Podcast
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Thanks to the listeners for asking, why is it not enough just to believe in the Lord? Why do we still have to abide by so many rules?
To put it simply and directly, these so-called rules are not restrictions on people, but are designed to purify people’s hearts. According to historical records, the early Meccans preyed on the weak(Chinese proverb: weak are eaten by the strong), fought for power and profit, killed their daughters, controlled people with superstitions, and women born outside powerful wealthy families had no social status to speak of, and so on. Most of the disadvantaged people can only helplessly accept this was their fate, or use evil to counter evil, and violence to violence, a vicious circle of disputes.
The early revelations of the Qur’an made people recognize who is the real ultimate Master, and that Allah is the ultimate Master of life and death. He has clear rewards and punishments, and will not leave a trace of injustice. Clearly stated that good deed with good reward, bad deed will be rewarded accordingly. When? How? It is all in the hands of Allah, and no injustice will be left behind. All things that happen can only happen or not happen with His permission. No matter what happens, no one knows whether it is really good or really bad only until the moment of death. Only Allah knows all the causes and effects of the past, present and future.
Therefore, the early revelations, in addition to allowing people to recognize the real Master, then pointed out that only by purifying the heart, we can get closer to Allah. Therefore, we can be grateful in good times and not be discouraged or give up on ourselves in adversity. Thus, the command to purify the heart is an important Islamic teaching.
(91:9-10) Allah said: Successful indeed is the one who purifies their soul, and doomed is the one who corrupts it!
(26:88-89) the Day when neither wealth nor children will be of any benefit. Only those who come before Allah with a pure heart ˹will be saved˺.
From these verses, it’s clearly stated that success in the hereafter depends on purification of the heart in this life. We have to purify our hearts from sins such as greed, malice, envy, arrogance and overly indulge into worldliness. Instead, we have to adorn our hearts with spiritual virtues such as generosity, compassion, kindness, and humility.
According to the Qur’an, purification of the mind was also one of the first orders of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) when he was sent to Pharaoh.
(79:17-19) Allah said, ““Go to Pharaoh, for he has truly transgressed ˹all bounds˺. And say, ‘Would you ˹be willing to˺ purify yourself, and let me guide you to your Lord so that you will be in awe ˹of Him˺?’”
A pure heart was also one of the defining characteristics of Abraham (peace be upon him).
(37:83-84) Allah said: And indeed, one of those who followed his way was Abraham, when he came to his Lord with a pure heart.
Therefore, Allah’s commands such as stop the superstition of divination and fortune-teller, stop eating things that make people lose their minds such as wine, stop delusion about gambling that want to get something without working and based on luck, do not eat unclean food, do not suicide, do not be afraid of financial difficulties or how others views that lead to kill one’s own daughter, do not charge usury on top of the principal unfairly, do not make Allah’s slaves to be your own slaves, and do not mix men and women except in legal circumstances such as marriage or kinship. Sexual relations are limited within the marriage of a man and a woman. Regardless of the changes of the times, or the promotion of TV, movies or celebrity effects, same-sex sexual relations are forbidden and unchanged. Allah also forbids lying, jealousy, hatred, dishonesty, greed, miserliness, extravagance, waste, hypocrisy, vulgar speech and behavior, etc.
And commanded prayer, zakaah, fasting, Hajj, telling the truth, fulfilling trusts, being kind to parents, wives, children and relatives, keeping promises, encouraging good, abstaining from evil, being kind to neighbors, orphans, poor people, animals, and read the Quran, etc.
To many people, it may feel like a lot of rules, but at a deeper level, all these rules, more or less has only benefits and not any harm for ourselves and for society. Also, if one wishes to achieve the goal of becoming a true worshiper and servant of Allah, then each of these rules is necessary. That person has to realize that the way he worships Allah is not based on his own personal inclinations, logic or whims.
Rather, it must be based on likes and dislikes from Allah, the only one who can say how to worship Him is Allah Himself. Therefore, the first step is to determine what one wants from Allah in order to sincerely understand what Allah likes and dislikes. This can only be achieved by understanding the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Then, this understanding will transform into the acceptance and desire of these things in the heart, and completely no doubt that these practices are only have beneficial and no harmless. This kind of awareness is the true expression of love for Allah and complete obedience to Him.
Think about it, if a person is full of hatred, fear and doubt, such obedience is not worship, it is just that there is no choice. And Allah emphasizes in many places in the Qur’an that there is no compulsion in religion. The true worship is pure in heart, full of love and desire for Allah, and afraid of making Allah angry and disappointed with himself.
Another very important point is that the purification of the soul is not just worship or other religious ceremonies, on the contrary, it is aimed at more inner struggles and thoughts, and the ultimate goal of purification is to become a true slave of Allah as much as possible, not to be a slave to anyone, material or selfish desires.
