Have A Soft Heart
THERE are many ways through which one can become deeply devout and pious andhave a soft heart. The best and most important of such ways is to have deepfaith in Almighty Allah. True believers who deeply understand AlmightyAllah's attributes and names revere Allah with all their heart and showcomplete obedience to His commands. Whenever they hear a verse of AlmightyAllah's Book or a Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), they hasten toabide by the teaching implied therein, uttering in deep faith: "... We hear,and we obey. (We seek) Thy forgiveness, our Lord. Unto Thee is thejourneying. (Qur'an 2:285).When believers contemplate Almighty Allah's names and attributes and believethat only in Almighty Allah's hand is the dominion over all things and thatonly He Almighty can protect them but none can protect against Him MostHigh, they will do their best to vie in doing good and avoiding evil. Thus,understanding Allah's attributes is the best and most important step thatfills one's heart with reverence for Almighty Allah and draws one closer andcloser to Him Most High.When you experience such a state, you will be ever mindful of AllahAlmighty, and in every moment of your life, whether a moment of blessing ortrial, your faith in Allah's greatness and bounty is asserted.One who truly knows Allah Almighty has a heart filled with awe of Him MostHigh. On the other hand, one who never cares about knowing Allah Almighty isfar away from understanding His attributes. One who is in such a state ishardhearted and never beholds how severe Almighty Allah's punishment may beand how limitless His mercy and bounties are. One who has no concern forknowing the Almighty deviates from the right path and is not bothered byviolating His laws and commands.Moreover, such a one keeps deviating from the right path, despairing ofAllah's mercy, for he or she is ignorant of Allah's boundless forgivenessthat He grants to whoever returns to Him in repentance.Contemplating Almighty Allah's Book: It helps one become more pious anddevout to contemplate Allah's Book, whose verses guide one to the rightpath. Mind what Allah Most High says about His Book: (This is) a Book, theverses whereof are perfected (in every sphere of knowledge), and thenexplained in detail from One (Allah) Who is All-Wise, Well-Acquainted (withall things). (Qur'an 11:1).When believers deeply contemplate the verses of Almighty Allah's Book, theireyes fill with tears and their hearts turn unto Allah Most High in deeppenitence. Their hearts in such a state are like a barren land that bloomsafter being watered with Allah's illuminating words. They find themselvesthen thirsty for doing good for Allah's sake and wholeheartedly willing todo what pleases Him Most High.A true believer who reads Almighty Allah's Book in deep contemplation feelsgreat awe of Him Most High.The influence of the Qur'an on its attentive listeners is amazing. There aresome Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who embraced Islamimmediately after listening to some of the Qur'anic verses. When theylistened to these verses, they promptly believed in the truthfulness ofProphet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and gave up worshiping the idols,declaring faith in Almighty Allah alone.We are to bear in mind that the Qur'an is the speech that the Only Lorddirects to His creatures of mankind and jinn, and thus its teachings are toguide them to His right path. Allah Almighty guides the one who is keen tocomprehend its words and contemplate its meanings.* **Remembering The Day Of Judgment:** *One of the things that helps one get closer to Almighty Allah and hasten toreturn to Him in repentance is remembering the Day of Judgment. One mustbear in mind that there is an end to every beginning, that after death thereis no chance to reform one's mistakes.When you deeply realize that the life of this world is temporary and thatits pleasures will inevitably come to an end, this certainly will lead youto despise this world and return to Almighty Allah in sincere repentance. Ifyou visit graves and reflect on the conditions of its dwellers and how,sooner or later, you will join them, you will realize the ineffectiveness ofrunning after the worldly gains, and will, in deep awe, submit heart andsoul to Almighty Allah's will.* **Compiled from various sources.** *Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, topost onInternet sites and to publish *in full* *text and subject title* innot-for-profit publications.Note that an English translation of the Qur'an is an interpretation of theQur'an, and does not have the perfect status as the Qur'an in its originalArabic form. ****
