Hadiths Concerning the Presence of Heart

There are many hadiths from the infallible and pure Ahlul Bayt (AS) concerning urging the "presence of heart". It suffices to translate some texts of those narratives:

The Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said: "Worship Allah as if you see Him. If you do not see Him, He does see you." [73]

From this noble hadith two of the degrees of the presence of heart can be realized:

The first is that the salik discerns the Beauty of the Beautiful, and is absorbed in the manifestations of the Beloved [hadrat i mahbub] such that all the ears of his heart will be closed to all other creatures, while the eye of his insight opens to the pure Beauty of the Lord of Majesty, discerning nothing else. That is, he is engaged in the Present [hadir], neglecting the presence [hudur] and company [mahdar].

The second degree, which is lower in rank, is that the salik sees himself present in His Presence [mahdar] and observes the discipline of the Presence [hudur] and Company [mahdar]. The Messenger of Allah (SA) says: "If you can be of those who are in the first degree, then worship Allah accordingly, or else, do not neglect the fact that you are in the Presence [mahdar] of the Lord." Naturally, there is a discipline for being in the Presence [mahdar] of Allah which should not be neglected in respect of the state of servitude. In a hadith, Abu Hamzah ath-Thamali narrates: "I saw Ali ibn al-Husayn (AS) performing his salat. His cloak slipped off his shoulders, but he did not try to rearrange it until he finished the salat. When I asked him about that, he said: 'Woe unto you! Do you know at whose service I was?'" [74]

The Messenger of Allah (SA) was quoted to have said: "Two of my Ummah stand for the salat, and, although their ruku' and sujud are the same, the difference between the two salats is like that which is between the earth and the sky." [75]

He also said: "Is the person who turns his face in the salat not afraid that it may turn into the face of an ass?" [76]

He further said: "Whoever performs a 2-rak'at salat without paying attention to any worldly matter, Allah, the Exalted, will forgive him his sins. [77]

In another hadith he said: "A salat, half of it may be accepted, or one-third, or a quarter, or one-fifth, or even one-tenth. Another salat may be folded, like an old dress, and be thrown back at the face of its owner". "No part of the salat is yours except that part which you perform with an attentive heart." [78]

Imam al-Baqir (AS) has quoted the Messenger of Allah (SA) as saying: "When a believing servant stands for the salat, Allah, the Exalted, looks at him (or he said: He turns to him) until he finishes, and mercy shadows over his head, the angels surround him from all sides up to the horizon of the heaven, and Allah assigns an angel to stand at his head, saying: '0 musalli, if you know who is looking at you, and to whom you are supplicating, you will look to nowhere, nor will you leave your position.'" [79]

Imam as Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: "Eagerness and fear will not get together in a heart unless Paradise is his. So, when you perform your salat, turn with your heart to Allah, the Glorified, the Almighty, because there would be no believing servant who would turn with his heart to Allah, the Exalted, during the salat and invocation, unless Allah would turn to him the hearts of the believers, and with their love He would back him and lead him to Paradise." [80]

It is narrated that Imams al-Baqir and as Sadiq (AS) said: "Nothing of your salat is yours except that which you did with an attentive heart. So, if one performed it completely mistaken, or neglected its disciplines, it would be folded and thrown back at its owner's face." [81]

Imam Baqirul 'Ulum ( the cleaver of knowledge) (AS) is quoted to have said: "of a servant's salat ascends half, one-third, one-fourth or one-fifth to his account. That is, of his salat will not ascend except that part which is performed with an attentive heart. We have been commanded to perform the nafilah so as to make up for the shortcomings of the obligatory salats." [82]

Imam as Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: " when you wear the ihram for the salat (i.e. when you prepared for the salat), pay attention to it, because when you pay attention to it, Allah will pay attention to you. If you do not care for it, Allah will not care for you. So, sometimes, does not ascend of the salat except one-third, one-fourth or one-sixth, according to the amount of attention the musalli pays to it. Allah grants nothing to the negligent." [83]

The Messenger of Allah (SA) is quoted to have said to Abu Dharr: "Two moderate rak'ats of salat with contemplation are better than worshipping a whole night with a negligent heart." [84] The hadiths on this are many, but those which have been related are enough for those whose hearts are awake and attentive.

