Reasons for a Tranquil Heart
There are numerous factors that contribute to the state of tranquility experienced by a believer. Below, we outline several of these key reasons:
- Divine Guidance: Allah – the Almighty – guides a servant, thereby opening their heart to faith and righteousness.
- Light of Faith: This divine illumination, granted by Allah, fills the believer’s heart with joy, happiness, and an enhanced sense of peace.
- Knowledge: This encompasses both religious knowledge and beneficial insights inherited from the prophets.
- Obedience: Complying with Allah’s commands is one of the foremost reasons for achieving a tranquil heart and wider perspective.
- Love: A genuine love for truth and goodness is vital for a believer.
- Monotheism: Those who truly understand the oneness of Allah experience a vastness in their hearts and lightness in their chests.
- Frequent Remembrance of Allah: Engaging in regular acts of remembrance, supplication, and seeking forgiveness leads to a heart filled with joy and alleviates feelings of distress, contributing to a tranquil heart.
- Kindness to Others: Acts of benevolence and assistance to others often yield contentment and satisfaction in one’s heart.
- Courage: Courage is one of the noblest traits a believer can possess and is commonly associated with an open and happy heart.
- Addressing Heart Diseases: Emotional ailments such as envy, resentment, hatred, and animosity constrict one’s heart, thus it is essential for a believer to strive to eliminate these inner diseases to achieve peace of mind.
- Avoiding Distractions: Reducing excessive indulgence in worldly distractions, such as sleeping too much, overeating, or engaging in pointless socializing, is crucial.
- Focusing on the Present: Concentrating on the present moment is far better than dwelling on past mistakes or worrying about the future.
- Trust in Allah and Positive Intention: Surrendering one’s affairs to Allah cultivates a sense of tranquility and joy within the heart.
- Reducing Comparisons: Refraining from making comparisons or speculating about what might have been can prevent feelings of regret that weigh heavily on a believer’s heart.
Verses of Tranquility and Heart Opening
The Holy Quran frequently mentions the theme of an open heart and the descending tranquility upon the believers. Some notable verses include:
- Allah – the Almighty – states: (Is one whose heart Allah has opened to Islam, so he is on a light from his Lord?…)
- Allah – the Almighty – declares: (So whoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his heart to Islam; and whoever He wills to misguide, He makes his heart tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky…)
- Allah – the Almighty – emphasizes: (Whatever mercy Allah opens for the people, no one can withhold it; and whatever He withholds, no one can release it afterward; and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise…)
- Allah – the Almighty – reveals: (Then Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers…)
- Allah – the Almighty – reassures: (It is He who has sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their faith…)
- Allah – the Almighty – narrates the supplication: (O my Lord, expand for me my breast and ease for me my task and untie the knot from my tongue that they may understand my speech…)
- Allah – the Almighty – asks: (Did We not expand for you, [O Muhammad], your breast? And We removed from you your burden, which had weighed upon your back? And raised high for you your repute? For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease…)
- Allah – the Almighty – affirms: (Indeed, Allah is pleased with the believers when they pledge allegiance to you under the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down tranquility upon them and rewarded them with a near victory…)
Hadiths on Heart Opening
The Prophetic traditions contain several hadiths that indicate and lead to the tranquility of the heart, including:
- (Amazement is part of the affairs of the believer; all of his affairs are good. This is only for a believer. When he experiences happiness, he is grateful, and that is good for him. And when he encounters hardship, he shows patience, and that is also good for him…)
- (The example of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not is like the living and the dead.)
- It is reported that the Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him – used to say: (O Allah, place light in my heart, light upon my tongue, light in my hearing, light in my sight, light from behind me, light from in front of me, light above me, light beneath me. O Allah, grant me light.)