Healthy Heart
Indeed, all praises are due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His
Aid and beg for His Forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from
the evil in our souls and from the bad consequences of our
deeds. Whomever Allah Guides, no one can lead
that person astray and whomever Allah leads astray no one can
guide that person. I bear
witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah
Who is alone and without any partners and I bear witness that
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is His slave and final Prophet and
Messenger sent to mankind
"There is
one organ in the body. If that organ is in good condition, the
whole body is in good condition. If that organ is corrupted,
the whole body
is corrupted. And that organ is heart" - Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him)
Healthy Heart leads to an Healthy Life: -
The world is very fast with fast food,
instant photo, online banking, and a lot more. It is natural
that we may get into stress. An healthy heart leads to an
healthy life. This is illustrated by the above Hadith. So, we
should take care to maintain our heart in good health. We
should identify what are the factors that affect our heart and
the factors we need to inculcate to improve our mental health.
To the best of our knowledge, Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is the first person ever to have
to talk about the importance of healthy heart. Not only that,
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) also gave some very good
suggestions to maintain an healthy heart. Insha Allah, we will
see the negative and positive Factors that affect our heart in
brief first.
In this article,
we will see some negative factors that affect our heart. Insha
Allah in the next article, we will some positive factors that
improve the health of our heart. Insha Allah, in the following
articles, we will see each factor in detail. The reason why we
took the negative factors first is because of the following
hadith: "Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: 'Avoid all that
is bad; and try to follow that is good'".
If we avoid all deeds those are bad,
naturally we will be following only good deeds. Also, man/woman
is afraid of society apart from Allah. Naturally, we will try
to avoid bad deeds for fear of society. Subhaanallah! Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is a castle of knowledge. Of
course, Allah is the Most Knowledgeable and the All-Knowing.
Human is bound to get stress. Even
though we cannot completely eradicate stress, we could control
it. But the main factor for us becoming stressful, is that we
are not aware of stress. Let us be aware of stress, which
affects our heart and which in turn affects our body. May Allah
Gives us the Knowledge to control stress, before stress
controls us.
Negative Factors that affect our
heart: -
Pride:
Most Islamic scholars agree that Pride
is the biggest sin after Shirk (associating partnership with
Allah). "If a
person has even an atom equivalent of pride, he will not
enter Paradise" -
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
upon him)
Jealousy: Jealousy is a
very serious factor. It is because, some more negative
factors those affect our heart are caused by jealousy.
"Fear of Jealousy. For
as Fire consumes log of woods, so is jealousy destroys all
your good deeds" -
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
upon him)
Backbiting:
This is one habit most people knowingly
or unknowingly falls trap into. Malik related to me from al-Walid
ibn Abdullah ibn Sayyad that al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn
Hantab al-Makhzumi informed him that
a
man asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, "What is
backbiting?" The Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,
"It is to mention about a man what he does not want to hear."
He said,
"Messenger of Allah! Even if it is true?"
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, said, "If you utter something
false, then it is slander."
Slander:
Slander and Backbiting is cause because of our jealousy
towards others.
Suspicion:
"O ye who believe! avoid suspicion as
much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: and
spy not on each other nor speak ill of each other behind
their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his
dead brother? Nay ye would abhor it...but fear Allah: for
Allah is Oft-Returning Most Merciful."
- Quran 49:12
Dissatisfaction: "Even if you
give the son of Adam (man) with two mountains of gold, he
will ask for a third one" -
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon
him)
Ignorance:
He said:
"The Knowledge (of when it will come) is only with Allah: I
proclaim to you the mission on which I have been sent: but I
see that ye are a people in ignorance!"
- Quran 46:23
Attachment to this World: -
This is a common
behaviour in most human.
Alcohol:
"They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them
is great sin and some profit for men; but the sin is greater
than the profit." They ask thee how much they are to spend;
say: "What is beyond your needs." Thus doth Allah make clear
to you His Signs: in order that ye may consider."
- Quran 2:219
These
are some of the Negative Factors that affect our healthy
heart. Let us analyse ourselves about these factors and Insha
Allah, let us try to remove these bad deeds completely in our
life. May Allah Guides us towards Righteous. Insha Allah, we
will see some Positive Factors that improves our healthy
heart.
"As for those who divide their religion
and break up into sects, you (Muhammad) have no part in them
in the least."
(6:159, Noble Quran)