One of the main methods we can use to purify our hearts is through sincere supplications and prayers according to the ways of the Prophet, which is the Sunnah.
(87:14-15) “Successful indeed are those who purify themselves, remember the Name of their Lord, and pray.”
This removes arrogance from our hearts and humbles us when we ask Allah for forgiveness of our sins. When we pray to Allah to guide others, it removes malice, jealousy and hatred from our hearts and makes us love others for Allah’s sake. When we remember the Hereafter and the Day of Resurrection, we become less greedy and attached to the world and more willing to help others.
And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) purified his heart every morning and evening through supplications and prayers.
According to Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Anas ibn Malik reported: “The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said to me: ‘O boy, if you are able to remove every morning and evening any rancor from your heart toward anyone, then do so.’ Then the Prophet said to me: ‘O boy, that is my tradition and whoever revives my tradition, has loved me, and whoever loves me will be with me in Paradise’.”
Qur’an (29:45) “Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer should deter ˹one˺ from indecency and wickedness. The remembrance of Allah is even greater ˹deterrent˺. And Allah ˹fully˺ knows what you do.”
Therefore, maybe at this moment you might feel that you have done too many wrong things, that you can’t go back, that you can’t be forgiven, that you can’t be getting mercy, it doesn’t matter, because we can’t imagine the kindness of Allah, the power of Allah. And no one can really know what Allah thinks, and no one really fully knows what happens to everyone and things around them, which may seem to be unrelated, but may be interrelated.
Therefore, no matter what wrong things you have done, as mentioned in this verse, reading the Qur’an, continuing to observe the prayers and remembering Allah constantly, as long as you do not give up these three basic tips, one day the guilt will be enough to make you to stop all the wrong things. And guilt feeling is the beginning to purify the soul.
(92:17-20) But the righteous will be spared from it—who donate ˹some of˺ their wealth only to purify themselves, not in return for someone’s favours, but seeking the pleasure of their Lord, the Most High.
And this passage of the Qur’an teaches that doing good deeds and not asking for thanks or rewards from others, not looking for gaining fame, but purely seeking the favor of Allah in exchange for spiritual purification. When donating wealth to help those in need, it removes from our hearts the contempt of the poor, remove jealousy of what others have, and gives us hope for good deeds that we store up for the hereafter. Charity doesn’t just mean giving wealth, it means giving people your time, your efforts, your actions, even a smile or a kind word is an act of kindness. Or sharing the knowledge bestowed by Allah with full heart is also good deeds.
It is the duty of every Muslim to do good deeds, because everyone has something to give from his wealth, experience, knowledge, time and energy. At the very least, Muslims not harm others, which is also charity.
Muslim hadith recorded, Abu Huraira reported: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: ‘Charity is due upon every joint of the people for every day upon which the sun rises. Being just between two people is charity, and helping a man with his animal and lifting his luggage upon it is charity, and a kind word is charity, and every step that you take toward the mosque is charity, and removing harmful things from the road is charity’.”
According to the Sunan of ‘Ibn Majah’, Abu Huraira reported: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: ‘Verily, when the believer commits a sin, a black spot appears upon his heart. If he repents and abandons the sin and seeks forgiveness, his heart will be polished, but if he increases in sin, the blackness increases. That is the covering which Allah has mentioned in his Book: (83:14) But no! In fact, their hearts have been stained by all ˹the evil˺ they used to commit!”
Therefore, no matter how wrong a person did, Muslims should continue to pray five times a day, ask for forgiveness, repent, remember Allah, and do good deeds until their hearts are purified from sin.
At last, the salvation of Muslims depends on recognizing right and wrong, because in real life, information is so overwhelmed that most people are assimilated by things around them, such as TV, movies or media, so that they are immersed in a big dye vat and cannot see the truth from the false (Chinese proverb), can’t see right from wrong. Therefore, only by living according to the ways of life that Allah has taught how to be a human being, then we can avoid our eyes to be blindfolded. Also constantly purify our hearts from mistakes, and adorn our hearts with virtues.
These so-called rules are not restricting people as most people imagine. On the contrary, they are self-regulated ways of life to become self-disciplined, learn to be fair and just practice for others, sincere prayers for others and continuous good deeds, so that people can see right from wrong, until the soul is purified. In fact, people don’t just and can live as they want, even if they may not like those rules, but it is undeniable that if people follow the teachings of Allah, not only themselves and those around them, but also the whole society will benefit a lot from it. Finally, It has to be remembered that on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will judge each person according to the purity of their hearts and their actions, and will not wrong anyone.
“Muslim” hadith records, Abu Huraira reported: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: ‘Verily, Allah does not look at your appearance or wealth, but rather He looks at your hearts and actions’.”
Success comes from Allah and Allah knows best. The next episode will continue to discuss more about purifying the heart, thanks for listening.