Purification Of The Soul – Mufti Ismail Menk

Cleansing your heart from malice, dirt and jealousy

My brother and sisters, life is too short. We cleanse our heart from malice, from dirt, from jealousy. Jealousy leads to that hatred, subhān Allāh. When you hate someone, you start planning their downfall. And what happens when you plan someone’s downfall? You loose focus from your own life. Because now everything I do it’s to do him down. “I’m going to fight this man, I’m going to do this to him. I’m going to do this to this sister or this woman, I’m going to make sure this happens and that happens.” Whether it is the young age, starting from the school rivalry that we have because of what someone looks like or how sharp they are, what type of friends they may have or how sociable they may be or may not be. These are all little problems we face in schools, primary as well as high school and so on.

You know some people only flock around those who are wealthy. Others flock around those who are popular. Others flock around those who are intelligent. And we leave sometimes the best of people who have the best of character and conduct just because they are quiet sitting in one corner. Allāhu Akbar. Perhaps from them you may have benefited more. So don’t make people’s lives difficult. When you start making someone’s life hard, you have lost focus from your own.

You know we are very fortunate that in Britain. I’m going to say something that really might be affecting some. We are very fortunate that in Britain the houses are small and there’s a shortage of space. You know why? You have less problems of in-laws than we do back in Africa, because you have to live separately. Like it or not, in most cases. Why I say this is because when there are many people living together that can not be possible unless you have a very big heart. You need be a selfless person who loves Allāh and the deen and who allows people their freedom, subhān Allāh. Who respects and who serves. Otherwise it can not work, it doesn’t happen. You’re living with so many people subhān Allāh. Allāhu Akbar. So this is why I say you’re lucky, you’ve got small homes. But I think the hearts are big, in sha’Allāh. Let’s hope that, Allāhu Akbar.

Purifying the heart by being generous and selfless

At least we can, a heart is something you know when you exercise your muscles they inflate don’t they? Mā shā’Allāh. The youngsters would like to look big you know, they’d like to look muscular. When you exercise your heart correctly, it also becomes big, mā shā’Allāh. Big in the right way, al-hamdulillāh. So we ask Allāh to grant us good hearts, big hearts, to be generous. Generosity is a good quality of the heart which stems from the goodness of the soul. But when we are stingy and miserly, everything goes wrong because then we begin to hate people. You don’t spend on your own family? Come on my brother. You don’t spend on your children, so where’s your wealth going? Allāhu Akbar. Are you amassing it? The verses I read before you, Qāroon, that’s what he did. He amassed the wealth and you know what his problem was? He had such a dirty heart, such a filthy soul that he related whatever he had to himself and not to his maker.

That brings me to a point. Whatever goodness you have is from Allah. The evil and bad from yourself and shaytān. Allāhu Akbar. May Allāh safeguard us. So you recognize your own nafs and you recognize shaytān who is trying to work on you. And divorce yourself from the devil you’ll find yourself getting closer to Allāh. It’s like a seesaw, your soul within it. There is this seesaw type of a relation. You either move closer to the devil and further from Allāh or closer to Allāh and further from the devil. Simple. May Allāh  grant us purity.

My brothers and sisters, another bad habit is when we are selfish. We want everything for ourselves. Rather develop our hearts and souls to be selfless to the degree that we can share something known as al īthār. Look at Allāh  praising the Ansār. What did they do? They welcomed strangers, who were brothers in deen, into their homes by the instruction of Allāh. When Allāh instructed, they welcomed their brothers who were strangers. Had it not been for the link of īmān, there would be no other link. Welcomed into their home and shared their wealth fifty-fifty. Today we cannot share our wealth with the suffering souls in Syria or Somalia or anywhere else on the globe. And nobody’s asking you to open your doors to let them live in your house and share everything fifty-fifty, but we’re not ready to give out five percent without them coming even into our houses. That’s why we’re not sahābah. May Allāh  grant us purity of the heart so that at least we can become sahābah in the ākhirah. We’d like to be in the company of the Muhammad . They really had such good hearts. So much purification within the heart. They gave so much to their suffering brothers and sisters to the degree that life was made comfortable to for these people who had come, known as muhājireen and Allāh praises them by saying:

“Yuthiroona `alā anfusihim walaw kāna bihim khasāsah” [Surat Al-Hashr ; 9]

“They gave their brethren preference over themselves, even though they needed it a lot more.”

