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| Spiritual Health Muzammil Siddiqui ‘By the Soul, and the proportion and
order given to it; and its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right;
truly he succeeds that purifies it, and he fails that corrupts it!’ ‘But those will prosper who purify
themselves.’ (Al-A’la 87:14) We human beings do not have only our body
and mind; we also have a soul. Soul is sometimes described as spirit
(al-ruh) or heart (al-qalb). We know that our heart has physical
functions, but there is no scientific evidence to prove that it does not
have any spiritual functions. The soul probably resides in the heart or is
attached to it. Soul is the inner dimension of our being. It is related to
the body and mind as well, but it has its own being and existence, most
probably, in or near the heart. Spiritual health is as important, if not
more, as the physical and mental health. On the physical and mental health
depend our meaningful life and success in this world, but on the spiritual
health depends our success and salvation both in this world and in the
hereafter. Imam Ghazali in his book ‘Ihya’ says
that every organ of our body has a function; when it fails to do its
functions, it means it is not well. The function of the soul or the
spiritual heart is to know its Creator, to love Him and to seek closeness
to Him. If the heart fails in this function then we must know that it is
sick. It is important to know the ailments that
make the heart weak and sick. In the language of the Qur’an it is not
only the eyes that get blind; the hearts also become blind. 'Do they not travel through the land, so
that their hearts may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to
hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts that are
in their breasts.' (Al-Hajj 22:46) The Qur’an mentions in many places about the sickness (marad) of the hearts. Allah says in the Qur’an: 'In their hearts is a disease; and Allah
has increased their disease: and grievous is the penalty they (incur),
because they are false (to themselves).' (Al-Baqarah 2:10) When the heart gets sick, it loses its
desire and ability to do right and good deeds. This affects the morals and
manners of a person and his/her general behavior. What are the major
diseases that affect the hearts and how to take precaution and what are
the cures in case one is affected with these ailments? Following are some
of the diseases of the hearts: 1. Arrogance and conceit (al-kibr wa
al-ghurur) These are called “diseases of the
heart” (amrad al-qalb) and they lead to major sins if they are not
controlled and carefully treated. In the Qur’an and Sunnah and in the
spiritual writings of Muslim scholars such al-Ghazali and Ibn al-Qayyim
al-Jawziyah we find a lot of discussion for the treatment of these
ailments. Arrogance and conceit stem from egotism and
overestimation of oneself and one’s abilities or merits. This leads
sometimes to the denial of the Creator as it happened to Satan. The best
treatment of this disease is to cultivate modesty. We have to remind
ourselves always that we are the servants and slaves of Allah. We totally
depend on Him for our being and existence. Ostentation is called “hidden idolatry”
(al-shirk al-khafiyy). It is a desire to show off and seek praises from
others. It takes away sincerity and seriousness to pursue one’s goals
and objectives. When a person becomes too much involved with ostentation,
he/she becomes shallow and superficial. It may also lead to hypocrisy. The
best cure for it is to check the “intention” (niyyah) before any
action. A believer must remind oneself that his/her work is for the sake
of Allah alone. Jealousy, envy, hate and deceit stem from
the lack of respect, mercy and love for others. A jealous person does not
like to see others happy, successful and prosperous. Very often jealousy
and envy lead to hate, deceit and violence. The best treatment is to have
positive envy by competing with others in acts of goodness and use this as
an incentive to achieve more and better. Suspicion comes from lack of trust and
confidence in others. Allah says in the Qur’an, “Some suspicion is
sin.” Suspicion creates cynicism and takes away hope and optimism.
Suspicious persons or cynics are those who when they see actions and hear
some words that have the possibility being positive or negative, they take
the negative and evil. Suspicion sometimes also leads to violence. It is
good to be cautious and careful, but we must keep our attitude positive.
If we want to be trusted we must trust others as well. Anger is given to human being as a
mechanism for self-defense, but if it is not properly controlled it
becomes very destructive. In the Hadith it is called “fire.” The
Prophet - peace be upon him - said that when you get angry change your
environment, change your position, and drink some water. Imam Ghazali
said, “Love of Allah extinguishes the fire of anger.” Stinginess is a terrible disease. The
Prophet - peace be upon him - taught us to seek Allah’s refuge from
stinginess. Stinginess stems from selfishness, materialism, and too much
love of this world. It means lack of care and consideration for others. It
holds people from fulfilling their duties and recognizing the rights of
others. It leads sometimes to cheating and dishonesty. The Prophet - peace
be upon him - said, “Be aware of stinginess. It destroyed many nations
before you. It made them to shed the blood of each other and
misappropriate what was sacrosanct.” (Muslim, 2578) Love of Jah (i.e. the extreme desire for
money, power, position and fame) is another major disease of the heart.
This is also called in the Qur’an and Hadith as “love of this world”
(hubb al-dunya). In a Hadith it is reported that the Prophet -peace be
upon him - said, “Two hungry wolfvess in a herd of sheep are not as
destructive and harmful as the love of the money and extravagance are for
the religion of a person.” (Al-Tirmidhi 2376) The cure for this is to remind oneself
always that this world is “fitnah” (a test and trial) and the real
world is the Hereafter. Spiritual health comes with our sincere devotion to Allah with prayers, reading of the Qur’an and being in the company of the good people. May Allah keep us all in good physical, mental and spiritual health. Ameen. (Khutbah at ISOC - Jumadal Ula 25, 1424/ July 25, 2003) |