Will our hearts be sealed? Just a share...

[greenhill]

"Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their vision is a veil. And for them is a great punishment."
Al Baqarah ayah7 Sahih International translation

Beautiful as the Quran may be and complete as Islam may also be, there are some aspects of it which scared me beyond measure growing up. It was 'almost' easier not to believe and enjoy the world than it was to believe and to curtail every thought and temptations that crossed my mind and tugged at my nafs. Once given in to my nafs, it got easier slide into the 'forbidden' zone every time. Such is the pull of the world. The sight, the sounds, the smell, the feel in everything. What's not to like? Besides, I can always repent later, (if I live to repent, subconsciously pushed back to the far reaches of my mind). :embarrass

But I also saw that the truth is the truth. However I manouvre, if the intention is not right, it is not right. That's the truth. It says nothing about being easy. It can be, and I can choose to make impossible or easy. I must give credit to Hajjah Amina Hatun for writing'Lore of the Light', 3 books about the stories of the prophets. Anyone read that? It really added and tied up many loose ends and general questions about 'being' and also about 'life'. I felt lighter and had another reason to believe in the story, a simple yet grand, with infinite patience in the plot from creation to doomsday and how the 'unseen' works in subtle, infinite and definite ways. The rise and the fall and the tests for all, me included.

Still, there were many 'half' laws/facts/laws facts mixed in with tradition/or totally misinterpreted stuff that I knew of that had to be cleared up. I could let slide the minor ones but really needed to get the grips on the major ones. So I would only research for my 'own jihad', nothing to do with others. What I mean by this is that I am not going to waste my time with whether hell is fair for anyone or stuff like that. I just want to find out how am I going to ensure that I don't end up there!

Coming back to the the ayah above, if ever Allah decides to seal my heart, I AM doomed! Easiest way to be in hell! I mean, Allah sealed the Pharaoh's heart, right? He was doomed. Not fair! When Allah seals the heart, what chance does anybody have? And this was one of my major questions, and it needed an answer. I want my heart to be opened to Allah. There's only one place to look for answers. I read the Quran.

This is the answer I got. Thought I might share it with you, you and you, you and you too!

The road to the 'sealing of the heart' comes in stages. It is at the end of the road. Allah just doesn't do this overnight. Here are the stages, in my own words. (I am sure there are better references around).

Guidance
To get guidance - al Taubah 18, al A'raf 158
Follow , then get guidance - al Imran 101

Choice, Signs & Reminders
To follow or not - al Kahfi 29
When reminded, ignored - al Saffat 13 & 14
Be thankful - Hud 9 an Nisa 147
Allah or World - al Taubah
Convey/ acceptance of message - al Isra 46 al Ra'd 40

Astray
Made to go - an Nisa 88
If you go.. - an 'Am 56
People who follow Syaitan - Ibrahim 22
Keep in the path (rejection) - an Nisa 115
Sending astray - an 'Am 125
Due to lack of knowledge - an 'Am 119
People too proud to dua - Ghafir 60

Followed but stopped/Ignored Guidance
Followed but stopped - al Baqarah 27
Ignored - al Baqarah 16
Those who seek in bad times - al Zumar 8

Acceptance
Secure in Allah's plans - al A'raf 99
Tenets of Islam - al Baqarah 177 & 183
Islam in total - al Baqarah 208
No force - al Baqarah 256

Sealing of hearts
Seal heart/mind - al Baqarah 7 & al Kahfi 57
Wanting only things of this world - Hud 15 & al Isra 18

So I was reminded that even the Pharaoh was given many reminders, and even he almost succumbed to his own arrogance. But he chose not to believe. So, Allah sealed his heart. His own fault.

To end, we must remember why this can be so,

Iblis
Warning against - Iblis al A'raf 27
Iblis' oath to mislead man - al A'raf 16&17
Iblis negotiating after cast-out - al Isra 62-64
Iblis given 'time' - al Hijr 37
People who follow - Ibrahim 22
What Syaitan will do - an Nisa 114
Syaitan following up on those who reject - al A'raf 175


Apologies for not quoting the ayahs itself, but that would be too much work. Even just putting this together takes up a lot of time already :exhausted.

If there are errors do let me know, it is afterall, a far from an ullama status humble being doing his own research for answers..

May ALL our hearts remain opened to truth where ever it may be. Peace to all.

 

[~Zaria~]

,

MashaAllah brother!
Reading this really put a smile on my face!

.......

One of my things that I like to do, is just sit and watch the world go by - e.g. you may be at a mall/ an airport, or anywhere.
Just watching people come and go, is really fascinating and often really sad.