They were in dire need of what they were actually giving away. We are asking you for very little. Or your suffering brothers and sisters across the globe, perhaps in your neighborhood, perhaps in your masjid are not asking you to give up that which you are in need of. But that which you do not need. How many of us have wardrobes full of clothes that we’ve never worn for the last year? My sister, give it away. Do not let your heart cling to this worldly material items that are there. Allāhu Akbar. You may use them, you may enjoy them within the limits of Allāh. Nobody’s saying no. You may make use of it, you may become happy whilst using it but remember don’t let it be a waste.

Extravagance is a sign of the dirty heart and the dirty soul. Allāh says in the Qur’ān, such people who are extravagant and wasteful, they are brethren of the devil.

“Inna almubaththireena kānoo ikhwāna ashayāteen, wakāna ashaytānu lirabbihi kafoorā” [Surat Al-Isra ; 27]. Allāhu Akbar.

“Those who are wasteful, extravagant and so on they are the brethren of shaytān and shaytān is ungrateful”.

Which means wastefulness is a sign of ingratitude. You have so many pairs of shoes. Forty-five pairs of shoes, one for every occasion. The wedding coming up next week, you’ve already sown a brand new pair of clothing and you’ve got sixty pairs in your closet. Don’t worry my sister they are not going to know that you wore this for the wedding that was ten weddings back. That’s how we’ve got to speak and if you want to sow and you have the ability to sow something new for every function, make a promise to Allāh. For every one I get, I’m going to give one away. Make sure it is a cut within the pleasure of Allāh. Because if you give away a skirt with a slit that is going to expose a female whom you have given it to, you may be amassing a sin, rather than getting something in terms of reward. You think you are giving a charity.

One day we were given donations from somewhere in Zimbabwe and they told us please give this to the poor. Wallāhi when we took some of it out, not all of it, we were so embarrassed as to what it was and we decided this, we can not give it to anyone, no-one. Because we can not allow the people to wear it. They’re going to think wow this guy must be a real, real, romantic dude giving it to me. Wallāhi akhī it’s not from me. My sister what an embarrassment. We’re giving it to someone and they might take it home and give it to their sister and they know there it came from and they have such a bad feeling in their heart about you. That this guy is actually someone besides what he is purporting to be. Yet it’s not from me, it’s from a donor. And when they donate it they’re asking Allāh, “O Allāh accept from us our sadaqah.” What sadaqah? What sadaqah are you giving? It’s like giving a bottle of alcohol and saying “Ya Allāh accept it from me as a sadaqah.“ Not at all. It is harām. Why did you have that in the first place? You should be embarrassed of it and this is why we say my sisters buy clothes or sow clothes that in sha’Allāh one day you can give out as a sadaqah. By the will of Allāh, just the mere giving it out later on, even if you’ve used it and it’s in good condition there are people across the globe who might not even have that much. But if you’ve given that it may be a means of your entry into paradise. So just sow it properly in sha’Allāh. Make sure it is within the obedience of Allāh . I know what the sisters are thinking “But I use it at home in my bedroom.” You see, sharp. They say very very quick thinkers today. Wallāhi my sister, what you do in your bedroom is none of our business. It’s between you and your husband in sha’Allāh. The difficulty is we are talking of people who are not yet married sometimes. Allāhu Akbar. May Allāh safeguard us and may Allāh open our doors. And even if we are married, we need to understand and realize when you are giving someone something, you need to know what you are giving them. Especially as a mu’minah, we are supposed be tāhirat. May Allāh  open our doors.

I think this microphone is cutting every little while to remind us that it’s not only about the sisters. It’s about the brothers sitting in front of us as well. My beloved brothers, wallāhi, we are so grateful to Allāh. How do we show this gratitude that we are part of the ummah. We love each other for the pleasure of Allāh, wallāhi. Wallāhi, we see beautiful faces mā shā’Allah. We see people whom we love solely for the pleasure of Allāh. You are trying to earn jannah and so am I. And I ask Allāh in this blessed gathering, in one of his houses “Ya Allāh unite us in jannah, the same way you brought us together here today. Ameen. So my brothers and sisters we need to become generous, we need to know that there are people across the globe suffering. Sometimes we throw away our food, not realizing there are others who actually do not have that food. Purify your soul and you’ll realize the value of even the niʿmah of Allāh upon you.

