Your Heart Reflects your Sight

God almighty has provided a man with an eye to be able to see what’s happening in his surroundings. It is the one of the greatest blessings that God has bestowed on his servants. But a man may make mistakes in the way of benefitting this eye, so he falls in the darkness of thanklessness when he insists on seeing through his eyes what upsets God The Mighty, His Majesty. So he disobeys God with his blessings instead of thanking him for it. He may also pretend to be neglectful or miss what God almighty, whose saying is the truth, says in his holy book:” The hearing, the sight, and the heart are all responsible for it”. [1]

 

He who opens his eyes to see the unlawful, God takes his insight to see the right because the punishment is related to the act itself. So he who lowers his gaze, God opens his insight. On the other hand, he who opens his eyes to see the unlawful, God takes his insight and deviates his heart (seeking refuge with Allah). God almighty says:” Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do”. [2] Yes, God is well acquainted with all that they do. He sees their deeds, however they are great or simple. He knows their actions and silence and is always well informed of everything. He doesn’t miss any of their deeds:” And He is with you wherever you are, and God sees what you do”. [3]

 

It was narrated that the wise of the nation, The Commander of the Faithful (a.s), says:”He who honors himself despises his desire”.[4] This is regarding a man who honors himself, but he who despises himself and starts with following his desires, he ends in humiliation and misfortune that differs according to the desire he followed. This becomes a torture that hurts his heart. It was said in the past:

Some needs that were considered pleasure for its people in youth

Have transformed into torture in old age

 

Among what was transmitted from the biography of the Commander of the Faithful (a.s), pleading for God’s mercy on those who control their desires and calm themselves. So he (a.s) says:” God bestows mercy on a man who leaves his desire and prevents himself since a self is the farest of being prevented from doing its desire. It is still moving towards committing a sin related to desires”.[5]

We are talking about an important topic that most people were distressed by. It is looking at what God almighty has forbidden. Therefore we agreed on starting this important chapter with what was reported by our master, the Commander of the Faithful, Al Imam Ali (a.s) when he says:’ A heart is the mushaf of insight”.[6] The Quran was named as “mushaf” because it was inclusive which means that it includes all the books written between the two sides. It was one of the nicknames of the holy Quran so you can say “I read the mushaf”...

 

One of the aspects of the meaning of the saying of the Commander of the Faithful (a.s), “The heart is the mushaf of the sight” is that the heart is a sheet in which is engraved with what is perceived by the sight because a visual perception is located in the heart and the sight is a mechanism for it, as if the sight is a pen that draws the sensible things on the paper of the heart.[7]

 

It is worth noting that we are required to reflect on the holy Mushaf, the Noble Quran, and the verses it contains, as well as we must monitor the ideas and concepts that come to it at all times, to either agree with them and adopt them, or reject and refute them. So why don’t we entrust ourselves with contemplating what the heart contains of images, and observing what it receives of new ideas, imports, and images, so that we get satisfied with them or return them to where they came from. Any person is able, with what God Almighty has given him, to carry out on his own the operations of monitoring, sorting, organizing and evaluating the thoughts that come to the heart[8], and thus canceling old consents to use previous heart thoughts. All of this without letting anyone be aware of what is happening inside him. It was narrated that Al Imam Al Sadiq (a.s) says: “Whoever guards his heart from heedlessness, his soul from lust, and his mind from ignorance, then he has entered the diwan of the alert.”[9]

 

[1] Surah Al isra’, verse 36

[2] Surah Al Nr, verse 30

[3] Surah Al Hadid, verse 4

[4] Abd Al Wahed bin Muhammad al-Amidi Al Tamimi, Gharar al-Hakam and Pearls of Words, pg. 637, Edition: Dar al-Kitab al-Islami, Qom, Ibn Abi Al Hadid Al Madani, Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, vol. 20, p. 99, and Allama Al Majlisi, Bihar Al Anwar, vol. 75, p. 13.

[5] Ibn Abi Al Hadid Al Madani, Explanation of Nahj Al Balaghah, vol. 10, p. 16.

[6] M.N. Al Hikma 409, Al Amidi Al Tamimi, Gharar Al Hukm and Durar Al Hakam, Volume 1, p. 273, and Allama Majlisi, Bihar Al Anwar, Part 71, pg. 328.

[7] Habibullah Al Hashimi Al Khoei, Minhaj Al Baraqah fi Sharh Nahj AL Balagha, Volume 21, pg. 489, Islamic Library Edition, Tehran.

[8] Our Master, the Commander of the Faithful, Ali, peace be upon him, said: “The minds are the leaders of the thoughts, the thoughts are the leaders of the hearts, the hearts are the leaders of the senses, and the senses are the leaders of the organs..” Reviewed by Muhammad bin Ali Abu Al Fath Al Karajiki, Kanz Al Fawa’id, Volume 1, p. 200, Edition 1: Dar al-Dakhkar, Qom.

[9] Allama Al Majlisi, Bihar Al Anwar, vol 70, p. 68.