Notes:

[73]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 74, p. 74, "Book of Ar-Raudah". ch. 4, hadith 3. Makarimul Akhlaq, p. 459.

[74. Wasa 'il ush-Shi'ah, vol. 4, p. 688, "Book of as salat", chs. on "The Acts of as salat", ch. 3, hadith 6.

[75]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 81, p. 249, "Book of as Salat", ch. 16, hadith 41.

[76]. Mustadrakul Wasail, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "The Acts of the salat", ch. 2, hadith 20.

[77]. Ibid. hadith 13.

[78]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 81, p. 260, "Book of as Salat", ch. 16, hadith 59.

[79]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of as Salat," chs. on "The Acts of the Salat", ch. 2, hadith 22.

[80]. Wasa'ilush-Shi'ah, vol. 4, p. 687, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "The Acts of the Salat", ch. 3, hadith 3.

[81]. Ibid., hadith 1.

[82]. 'Ilalush-Shara'i', vol. 2, p. 327, ch. 22, hadith 2.

[83]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of as Salat", chs. on "The Acts of the Salat", ch. 3, hadith 7.

[84]. See footnote No.59.

On Curing the Wandering Imagination

Concerning Showing an Effective Cure for the Treatment of the Wandering and Escaping Imagination, that Brings about the Presence of Heart.

Know that each one of the inner and outer powers of the soul can be educated and taught by way of practicing a particular austerity. For example, human eye is unable to gaze at a point or at an intense light, such as the disk of the sun, for a long time, without blinking. But if a man educates his eye, such as that which is done by some of the people of false asceticism for certain purposes, he can look into the sun for several hours without blinking or getting tired. Similarly, he can gaze at a certain point for hours without any movement. This is also true of the other faculties, like stopping breathing, which, as they say, is seen among the people of false asceticism, as there are some who can stop breathing for an extraordinary period.

Of the faculties which can be educated are the faculties of imagination and fancy. Before educating them, they are like two ever-jumpy and restless birds flying from a branch to another, and from one thing to another. If one tries to watch them for a single minute, he will see their many successive movements of very slight and far-fetched connections. Many think that to control the bird of imagination and tame it is out of the limits of possibilities, and falls within the realm of the common impossibilities. But, as a matter of fact, it is not so. With hardship, practice and time-taking education, it can be tamed, and the bird of imagination can be put under one's control and will be such that it can be confined for several hours and for a certain purpose, according to one's will.

The principal way of taming it is to act to its contrary. That is, at the time of the salat one is to prepare himself to control the imagination during the salat and confine it to action, and, as soon as it tries to slip out of his hand, to recapture it. One should carefully watch it in all the actions, recitings, invocations, etc. of the salat, observing it so as not to be obstinate. At the beginning, this seems to be a difficult task. But after a while of strict practice and treatment, it will certainly become tame and obedient. You should not, of course, expect yourself, at the beginning, to be able to control the bird of imagination along the salat completely. Actually, this is impossible. Perhaps those who stressed this impossibility had such expectations. The situation requires deliberateness, careful patience and gradual training. It is possible that you can first control your imagination during only one-tenth of the salat or even less than that, in which you can have the presence of heart. Then, if one pays more attention, and if he feels himself in need of that, he can attain to a better result, and can gradually overcome the Satan of fancy and the bird of imagination, such that they come under his control in most of the salat. However, you should never despair, as despair is the origin of all weaknesses and inabilities, whereas the flash of hope guides man to his complete happiness.

The important thing in this respect, however, is to feel being in need - a mood which is little felt by us. Our heart is not believing that the source of the happiness in the Hereafter, and the means of a long-lasting life, is the salat. We take the salat to be an additional burden on our lives. We think it an imposition and an obligation. The love of a thing is understanding its consequences. We understood its consequence and the heart believes in it, and, therefore, we are not in need of any advice or admonition in acquiring it.