We were speaking of Qāroon, do you know what he said? He said “Whatever I got is from my own intellect.” Allāh says “Oh, he doesn’t even realize Our hand there. He doesn’t realize where it came from.” Allāh says “We destroyed him and everything he had. And we let the earth swallow it up and there was nothing left the following day.” And there were people who used to wish they had like him. Oh they were reminded by the scholars, you can not wish for something of this nature which came by wrong doing and at the same time with arrogance. And when they saw what happened they said “Just as well, we did not get what he had because if we had got that we would have perhaps been swallowed by the earth just like he was.” This is why you want to ask Allāh. Ask him for jannah to start with. Ask him for thabāt, ask him for purification, ask him for the ability to remain steadfast, ask him to let the heart be inclined towards him, rather than to let it drown in the illicit love of this world sometimes. When I say illicit, I mean you get married, you protect your heart from depression and stress by the will of Allāh, so long as you’ve married the right brother or the right sister. But if you want to develop that love without having being married to someone, it will not result in anything but the dirtiness of your own heart.

An impure environment can have effect on the heart

“Every single child is born upon nature.”  The nature of the belief in Allāh alone, they will understand it and realize it. That heart which is pure, completely pure, but what happens over time the heart becomes impure because of the environment. The parents sometimes divert people this way, that way. Your friends can also make your heart dirty. Subhān Allāh.

Engaging in constant repentance and staying firm on tawheed

And when we speak of that type of purification, Allāh  speaks of the heart that is on the highest level, when he describes the day of judgement. He says, the day of judgement:

“Yawma lā yanfa`u mālun walā banoon. Illā man atā Allāha biqalbin saleem” [Surah Ash-Shu’ara ; 88-89].

“On that day, your wealth and your children will not help you. The only thing that will help you is the pure heart.”

The accepted correct heart, that heart which stood firm on the oneness of Allāh . On the obedience of Allāh . The heart that struggled to keep shaytān at bay and the heart that engaged in constant repentance. If you repent correctly, on its own it will help you abstain from sin. How does that happen? Because if you say “O Allāh forgive me in the morning for example. The Prophet  through the day said it up to a hundred times and if we are to do that, say for example whilst I’m walking, I’ve said it five-six times. As I’m entering for example a store and I say it another five-six times, bearing in mind what I’m saying. And then for example, whilst I’m coming out I say it a few times, bearing in mind what I’m saying. And throughout the day, I’m saying it, you know scattered through the day here and there; a few times here and there. What will happen? The minute there is a sin to be committed I will feel immediately, it doesn’t go together with this tawbah that I’ve been engaging in through the day. The two don’t come together. I’m on one hand saying “O Allāh forgive me” and on the other hand I’m busy gazing the wrong gaze. It won’t come together. It won’t. So this is why they say, engage in istighfār. That will protect you.

Protecting yourself through performing salāh

What else will protect you? Your salāh will protect you. Salāh when it is read correctly on time, when you are worried about the next one. That is when you’re reading salāh correctly. That’s a sign that your salāh is valid and correct. This is why the hadeeth describes “A man whose heart is connected to the masjid, meaning connected to salāh, connected to the house of Allāh.” In the case of the sisters, connected to your salāh, when you read one you’re worried about the next one. This is a gift of Allāh. How many of us, we fulfil salāh and already we are worried about the next one? Try and achieve that. You’ll find that your heart will be cleansed. Wallāhi the sins will eradicate themselves because:

“Innassalāta tanhā `anilfahshāi walmunkar” [Surat Al-Ankabut; 45]

“Salāh itself prohibits and prevents you from immorality and evil.”

Allāhu Akbar. May Allāh  purify us, may he grant us goodness. So this is why we say subhān Allāh, this qalbun saleem, this pure heart should be the dream of every one of us.

