Is Your Heart a Palace or a Crack House?

Is a very, very, very delicate instrument It's a delicate instrument. What do I mean by that? I want you to look at the Quran as a map. It's a map. It's the technology you are using to reach Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. and the only way that you can make head or tails of that map is if your heart is pure. Describe the Quran as guidance guidance for the people who are pious. Those who revere Allah. Those who fear Allah, Those who abstain from the prohibitions of Allah. And those who follow through with the commandments of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Those who are vanguards and stand at the boundaries of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and do not cross them. This is what opens the heart. The heart is a delicate instrument. The heart, I'm not speaking about your heart that's beating in your chest. The location of the heart as referred to in the Quran is in the chest. Just our soul is in our body. How is our soul? We don't know. How is our proverbial heart? We don't know. but it has a connection to our brain and our physical heart. People ask questions sometimes because Allah said it is not really the eyes that are true blind. Blindness is not blindness of the eyes but blindness is truly blindness of the heart. The hearts which are located in the chest of men. That is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said. So, the heart is in the chest. That is where it is located. Now, he is speaking about the heart which is part of the soul. It resides in the heart that is in the chest. It resides and has connection with our minds and our brains. That's how we take in information and the heart is what? Calculates that information and makes decisions for us. That's how we make our decisions. And so I want you to look at the Quran as a map. It is the way that you are going to navigate your way to Allah That is what the the Quran is. It's a guide Allah said at the very beginning of the Quran Hudan. That's what the that's what the Quran is. It's guidance. It guides you a map. But that map can't be read properly unless you have a compass. Unless you know which direction you're going, you can't make head or tails of this map. It could be upside down, it could be sideways, you don't know. Until you are able know which way is north and able to infer from that the rest of the directions, you will not be able to use the map and that is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that the Quran Shahid. He said about the Quran that it is for those who listen with focus, listen, focus, listening. They're not just hearing the Quran. They're listening to it. While their soul their entire aura is present. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also says that the Quran is for those who have a heart. It's for those who have a heart. What does that mean? They have this delicate instrument by which it is pure. They keep it clean. right? They keep their heart clean as clean as possible. So that when they go to read the Quran, they will understand what it is really intended to be understood as. The Quran is perfectly ambiguous. It's general enough to include all of us but specific enough to guide everyone of us to Allah. And it's been that way for fifteen hundred years. A book that can guide you and I all the way here in Chicago, across the world, across fifteen hundred years. How can this apply to us. How? We have different thoughts, different backgrounds, different different ways, different customs, different way of looking at the world. Our world is different, right? Yet this Quran can still apply to us. This Quran still guides us. And so it's general enough to be able to include all times and places and people. And it's specific enough to guide you specific to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's given that your heart is pure. The pure your heart, the more you will be given from the understanding of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If no mentions in his book Al Fawaed. He says that the heart of the human being is the throne of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's an interesting comparison, isn't it? How is the Quran? How is the heart of the human being similar to the throne of Allah? He said, just as the throne of Allah is the greatest of creations and had to be the purest for Allah to rise above it. Just that, the heart has to be absolutely pure for Allah's names and attributes and wisdom and knowledge to rise above it. In order for your heart to be penetrated and for the Quran and Sunnah to reside in it, it has to be clean. It can be filthy. and the Quran. Filth and purity cannot be in the same place. Just light and and darkness can't be in the same place. Just it can't be daytime and night time at the same time. Just black and white can't be in the same place. There's stark opposites. And so the filth of a Shaitan has to be removed. And now I'm going to give you a parable. An example of the heart. And I want you to take this and contemplate it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught us how to seek refuge from a Shaitan. And in the closing chapter of the Quran. Look how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala organized the Quran. It's truly amazing isn't it? It begins with him. You're starting a journey. Right? and at the very end the very end of the book, what does it leave us with?