Those who think that the message of the Seal of the Prophets, the Hashimite Messenger (SA), has two dimensions: one belonging to this world and the other to the Hereafter, and take this to be a pride of the bringer of the Shari'ah and the perfection of prophethood, know nothing of the religion and are unaware of the message and far from understanding the purpose of the prophethood. Inviting to worldly things is quite alien to the objectives of the great prophets, since desire, sense of anger and the interior and exterior Satans, are sufficient for such an invitation and it does not need the sending of messengers. The administration of desire and anger is in no need of a Qur'an. The love of a thing is seen from love the world because we have or a prophet. The prophets, actually, have come to keep people back from this world to curb the release of the desire and anger, and to limit the sources of worldly interests. An ignorant person thinks that they invited the people to this world. They say: "Do not acquire wealth by whatever means. Do not satisfy your desire in whatever way available there should be marriage, and there should be (lawful) trade, industry and agriculture though the door of the centre of desire and anger is opened by letting them free." So, the prophets demand them to be chained, not to be set free, and they do not invite to worldly things. They ask for a lawful business so as to prohibit the unlawful ones. They call to marriage in order to curb the nature and prevent debauchery and releasing the power of desire [shahwat]. As a matter of fact, they are not absolutely against them, because it would be against the perfect system.

In short, as we feel we need this world, regarding it to be the capital of life and the source of pleasure, we get ready to attend to it and to acquire it.

But if we believe in the Hereafter-life and feel we are in need of that life, and regard worship, especially the salat, to be the capital for living there, and the source of happiness in that world, we, naturally, will try .to do our best to acquire it, and we will not feel any difficulty and fatigue in ourselves; or rather, we will hurry to acquire it with complete eagerness and craving, and endure every hardship and undergo all circumstances for that purpose.

Now, this coldness and weakness, which are manifest in us, are caused by the coldness of the radiance of our faith and the weakness of its foundation. Had all the news of the prophets and holy men [auliyll'] (AS) and the (may Allah be pleased with them) arguments of the elite and learned men created "sufferance" [ihtimal] in us, we could have done better in our attempts and acquirements. So, we have to regret a thousand times for letting Satan overcome our inside and conquer the whole of our heart and the hearings of our interior, preventing us from hearing the sayings of Allah and His Messengers, and those of the scholars, as well as the admonitions of the divine Books. Such being the case, our ears are changed to those of worldly animals, and the divine admonitions would not go beyond the apparent and the animal ear to the inside "Most surely there is a reminder in this for him who has a heart or he gives ear and is a witness. "(50:37)

One of the great duties of the traveler to Allah and the striver for the sake of Allah is to completely give up self-reliance during the striving and suluk, and, by nature, to pay attention to the Cause of the causes, and by disposition, to belong to the Origin of the origins, asking from His Sacred Existence protection and immunity from sin, and depending on the help of His Sacred Essence. In his privacy he is to implore Him and very seriously request Him to improve his condition, for there is no refuge save Him. And praise be to Allah !

Explaining that Loving this World Causes Distraction of the Mind

A Reference to that Loving this World is the Origin of the Distraction of the Imagination and Prevents the Presence of Heart, and Explaining its Remedy as Much as Possible

It must be noted that the heart, according to its nature and disposition, looks at what it loves and is inclined to that beloved to have it as its qiblah. If an affair distracted the heart from thinking of the beauty of its cherished beloved, no sooner the engagement slackens and the distraction stops than the heart flies towards its beloved and clings to his skirt. Should the people of knowledge and the divinely attracted enjoy strength of heart and be firm in absorption and love, they would recognize the Beauty of the Beloved in every mirror, and would discern the wanted perfection in every being: "I discerned nothing unless I recognized Allah in it and with it" [87], and if their leader (the Prophet (SA)) Says: "Sometimes my heart is enveloped by a cover of dust, and I ask Allah's forgiveness seventy times every day", [88] it is because to see the Beauty of the Beloved -especially in an impure mirror like the Abu Jahl mirror is in itself a sort of impurity with respect to the perfect ones. If their hearts are not strong enough, and their engagement in multiplicity prevents the presence (of heart), no sooner the engagement lessens than their hearts' birds fly back to their sacred nests and cling to the Beauty of the Beautiful.