Performing good and bad deeds in private

Save yourselves, remember Allāh a lot. Protect yourselves from jealousy, from envy. Protect yourselves from that which is bad. The love of sin that which you commit in private that is what destroys your heart. One sin in private is more dangerous than what you think. The reason is when a person commits a sin on his own between him and Allāh, although it may not be as bad as committing it openly with arrogance, but there is a difference. When you get used to doing something on your own that is bad, perhaps sometimes people might not correct you. When you commit it openly, sometimes, a person might correct you and this is why the hadeeth speaks of it from another angle. Where the Prophet  says there is hope for people, for as long as they are not proud of their sin and they don’t openly commit it. So that angle, yes, it’s in the hadeeth of Rasoolullāh  but that which you do in private it does not mean it’s belittled. It is very dangerous, it is venomous, it is poisonous. It is something that may grow into roots of evil that are like the arteries around your heart. They’ve blocked it, sealed it. If you’ve ever seen the diagram of a heart, and you see all the veins and capillaries and arteries and various other blood vessels around the heart. They come so well around the heart that they form like a cage around it. Imagine if that was full of evil. What would happen to us? This is why, develop your link with Allāh silently. One of the means of purifying your heart “Engage in acts of worship when people are fast asleep.” Read your salāh at night when nobody’s watching besides Allāh. Why is this going to purify your heart? Because you are doing it for the sake of Allah. If committing a sin when you think nobody is watching is very very bad and evil and dirties you heart, then engaging in a good deed when nobody is watching will have the opposite effect. It will purify your heart and cleanse it. So this is why there are so many evidences to prove that a good deed that is done in private, is far more beneficial than the same good deed which may be done sometimes openly. Beneficial from a certain angle. That is purification of the heart.

Your link with Allāh is a secret between you and Allāh. Mostly, who knows my connection with Allah? Only I know it. I know what water I’m swimming in. I know what hot soup I might be in and so do you. Subhān Allāh. It’s only Allāh who knows this, so you need to know between you and Allāh what’s your link. Develop it. Make Allāh your best friend. Give that love to Allāh. And the love of Allāh is known by your obedience. It is not known by mere statements of the tongue. Statements of the tongue are important but they need to be substantiated by action.

The tongue and its effect on the heart

Moments ago we promised ten pounds each, to do what? To upgrade the sound system here. It’s easy to put up your hand. Whether or not you are going to take it out of your pocket and put it in the box, that’s between you and Allāh. Subhān Allāh. This was just a statement to make sure it comes. I’m thinking moments ago, as soon as I’m gone I’m sure everyone would just say “As-salaam `alaykum,” out. Don’t forget Allāhu Akbar. May Allah  make us honest people. It’s easy to say something, it’s difficult to put your money where you mouth is. May Allāh  give us mouths that will not embarrass us.

We say “O Allāh we love you, O Messenger we love you. It’s just like what we are getting in return. My sisters, I said a few days ago and I’m saying it again. When he says “I love you!” It’s just like how he says “I love the Messenger.” Why do we say that? Because when he says he loves the Messenger, if he really did he would not be saying that to you illicitly. Allāhu Akbar. Did you here what I just said? If he’s married to you it’s fine. Yes, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking of illicitly. You want to say “I love you”, “I love you sister in Islām!” I love you and at the bottom we add FTP. You know what that means, “For the pleasure of Allāh”, FTPA. Yes, I’ve seen it happening. I love you! And they’ve got a big sign with the smooch, a little snog, mā shā’Allah, astaghfirullāh. It’s just a sign, they’ve got it going and this little emoticon that comes up “I love you” and at the bottom they say FTPA. What’s that? Is that like a password to commit sin? Wallāhi it’s not. Be careful. It’s a password to dirty your heart. And my sister if you fall prey to that, you’re equally guilty. Allāhu Akbar.

Don’t fall prey to it. When you love Allāh and his Messenger you wouldn’t be saying that to someone illicitly. It’s a sign. This is why I say if such a person says I love the messenger, it’s the same thing. Because they love the messenger they are not following him. So they love you and you probably aren’t the only one that they say “I love you” to. And at the same time, they’re probably using that statement just to get something out of you. May Allāh  purify us. Do no abuse one another. Never abuse the opposite sex. Never ever! Respect the opposite sex.

Guiding another is better for you than anything in this world

And remember if you are used as a means to guide someone, it is better for you than anything of material value in this world. If that is correct and it is correct because it’s the hadeeth, then you need to remember the opposite is also true. If you are used to misguide someone it is worse for you than anything in this world. Than the loss of the biggest materialistic items of this world. Worst than that. Imagine if you are used to misguide someone, you encourage someone to commit a sin and they committed it. It’s so bad and it’s such a dirty spot on the heart. That what will happen is, it would be equivalent or even worse than if you had to loose your house and your car and your job and your clothing and everything. And driven out of completely everything. And your bank account gone, everything done. And you’re sitting there bare. Why? Because you did something that is unacceptable. My brothers and sisters it’s about time we cleansed ourselves for the sake of Allāh. May Allāh  grant us goodness. May Allāh open our doors.

