knowledge and worship, and must be purified through the process of tazkiyah, which involves training and disciplining the self (nafs). When this occurs, one is able to fulfill the purpose for which he or she was created and earn Allah’s reward.
Islam sets up a very simple equation for the believer.
Correct Belief + Correct Action = Reward from Allah
This equation is not of my own making. Belief (Iman) is almost always coupled to doing righteousness (‘amal salih) when Allah describes those who will earn His reward.
{رَّسُولًا يَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ مُبَيِّنَاتٍ لِّيُخْرِجَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ ۚ وَمَن يُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ وَيَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا يُدْخِلْهُ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ۖ قَدْ أَحْسَنَ اللَّهُ لَهُ رِزْقًا}
Translation: {And whoever believes in Allah and does righteousness – He [Allah] will admit him into gardens beneath which rivers flow to abide therein forever. Allah will have perfected for him a provision} [Aţ-Ţalāq:11].
Allah has given us the Quran and Sunnah as a reference on which to base our judgments of what is correct and incorrect. However, when a person’s heart is diseased, corrupted or evil, he or she may be unable to distinguish truth from falsehood. This is why the heart is so critically important.
Understanding the Nafs
Our ability to fulfill this equation, to perfect both our beliefs and our actions depends on the health of our hearts. Islam teaches that the health of our hearts begins with the purification of and the inner struggle against our nafs, the part of our selves that is inclined to base whims and desires. Distracted and polluted by worldliness, the nafs has a tendency to drag the human heart down into arrogance and vice. The heart is thus unable to journey as it should to Allah.
Purifying the nafs enables the heart to be set free, not only of whims and desires, but of doubt, worry, and other diseases that the nafs can inflict upon the heart. This is what gives the believer ultimate success, not only in this life, but in the hereafter.
Hearts Floating Freely
I was thinking about this recently while preparing to speak to a group of Muslim women at a university on the topic of the sound heart. I wanted to present this idea in a material way to make it easier to understand. So, I decided to bring in a bubble machine.
A bubble machine is a simple, battery powered machine that when filled with bubble solution - a clear, soapy liquid - blows hundreds of bubbles automatically. In addition to the bubble machine, I brought in a glass container filled with soil from my garden. During the presentation, I turned on the machine and bubbles filled the room, each transparent sphere floating higher and higher to the ceiling. I told the audience that our hearts were meant to be clean, transparent, and light, like these bubbles, in order to know Allah and journey to Him freely.
Then I brought out the container of soil. I said that this soil, this earth, represented all that the nafs desires and wants us to hold on to. I asked the women what they thought would happen to the bubble machine if I mixed the soil into the bubble solution. Their answer: our room would have no more bubbles. Indeed, the soil would weigh down the bubbles so much that they would probably not begin their journey at all.
Jannah in This World
And thus our nufoos are similar-when we allow them the excesses that they desire of this world we are, in essence, weighing down our hearts and preventing them from journeying freely to Allah. Our worship feels heavier, our remembrance of Allah feels heavier, even doing good deeds feels heavier.
However, when we train our souls and purify them, we allow our hearts to break free from their attachments to this worldly life and float higher and higher in nearness to Allah. This closeness to Allah has been described as a taste of jannah, of paradise, in this world.
Shiekh al Islam, Ibn Taymiyah, said, referring to this jannah that we taste with our hearts:
“In this world is a Paradise, whoever does not enter it will not enter the Paradise of the Hereafter.”
How then does one begin to undertake the journey of the heart?
As with any endeavor, maybe the first step is the most important: to have a clear intention and to ask Allah to facilitate our journey to Him. Too often, we rely solely on ourselves to accomplish our goals. We forget that it is only with Allah’s permission that any of us can accomplish what we set out to do. Praying to Allah, supplicating to Him and asking for His aide is thus of paramount importance.
The second step is to think like a traveler. The Prophet Muhammad often used the metaphor of a traveler on a journey when discussing how one should view him or herself in this life. In one hadith, he (peace be upon him) said:
«»
Translation: «What am I in this world but a traveler who sat and took rest under the shade of a tree and then got up and left it» (At-Tirmidhi:2377).
Imagine if you were about to depart on a long journey. You would probably be very selective and very careful about what you packed to take with you so as not to overburden yourself with unnecessary baggage.
Just as a traveler tries not to overburden himself with unnecessary baggage, so too should the Muslim not be carrying too much of this world in his or her heart. That is, the Muslim should take from this world that which suffices him or her, and not be preoccupied by the thirst for more.
And although there are many things which are made to look attractive in this life (like wealth, children, status, and power) when these become the preoccupation of the Muslim, they may weigh so heavily on the heart that they cause him or her to slow down or even stop travelling altogether.
And just as the traveler is concerned with arriving at his final destination, so too should the Muslim, be concerned with ensuring he does all he can to be permitted into jannah. That means fulfilling the commandments of Allah and staying away from that which Allah has prohibited.
Lastly, we must understand the nature of our journey and the nature of the dunya through which we are travelling. The nature of the journey has been made very clear to us:
{الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ}
Translation: {[It is He] who has created death and life that He may test you to see which of you is best in action or deed} [Al-Mulk:2].
So this life, this journey, is really a test. We must understand this and approach it as such; otherwise we will be sorely disappointed when things don’t go as we have planned. We will fail to see that in everything that happens to us and everything that does not happen to us is a test from Allah, and if we don’t see that it’s a test, we will have trouble passing it.
The nature of this dunya through which we are travelling has also been made very clear to us. Countless verses in the Quran tell us of the truth of this dunya:
{اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ ۖ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا ۖ وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ ۚ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ}
Translation: {Know that the life of this world is merely a game and a diversion and decoration and a cause of boasting among yourselves and trying to outdo one another in wealth and children: like the plant-growth after rain which delights the cultivators, but then it withers and you see it turning yellow, and then it becomes broken stubble…The life of this world is nothing but the enjoyment of delusion} [Al-Ĥadīd:20].
This dunya is not everlasting, it is just temporary. Those things that are made to look attractive to us are eventually going to fade. Reminding ourselves of this is extremely important so that we may approach the dunya with the right attitude, that of, “I know I am going to be leaving this place,” versus that of, “I thought I was going to stay here forever.”
These are the preliminary steps we can take to help purify our hearts.