As to those who look for other than Allah -who, in the eyes of the people of knowledge, all seek for this world they are also attracted to their want and cling to it. If they, too, are extremely in love with their quest, and the love of this world has completely possessed their hearts, they will never relax in their attraction towards it, and, whatever the situation, they remain beside the beauty of their beloved. Should their love be less, their hearts would return, in their leisure time, to their beloved. Those who cherish in their hearts the love of wealth, rule and position, dream of them in their sleep, too, and, in their wakefulness, they live thinking of their beloved. As long as they are engaged in worldly matters, they live hugging their beloved, and when the time of the salat arrives, the heart feels a kind of vacancy and sticks to its beloved, as if the takbiratul ihram ( the first Allahu akbar uttered aloud at the start of the salat ) is the key to the shop, or the remover of the curtain between it and its beloved. So, he comes to himself only when he has just uttered the taslim (the finishing words of the salat), whereas he had paid no attention to the salat itself, and during it he had been engaged in thinking of this world. That is why our salats for forty or fifty years have no result whatsoever in our hearts except darkness and impurity, and what should have been a cause for ascension to the proximity of Allah's presence and a means of becoming familiar with His sanctity, has, on the contrary, driven us out of His proximity and taken us miles away from ascending to be familiar with His presence. Had our salat had a smell of servitude, its result would have been modesty and humility, not self- conceitedness, ostentation, arrogance and pride, each one of which can possibly be a separate cause of man's misfortune and perdition.

In short, when one's heart becomes mixed with the love of this world, with no objective or aim except building it up and developing it, this love will inevitably prevent the heart from being vacant and present in the presence of Allah. This deadly disease and ruinous corruption can be cured by useful knowledge and good deed.

The useful knowledge suitable for this ailment is to think of the fruits and outcomes of curing it, and compare them with the harmful and destructive consequences resulting from it. In my commentaries on The Forty hadiths in this respect I have explained this topic in details as was possible. Here I will suffice myself with explaining some hadiths of the infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS): al Kafi, quoting abu 'Abdullah (as Sadiq) (AS), says: " The origin of every sin is the love of this world." [89] Other hadiths on this subject, though in different wordings, are plenty. [90]

Yet, this noble hadith is quite enough for the wakeful man, and it is enough for this big and pernicious sin to be the source of all sins and the root and basement of all corruptions. By a little contemplation it can be realized that almost all moral and practical corruptions are the fruits of this vile tree. No false religion was established in the world, and no corruption has ever happened, unless it stemmed from this grave sin. Murders, plunders, injustice and transgressions are of the offspring of this sin. Debauchery, atrocities, theft and other crimes are the outcomes of this germ of corruption. The man who is afflicted with this love is void of all moral virtues. Courage, chastity, generosity and equity, which are the origin of all the spiritual virtues, are not compatible with the love of this world. Divine knowledge [ma'arif], unity of Names, Attributes, Actions and Essence, truth-seeking and truth-discerning are contrary to the love of this world. Tranquility of the soul, calmness of the mind and repose of the heart, which are the spirit of happiness in both worlds, cannot come along with loving this world. Richness of the heart, greatness, self-respect, freedom and manliness are of the requisites of ignoring this world, whereas poverty, humility, covetousness, greed, servitude and flattery are of the requisites of loving this world. Kindness, mercy , observing kinship relations, affection and amity are not in harmony with the love of this world. Hatred, rancour , despotism, severing kinship relations, hypocrisy and other evil characters are of the progeny of this "mother of diseases".