[Silence]

Our recitation of the Quran. Look at the organization You look at the organization of the Quran, it is mind blowing. It is, it is above and beyond what a human being could ever organize, could ever perfect, to intrude, into the darkest corners of the human heart, and enlighten them. And so, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala begins the Quran with what? Alhamdulillah and then he goes on to mention the straight path. Then he goes on to mention what that path is. He mentions the Quran. That is the path of Allah. And then he mentions the people of that path. And those who are on it. And to whom the Quran will be of consequence. Right? And we go through this journey when we read the Quran. Until we leave, we are left with the final verses of the Quran. What are the final verses of the Quran? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us and leaves us after this long journey. Mentioning twenty-five different prophets. The story of Musa Alaihi Salam, the story of Yusuf. We go through the journey of the of Ibrahim Alaihi Salam. We are with them. As Ibrahim makes with his wife Sarah. When they leave their town and he says to his wife, there is noone on this earth. Today, a believer except for me and you. We're the only two. That's what Ibrahim said and Muslim to his wife. And then believed. And he was appointed as a prophet as well. We go through the journey of Lut. We go through the journey of we go into the belly of a whale We go through all of the beauty and the splendor of the heavens and the earth, the constellations. He takes us through all this journey and then at the very end, he leaves us with what does he say? Say, I see refuge in the lord of the people Melecanes, the king of the people. The only one true deity worthy of worship Of the people. I seek refuge and he from the evil. Of Hanes. We want to take a moment here to understand what is is a description of a Shaitan, correct? That's his description. Allah describes him as two things. He says, West West, Hanness, he says the continuous, unremitant, whisperer, of evil, and the one who is in constant retreat. That's his description. So, to sum up everything that we know about a Shaitan and his relationship with the human being is that he is whispering and retreating. That is what he is constantly doing. He's either doing one of those two things. Now, the scholars of Tefsia, they tell us. Why is it that Why is it that He was described as the whisperer in constant retreat. They say, for two reasons, number one, he is a retreats when people obey him. And he retreats when people obey Allah. What does that mean? Meaning that he will whisper to the person to do evil. He whispers and whispers and whispers. Until the person does it. As soon a person does it, he retreats. He washes his hands of him. He says, anybody will mink. He says to him, I'm innocent of you. That was your choice, not mine. I have nothing to do with that. So, he leaves you in the air. He leaves you in the wind. You obey him and what is your reward Your leader leaves you. When you're in the midst of chaos, when he turns your life to slush, and makes your life a misery, then, he will say to you, I have nothing to do with that. That was your choice. I merely encouraged you and you obeyed me. Allah promised you a true promise and I promised you but I have defied my promise. I, I hereby denounce everything that you all did. That's what he will say on the day of resurrection to his followers. His most devoted followers on the day of resurrection as the flames of hell blaze. He will talk to them and he will say, Allah promised you a true promise. And I also promised you But I went back on my promise. So do not blame me. Blame yourselves. I have no control over you nor you control over me. I have hereby denounced everything that you all have done. And I am innocent of it. That's what a Shaitan does. The He continues to say to the human being, disbelieve and then when the man is on his deathbed, he says and he is dead, he is dying, the angels of death are removing his soul, Shaitan comes and whispers one last whisper, hey, this is not my fault. This is your fault. Count me out. As a one last goodbye. This is a Shaytan. The second reason he is referred to as the whisperer who is in constant retreat is because when a person obeys a law, and mentions a law and remembers Allah and seeks Allah and put his hands to the heavens, stretches his hands out to the, to the heavens, seeking a law, opens his heart to Allah, a Shaitan runs and he is in retreat from that. When you say he retreats. But he'll come back. Some people they say they come and they ask questions. They say man I have these whispers. These whispers of evil and they won't stop. And they say how do I make them stop? What's the answer to that? It will never stop. You can't make them stop. Nobody can. It was only the prophet Muhammad who was granted that. He said to Aisha, every single person has a Shaitan that is appointed to him from the day he is born. From the moment he comes out of his mother's womb, a Shaitan is there. And that will be his designated demon for the rest of his life. In Knows you, he studies you in and out. He comes to you in your dreams. He watches you as you sleep. He's with you when you eat. He walks in your home if you do not remember Allah. He eats your food if you do not remember Allah. He is with you with your spouse if you do not remember Allah. This is what the prophet tells us. And so, when a person says he retreats. He retreats. It's mentioned in Muslim that when the is called, he plugs his ears and flees. He runs. He can't stand to hear it. Because of the guilt he carries. Because of the fear of Allah that he has. But because of his arrogance, he will always be destined in hell bound. And so, How do we get the whispers to stop? They will never stop. You learn mental toughness. You learn how to ignore those whispers. And not only that, but Allah has not just left us with a demon. There's glad tidings. In hadith the prophet said, He says that a Shaitan has.

