Reclaim your heart is one of the wonderful thought provoking book penned by Islamic motivational speaker Yasmeen Mogahed. She has beautifully highlighted the journey of life; its ups and downs.
She has elucidated upon how we humans get attached to dunya and develop unrealistic expectations.
In our blind attachment with the dunya ( people, wealth, status), we fall madly in love with creation more than creator and we let this worldly life occupy our most important assets – heart and mind.
We keep the love of creation in heart and love of creator in hand, that is we find it easy to disobey and ignore Allah but find it impossible to disappoint and sideline our loved ones.
In order to please our children, spouses and others we forget the commandments of Allah. We have become slaves of our instincts and emotional dependence on others. We seek support, unconditional love and sustenance from imperfect beings and expect them to fulfil our needs which they can’t.
They have their limits and are changing beings. Their love and priorities change at any moment and this hurts we humans more than anything. Fear of losing loved ones is biggest human weakness but people come and leave; they betray and abandon us either by will or by situation.
When our loved ones leave or hurt us we feel drowned and lost. It is like being left in a desert amidst storm. We lose peace of mind and tranquillity. This worldly life is a means to end; however, since we make it our end we get duped.
Our heart belong to our creator so if we fill it with love of Allah and revert to him and seek sustenance and support only from him we will never get hurt as his hand is the most powerful and unconquerable, his resources are inexhaustible. Nothing is impossible for him.
Islam always teaches us reliance on love and detachment from fragile world. All the five pillars of Islam teach us detachment. If we talk about the first pillar – shahadah. It starts with negation (La). In order to enter Islam we first need to empty our vessel (heart) and assert La illaha ill ul Allah (there is no ‘ilah’ but Allah ).
An ilah is an object of worship. But it is imperative to understand that an ilah is not just something we pray to. An ilah is what we revolve our life around, what we obey and what is of utmost importance to us—above all else. It is something that we live for—and cannot live without. It is something that we need, in the deepest sense of the word.
It is something that if lost, causes absolute devastation. If there is anything—or anyone—other than Allah that we could never give up, then we have a false attachment.
Thus the declaration of faith is the verbal profession of the very detachment we seek to achieve: that the only object of our worship, ultimate devotion, love, fears, and hope is Allah alone. To succeed at freeing oneself from all other attachments, except the attachment to the Creator, is the truest manifestation of tawheed.
Salah (5 daily prayers) also teach us detachment. Five times a day we must pull away from the dunya to focus on our Creator and ultimate purpose. Five times a day, we detach ourselves from whatever we are doing of worldly life, and turn to Allah. Prayer could have been prescribed only once a day or week or all five prayers could have been done at one time each day, but it is not.
The prayers are spread throughout the day. If one keeps to their prayers at their specified times, there is no opportunity to get attached. As soon as we begin to become engrossed in whatever this worldly matter, we’re involved in (the job we’re doing, the show we’re watching, the test we’re studying for, the person we can’t get off our mind), we are forced to detach from it and turn our focus to the only true object of attachment.
Siyam (Fasting) is all about detachment. It is the detachment from food, drink, sexual intimacy, vain speech. By restraining our physical self, we ennoble, purify, and exalt our spiritual self. Through fasting we are forced to detach ourselves from our physical needs, desires, and pleasures.
Zakat (Charity): Zakat is about detaching ourselves from our money and giving it for the sake of Allah. By giving it away, we are forced to break our attachment to wealth.
Hajj (Pilgrimage) is also one of the major acts of detachment. A pilgrim leaves behind everything in his life. He gives up his family, his home, his warm bed, his comfortable shoes and brand name clothes, all in exchange for sleeping on the ground or in a crowded tent and wearing only two simple pieces of cloth. There are no status symbols at Hajj. No Tommy Hilfiger ihram, no five star tents. During Hajj people sleep in a tent in Mina, and on the ground, under open sky, in Muzdalifah.
Take Away: If we make Allah our sole protecter, necessity and object of love and attachment, this worldly life and people will lose power to control us. Things and people only bring devastation and heartache as long as we are falsely attached to them.
The day we empty our vessel and fill it with love of Allah we will find tranquillity and peace in our lives. Blessings will follow. It doesn’t mean that we should not love others. To love is human and a way to earn rewards but the way we balance the love marks the difference.
The bounties of this life including our loved ones and things we aspire and cherish are gifts of Allah. Gifts are not necessity. They are meant to be taken with gratitude and accepted with the fact that they can be snatched and exhausted.
Our heart belongs to Allah. The more space we give to Allah lesser will be the space for worldly temporary comforts. So let’s make this Ramadhan a beginning towards reclaiming our hearts and switching our priorities.
Lets conclude by a beautiful prophetic tradition:
“Whoever makes the Hereafter his preoccupation, then Allah places freedom from want in his heart, gathers his affairs, and Dunya (worldly life) comes to him despite being reluctant to do so. And whoever makes Dunya his preoccupation, then Allah places his poverty in front of his eyes, make his affairs scattered, and nothing of the Dunya comes to him except that which has been decreed for him.” [At Tirmidhi].
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.