as Sadiq (AS), as stated in Misbahush-Shari'ah, said: "This world is like a portrait: its head is arrogance, its eye is greed, its ear is covetousness, its tongue is pretence, its hand is desire, its leg is conceit, its heart is negligence, its being is perishing and its destiny is decline. Whoever loves it, it gives him arrogance, whoever approves of it, it grants him greed, whoever demands it, it drives him to covetousness, whoever praises it, it clothes him with pretence, whoever wants it, it offers him conceit, whoever trusts it, it neglects him, whoever admires its properties, it ruins him, and whoever accumulates it and does not spend it, it turns him down to its dwelling place, the Fire". [91]

Daylami, in Irshadul Qulub, quoting Amirul mu'minin ('Ali) (AS), says that the Messenger of Allah (SA) said "on the night of the mi'raj, Allah, the Exalted, said: '0 Ahmad, if a servant performs the salat as much as that of the people of the earth and the heaven, and fasts as much as that of the people of the earth and the heaven, and refrains, like the angels, from food, and wears the apparel of a devotee, then I see in his heart a bit of love for this world or for worldly reputation, leadership, celebrity and ornaments, he will not be in an abode in My neighbourhood and I will drive My love out of his heart and make it dark until he forgets Me. I will not let him taste the sweetness of My love.'" [92] It is quite clear that loving this world and loving Allah cannot meet together. In this respect there are too many hadiths to be contained in these pages.

Now as it has become clear that the love of this world is the origin of all evils, it becomes incumbent on a man of reason, who cherishes his happiness, to uproot this tree from his heart. The practical way to treat it is to do the contrary, i.e., if he has a longing for wealth and position, he can get rid of it by way of being open-handed and spending obligatory and recommended alms and charities. By the way, one of the characteristics of alms-giving is lessening the love of this world. That is why it is recommended to give charity out of what you love most, as is in the Gloriours Qur'an: "You shall not attain goodness until you spend out of what you love".(3:92) If he desires pride, priority, authority and power, he is to act against that, to turn the nose of the evil-commanding soul into the dust to reform it.

Man should know that the world is such that the more one is attached to it and in pursuit of it, the more his affection to it and the more his regret for parting company with it. It seems as if one is in quest of something which is not in his possession. Man thinks he is in need of a certain portion of the world, which he pursues, no matter what difficulties and risks he will have to endure to attain to his goal, and, as soon as he obtains it, it loses its attraction and becomes an ordinary matter, and his love and attachment turn off to something else more sublime than the previous one, and he starts his toil and endeavours anew. In this way his anxiety will never be subdued. Actually, his love gets ever stronger, and his hardships ever increase. This natural disposition never stops. The people of knowledge use this inborn nature to prove a lot of disciplines, which are out of the scope of these papers to explain. This subject is referred to by some noble hadiths, such as that which is stated in the noble al Kafi, quoting. Imam al-Baqir (AS), who said: "The parable of a man greedy of this world is the parable of the silk worm: the more it winds the thread round itself the farther it becomes from salvation, until it dies of grief." [93]

Imam as Sadiq (AS) is quoted to have said: "This world is like sea-water; the more a thirsty man drinks from it the thirstier he gets, until it kills him" [94]

Notes:

[87]. A quotation from Amirul Mu'minin ['Ali] (AS), 'Ilmul Yaqin, Vol. 1, p. 49.

[88]. Mustadrakul Wasa'il, "Book of the Salat", chs. on "Invocations", ch. 22, hadith 1.

[89]. Usulul Kafi, "Book of Faith and Infidelity", ch. on "Loving This World and Being Attached to it", hadith 1.

[90]. Ibid, hadiths 1 to 17.

[91]. Misbahush Shar'iah, ch. 32 "On This World's Attribute(s)".

[92]. Irshadul Qulub, vol. 1, p. 206.

[93]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 202, "Book of Faith and Infidelity", ch. on "Dispraising This World and Neglecting it", hadith 20, and ch. on "Loving This World and Being Greedy of it", hadith 7.

[94]. Ibid., hadith 24.