[Silence]

Matter of fact, some scholars say that we have two angels and one demon. What does that mean? That means that the angels that are on our right and left-hand side, the one that writes the good deeds and the one that writes the bad, then They don't just sit there idle and write what you do They counter the whispers of a Shaitan. They interact with you. So, that angel that writes your good deeds, he's constantly encouraging you to do the good deed. He's not just sitting there idle. He's there waiting, encouraging you. Do this deed. Do that deed so I can write it. Make this, make what I write plentiful. and the one on the left who writes the bad deeds will continue to deter you from the bad deed until you force him to write it. but even when you force him to write it, it's mentioned that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to him, wait. Don't write it yet. Give him a few hours, maybe he'll repent. Maybe he'll seek my forgiveness and you won't need to write it at all. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the most loyal. He's there for you. The odds are stacked in your favor. are seven gates to hell and how many gates to paradise Eight that means what? That means that it is easier to get into paradise than it is to hell. That means that it is more likely to get into paradise than it is to get into hell. But some people refuse but to go to hell. And so I will give you an example of a Shaitan. and I want you to listen to this example with your heart. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses three terms in the Quran to refer to the heart. He uses a the chest He uses the heart and he uses the heart, the passionate heart, okay? Now, in Allah said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that.

[Silence]

I'll give you the example that has given. It's mentioned that the heart is a palace. The heart is a palace. It's your palace. It's a temple. It's a masjid. It's a place where good or evil can reside. You can make it into a temple of Allah, a a masjid of Allah, a place of worship, of a law, or you can make it into a squatting. Grounds for evil and filth. an abandoned crack house, a building that has been neglected, and only bagavans, and the wicked visit this filthy place. Only those who are accustomed to filth will come into this place. You start out with a pure heart. And around this heart, there is offense, a wall. and that wall is your chest okay? As Shaitan, when he starts with you, he is on the outside of this wall. He's not inside What does he do? He throws trash over the wall into your into your courtyard into your chest. He whispers into the chest of men, right? Not the hearts. That's not what he said. And so, imagine a Shaitan, around the walls of this palace, and your your palace, your masjid, your temple, your heart is in the center. There is an expansive courtyard and there are gates and a Shaitan is on the outside. He can't get in. But what does he do? He starts to throw trash and rubbish over the wall into the into the courtyard. Now if you allow that to continue, what will happen? courtyard will become a place of filth, correct? The filth now is approaching the heart. And so if you continue to allow him to do that, you will eventually let him into the courtyard. But if you continue to clean out everything he throws in, you throw it back over. You stand at the courtyard. You don't stay inside the house, the palace. You don't wait in there. You have a boundary. So you stay in the courtyard and you stay on top of it. The prophet said, follow up a bad deed with a good one and it will erase it That's what he said. And so every time he throws over a piece of trash, you pick it up and throw it back at him. And you keep your courtyard clean all the time, every day. You're vigilant. But if you allow him to trash out your courtyard, he'll eventually come inside and sit in the courtyard. Now, he's throwing trash at the gates of your palace. And if you don't clean that out, he'll come and sit at the door of the palace And now he'll start throwing trashware inside the palace. Every time the heart opens, he throws trash in. Every time the door opens, he throws trash in. People ask, why is music haram? Because music opens the heart whether you it or not. It's tunes cause your heart to become open immediately. And if a Shaitan is sitting right there at the door, he'll start to throw trash and garbage inside of the palace. after he gets the palace Grand Sachs, he will go inside and he'll sit inside the palace. Now, try to get him out. You are now going to climb and crawl on your belly to try to get him out of your heart. He's gotten inside now. Now, you've made it his palace. And so he will invite all of his demon friends inside of there. And they will all trash and ransack your heart and leave it a hollow hole. As hollow as a as as hollow as as as a shadow in a memory. Black, dark, the only thing that will open the gates of that heart is when a Shaitan says, yeah, you can let this one in. And at that point, you belong to him. You've made your choice How do we counter this? We counter this by what? Continuing to be vigilant and not allowing a Shaitan into our chest and into our courtyards. Into our proverbial hearts. We don't let that happen. Every time he throws over a piece of trash, we throw it back over at him. And we throw a good deed. We throw over Allah's remembrance And he runs And he comes back. And he starts throwing trash in there again. And you throw it back at him. And you continue this process until you draw your last breath and think your final thoughts. That is how it works. The whispers will never stop. They'll never go away. They might cease for a moment. You might say and get temporary relief but that's your struggle. He'll always be there. He was there the day you were born. Before you were even, before you were even able to comprehend good and evil. He was there from the day you were born and he looked at you as a candidate. A candidate for what? For the blazing hellfire of Allah. Subhan Allah. And so, We counter this as the prophet told us. There's a narration on the authority of a couple of the companions also collected by the that the prophet said, the.

