Day 2

Imam Bayhaqi, may God have mercy on him, collected a statement of the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, on the authority of the noble companion Abdullah ibn Umar, where he says, "Everything has its polish, and the polish of hearts is the remembrance of Almighty God..."

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, may God have mercy on him, gives the following commentary on this hadith:

"Doubtless, a heart grows tarnished like brass or silver, and its polish is by remembrance (dhikr), which may make it shine like a crystal mirror. So when one neglects the remembrance it tarnishes, and when he returns it shines. Since the heart is tarnished by two things -- heedlessness and sin -- it is polished by two things: remembrance and asking forgiveness. If heedlessness dominates most of someone's time, the tarnish on his or her heart grows in proportion. And if the heart is tarnished, it ceases to reflect things as they are. Therefore it sees the false as true and the true as false. As the tarnish grows thicker, the heart grows dimmer, until it no longer reflects reality at all. And if this tarnish builds up, blackens and envelops the heart completely, the heart's reflective quality and perception will be totally lost, so that it will neither accept what is true nor reject what is false. Such a fate is the worst that can befall it." (translation by Michael AbdurRahman Fitzgerald and Moulay Youssef Slitine)

My reflections: Ghaflah, or heedlessness, is a state of forgetting or not reflecting upon reality. It is said that the human being is called insaan in Arabic because humans are naturally forgetful. (The Arab poet said, "he is only called insaan (human) because of his nasiyaan (forgetfulness.))

The central reality that must be consciously brought to mind concerns God, that God created us and this universe, that God is constantly sustaining us and caring for us, and that God cares about what happens to us and what we do and God wishes to see us live according to our full potential for goodness and excellence (ihsan).

Reality is also that we are connected to other human beings and the rest of God's creation. We have duties toward them. We have obligations toward our families, toward our neighbors, toward our colleagues and classmates, toward all the people we come into contact with on a daily basis. In fact, our connection is with all human beings as fellow servants of God,and sons and daughters of Adam.

Questions to Consider/Exercises:

Yesterday we mentioned some common methods of dhikr. It should be clear from the above that for dhikr to be truly beneficial in accomplishing its goal of cleansing the heart, it has to be a conscious pondering of the realities of our connection with the Creator and with fellow human beings.

Are you conscious of the state of your heart?

Are there times when you feel that your heart has become clouded by heedlessness of God or by sinning?

The Muslim scholars of spirituality have often stressed that the paths which lead to these spiritual diseases are most often the result of pursuing selfish desires at the expense of remembering our connections with and obligations toward others.

Try to take a minute or two to reflect upon your day and think about the effect of your thoughts, words and actions upon the state of your own heart. And always remember no matter how tarnished the heart is, it can be polished by remembrance and asking forgiveness. The Messenger of God, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said "I seek forgiveness and repent to my Lord more than seventy (and in another narration 100) times a day." (Bukhari, Muslim)