Eid Mubarak

Alhamdulillah yesterday we finished our Ramadan Series, the beneficial journey of purification of the heart. We discussed the various diseases that afflict the heart and their causes, with some suggested treatments. It was a wonderful journey for me and I hope it was for you as well. May Allah swt help us implement in our…

Ramadan Series: The Root of All Diseases of the Heart

In the last section of his poem Imam Mawlud discusses what he presents as the root of all diseases of the heart. It is quite a comprehensive discussion, beyond the scope of one blog post. However, we will discuss here the key points that he mentions. He also gives the ultimate cure for all the…

Ramadan Series: Beneficial Actions for Purifying the Heart

The purification of the heart is an ongoing process, it is not a state of being that we reach and are done with. It is a lifetime doing and keeping the heart in check, for satan ain’t idle and will always make us fall or slip. Hence one should not think that one has reached…

Ramadan Series: Comprehensive Treatment for the Heart

We are at the end of our discussion of the diseases of the heart. Moving forward Imam Mawlud has dedicated a couple of passages in his poem to the treatment of the diseases of the heart, some beneficial actions that purify the heart and the root cause of all diseases of the heart. Today we…

Ramadan Series: Obliviousness to Blessings

The next disease is the oblivion to the numerous blessings that Allah swt has blessed us with. We either remain unaware of them, take them for granted or simply fail to acknowledge them as blessings. All the blessings that we have in our life, both tangible and non tangible are all from Allah swt. Not…

Antipathy Toward Death

A strong aversion to death is also considered to be a disease of the heart. When the mere mention of death distresses you or makes you sad, know that your heart is affected. Death is a fact, an inevitable reality, that everyone has to come face to face with. A denial of this reality is…

Ramadan Series: Displeasure with Blame

The disease of the heart that we are going to discuss today is one, that has been mentioned many times, as a cause for other diseases as well. Blame is not something that people like or ever anticipate. The displeasure of blame becomes a sickness when not only does one fear the opinion of other…

Ramadan Series: Rancor and Derision

We are in the last week of Ramadan. SubhanAllah. It ran with speed! May Allah swt accept all our prayers in these special last nights. Ameen. We are going to discuss two separate diseases of the heart today; Rancor and Derision. Rancor is a pungent feeling of deep and bitter anger aimed at a person…

Ramadan Series: Boasting and Arrogance

Arrogance, even the word sounds like a disease in itself. Arrogance or kibr is the disease that if not treated will deprive us of the greatest reward – Jannah. It is a disease that Satan suffered from. It has since then affected the most wicked of people in existence, the tyrants and oppressors. In simple…

Ramadan Series: Anger

Today we are going to discuss the disease of the heart that has been termed as a ‘swelling ocean’ by Imam Mawlud. Excessive anger or wrath (ghadab) is a swelling mass of emotion that is difficult to hold back once it is unleashed. However, anger need not be necessarily a bad thing and has both…

Ramadan Series: Heedlessness

Heedlessness (ghaflah) is a key concept that has been referred to in the Quran numerous times in different ways. Heedlessness is lack of attention to what is infinitely more important in one’s life than material possessions. A prominent scholar argues that heedlessness is the one pathogen that breeds all the rest of the diseases of…

Ramadan Series: Fraud

The next disease that we discuss today is Fraud or ghish in Arabic. Fraud is concealing some fault or blemish or anything harmful, from people, be it regarding a worldy or a religious matter. Some also believe that making something useless or defective seem as useful and beneficial is also fraud. In essence it is…