[Silence]

Even if you're in the dark, say to yourself, the one who created darkness is the one who is watching me right now. And if you happen to make a mistake, which is inevitable, you will. He says, follow up every mistake you make with a good deed and it will erase it. You make a mistake, you say a stuff for Allah and then you go out of your way to do a good deed. To erase that. He says, and have the best of character with other people. Observe the best of character with other people. Those are the three things he tells us to fortify us from a Shaitan. So, this is the heart. It's a compass. It's a very delicate instrument. You have to be very vigilant of it. Let me ask you a question. If you were in the desert and you had a map that told you exactly how to get out of that mess. And you had a compass which was the only instrument you have to make heads or tails of that map. Would you just neglect the compass? Would you just throw it around? Leave it wherever. Let anybody touch it. Let it fall on the ground. Maybe break it. Let the water leak out of it. Would you do that? No. Is that how you would treat your compass? If you knew that this was your lifeline? Of course not. If you knew that this was your lifeline, it would be the most protected thing that you have. Two things you would protect the most. In that situation. What are those two things? The compass and the map. Those you would always check to make sure you have them. Every time you walk, you're nervous, you're checking. Do I have them with me. And this is what is called reflection. You're reflecting on your heart Who said he said judge yourself before you are judged by Allah. and weigh yourselves before you are weighed on the scales of Allah on the day of resurrection. That's called reflection. You reflect on what you're doing. You're constantly checking your heart Is it working right? Or is it getting filthy? Is it starting to become inaccurate? Because the more you mistreat your heart, the more you let others handle it. The more you, toss it around, and let anybody use it. The more you give it to others and open it for everyone to see, the more inaccurate it will become until you will read the Quran thinking you are guided but in fact, you are reading it upside down. The Quran is ambiguous in many things. People who are murderers, find justification for their murder in the Quran. and people who stand around in the Masjid and beat drums and clap and dance and run around, they find justification for that wear in the Quran. Correct? and people who don't pray find justification for that in the Quran. You know why? Because their heart is black and they see the Quran only what they want to see of it. They only see what they want. and I will leave you with this narration which so beautifully sums up the way that the, the way that the heart is. Allah, the prophet said, in to our the.

[Silence]

Is braided. It's just one little thing that is braided into another. One at a time He said, every time this heart accepts every time one of this heart rejects this, a white.will be placed on his heart and that white.will grow. And every time he accepts the fitna and he falls into haram and he is fooled by the illusion, it will place a black.on his heart and it will grow. Until hearts become one of two He said, either a heart that is white and as strong as rock. no fitna will ever be able to penetrate that heart as long as the heavens and earth are in existence. And the other is a black heart. an upside down vessel. Imagine yourself taking a cup, turning it upside down, and trying to get a glass of water. It's upside down. It will never fill up. He said this heart will never acknowledge good nor will it ever recognize evil for what it is except for what his own desires and fancies accept. That is your journey through this world And that is the relationship of your heart to the Quran. That is enough for tonight. We will listen to the Adan.