Weeping for the sake of Allāh

Wallāhi we need to be worried for ourselves. When we die and we go into our graves we will be on our own. It is the warm tears that will come to our assistance. When we’ve cried for the sake of Allāh. Someone who remembers Allāh on their own, they remember Allāh in the darkness of the night or at any time of the day and suddenly a warm tear rolls down their cheeks. That warm tear will bear witness for you my brothers and sisters. May Allāh grant it to us. Some of us, we’ve never cried, except for that which was illicit. Girlfriend breaks up with you and you cry two buckets full. Allāhu Akbar. And when you break up your link with Allāh and develop a link with the devil. There’s no tears coming up. When people remind you of your link with Allāh and how he is the owner of everything. He’s the owner of your heart, He’s the owner of your eyes, your nose, your existence, your breathing, your life, your sustenance, your happiness, then nobody cries or should I say some don’t cry. This is why the Prophet  used to say “O Allāh I seek your protection from an eye that doesn’t cry for your sake.” May Allāh open our doors. We cry over our sins “Ibkee `ala khateeatik” is a hadeeth of Rasoolullāh  he says you need to cry over the sins you’ve committed. Weep, it’s a sign of acceptance, it’s a sign that you have turned. It’s a purification of the heart. The tears are used to purify the heart for as long as they have been released for the right reasons. Allāhu Akbar. May Allāh  grant us purity and goodness.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, I have only tapped on very few angles of purification of the heart and purification of the soul. There is much to be said, but as you know sessions of this nature will keep repeating themselves. It is your business, you need to make it your business to hunt for them, to make an effort to attend them and in sha’Allāh to be a part of them.

I want to end with one little point that comes to my mind and that is, back at home we see the churches full. They sit for hours, three, four times a week. Hours on end and the other places of worship. But when it comes to the Muslimeen very few people. Can we fill this masjid for salātul fajr tomorrow morning as it is today? Or any masjid we are closest to in terms of the brothers. Can we do that? By the will of Allāh, we hope that that is the case.

My brothers and sisters work on your hearts. May Allāh make me work on me as well. No matter what level you’ve got to, there is always room for improvement. Always room for improvement! Never ever think that I have arrived. Never ever think “I’m holy” because a person who thinks he’s holy really has a few holes. You need to know that. You need to be worried about your piety. Piety is a level that really even the pious are worried. Look at `Umar ibn al-Khattāb  going to Huthayfa ibn al-Yaman  what a great man and he goes and he says “Ya Huthayfa, I just want to know something. The list of hypocrites that you have, is `Umar on that list?” Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar. One of the highest of the sahābah . Number two in the ranking and what happens? Allāhu Akbar, he’s saying genuinely and seriously asking a question, worried and trembling. Is my name on that list, just let me know that. Did he ever think “I’m a pious man. I’m a sahābī and I was happy to be the companion of Muhammad , I was given glad tiding of paradise, so I’m pious?” They were given glad tidings of jannah and they were still worried about that issue. Are we hypocrites?

The Qur’ān says:

“An tahbata a`mālukum wa antum lā tash`uroon“ [Surat Al-Hujurat ; 2]

addressing the sahābah . Meant even more for us. That your deeds might be wasted without you knowing because of certain bad conduct and behavior. So what about us, we ask Allāh never ever to waste our deeds without us knowing. May Allāh  protect us all. In sha’Allāh we meet again for another dose. In sha’Allāh at some stage whether here or elsewhere. We ask Allāh  to bless us and grant us all paradise, help purify our hearts, love one another for the sake of Allāh  and remove the clinginess that is in our hearts of the material world that is around us. When it goes beyond a certain limit, remember it becomes detrimental. Until we meet again we say, wa sallallāhu wa sallam wa barika `ala Muhammad, Subhan’Allāhi wa bihamdihi, Subhanak’Allāh hum bihamdik. Ash hadu an lā illāha illā anta, nastaghfiruka wa natūbu ilaik.