As you watch hundreds of people pass you by, engrossed in lifes activites, you often wonder why so many have not been guided to the truth as yet.
They are just simple people, like you and me.....yet from amongst the millions, so many hearts appear to be completely sealed to the acknowledgement of their Creator.

Is it because they are so consumed by the life of this world.....that they do not even stop to reflect on the meaning of their lives?

I found the best explanation to this topic in the following article:
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-purification-soul/134310966-why-does-allah-seal-hearts.html


^ Based on this, I think if you were to consider people in general - then, we are all at different stages of our hearts either becoming sealed (from the love, mercy and nearness to Allah), or becoming unsealed.
And, if we have to look at someone, we can never actually know at which point in this 'hearts journey' they are at.

You may meet someone whose heart is just on the verge of being 'unlocked' - and Allah may use you as the 'key', to provide him dawah and call him towards the truth.
And vice versa.

Importantly, for ourselves, we should recognise that our hearts are always in a state of change - in respect to our emotions, beliefs, nafs - and even in the physical sense, in the manner that it expands and contracts with each heart-beat.

Allah uses the word 'Qalb', amongst others, to describe our hearts - which comes from the root word in arabic to mean something that turns/ changes.

Which is why we should never take our imaans for granted.
Even if you have reached a very high level in your state of taqwa, this is not a guarantee that this cannot change.
A person may be filled with so much pride as a result of it, that Allah may chose to turn the heart away from Him as well.

JazakumAllah khair for sharing you thoughts with us.


:wasalam:

 

[greenhill]

Salaam Zaria,

Thank you for the link. It further added to my understanding. So, it is also NOT a 'one-way street'. There is a possibility of it being 'unsealed',hew. How come I missed this possibility? I guess it was because I was only looking for the process of being sealed :hmm: ? Ha ha, another confirmation about I will get what ask I for. So if I didn't, I wouldn't. And I didn't.

Yes, thank you for the reminder that nothing is a constant in this world, that my heart could still change by the Will of Allah and I will dua to be protected from pride and arrogance..

Peace

 

[Jamalurrehman]

Here is piece of reality of having a sealed heart:

Originally Posted by AnonymousPoster


Just about a week ago, I made the worst sin a human being could make. I disbelieved with my heart because the wishpers became too much to me. After that, I became even worse by not caring what my fate would be, in this case in hell for eternity. I dind't tell anyone and pretended to be a muslim, making me a pure hypocrite. Now I realize what mistake I have mmade, because my life has not become that of a human being. I don't feel human anymore, the entire world seem to live a normal life except me. Today, something happended that made me aks for advice, desperattly
I don't know what happened but it was af I my heart was taken from me. I don't have any feeling in my heart, as if it is ripped of me. I don't think its sealed either, I want to beleive again but there is an obstacle in my heart, I feel like I can't believe



Salam all especially you the poster of this question because i have the exact same situation but with a bigger larger picture of our problem i have a story of my own which i am facing that i am a hypocrite (was borned in a muslim family but i had nifaq in my heart when someone has nifaq beside the 4 charactertic of hipocrites nifaq brings evil thoughts and grows bigger and dangerous from time and then it leads you to disbelieve how?in my case a voice came to my head to leave your imaan when i was fapping i rejected 3 or 4 times and said yes many times and the evil thoughts took me more and the same feeling of heart just like you and put it really good with the obstacle in heart ..i say its like my heart is eaten up (chabaya huwa) we cant believe truly even though we know the truth more then ever because there is no connection to our hearts now i have no fight between evil and good and how was the experiance when my heart become like this ?it was like more pleasure then intercourse or any other pleasure you ever feel i felt it in my heart i was like a statue at that moment and something went outside of my body at that very same moment and then my heart burned like it was on fire its like 4 years ago now i am content in going to hell i tried almost everything but namaz prayer forgivness with tears i gave everthing to be forgiven i am tired of crying and whenever i cry my heart hurts and whatever i say its like i am lying now i have a question for you guyz that what happens if nifaq takes you over completly and as you know nifaq is a heart disease so what happens when you are sick of searious illness like cancer which is not bieng cured you will die right so what happen to heart with nifaq when its not being cured (sorry about my bad english i didnt sleep all night its hard to sleep when you know your abode is hell) and to the poster brother i would like to know you personally.Please Reply Guyz we need your help.

 

[Jamalurrehman]

This post has been made for only that i need help and need information about AnonymousPoster so i can talk to him..

 

[annonymoussoul]

im in the same position

 

[unknown100]

hi annyomoussoul what is your situation now.