He sets forth the preservation of the human heart, which is the root of all roots, in five principles

THIRD SECTION · SECOND CHAPTER · SIXTH SUBSECTION · Third Article Third Article He sets forth the preservation of the human heart, which is the root of all roots, in five principles. O noble one! It should be known that …

THIRD SECTION · SECOND CHAPTER · SIXTH SUBSECTION · Third Article

Third Article

He sets forth the preservation of the human heart, which is the root of all roots, in five principles.

O noble one! It should be known that the friends of Allah (awliyāʾ) have said: In preserving the qalb (the heart),

good perception, utmost effort (bezl-i mechûd) and complete attention and

care (iḥtimām-i tām) are necessary. For the peril of the qalb is greater than that of all other limbs,

and its influence is immense. Its matter is extremely subtle, and its rectification is very arduous.

It is certain that it is necessary to observe five principles in its protection.

First principle: That the Exalted Truth (Allah) is aware of His servant’s qalb. As He has said

in His own speech: “Allah knows what is in your hearts.” (al-Aḥzāb, 33:51), “He knows what is within the hearts.” (al-Mulk, 67:13), and by stating His knowledge and awareness of what is in the qalb, He has made it known that He wishes to warn people against inclining toward evil. For dealing with Allah, who knows the unseen, is a very perilous matter (amr-i khaṭīr). The qalb must be well-mannered, for it is Allah, who turns it and is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, who governs it.

Second principle: The qalb is the locus of Allah’s gaze. As it is stated in a hadith:

“Verily, Allah does not look at your bodies nor your forms, but He looks at your hearts and your intentions.” For the qalb is only the locus of gaze of our Exalted Lord.

How strange is the state of one who, with utmost care, washes and cleanses his face, which people look at, from filth and impurities lest something shameful be seen, and adorns and beautifies it with whatever he can find, yet does not show the same care in cleansing and adorning the qalb, which Allah gazes upon, that is, in purifying it from animalistic traits and adorning it with the character of the angels.

He does not care that Allah, who knows what is hidden, sees evil and faults in it. Indeed, he neglects it so much, filling his qalb with such filth, disgrace, evil, and sins, that if people knew even one of them, they would immediately turn away and distance themselves from him. Therefore, the most important religious matter is to cleanse and beautify the qalb.

Third principle: The qalb is a ruler to whom obedience is given and a leader who is followed. All the limbs obey it and follow it. Thus, if the ruler is on the right path, the people are also rightly guided. If the one who is followed is upright, those who follow him are also upright. As it is stated in a hadith: “Truly, in the body there is a piece of flesh which, if it is sound, the whole body is sound; and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart (qalb).” For the soundness of the entire body depends on the soundness of the qalb. Therefore, paying attention to and striving for the preservation of the qalb is a matter of utmost importance.

Fourth principle: The qalb is the treasury of every noble essence and every honorable meaning of a human being. The first of these human essences is reason and hudā (guidance); the highest is to know the Exalted Truth (Allah), which is the happiness of both worlds and the most precious treasure. Then comes the capacity to attain the exalted things of the hereafter. After that, come sound intention and correct belief, various sciences and diverse wisdoms, good character traits, and valuable virtues.

Thus, it is more important and necessary than anything else to protect and guard such a treasury of essences and secrets, this precious house which is the source of thoughts and ideas, from spiritual impurities which are evil traits, from the calamities of ignorance, from the whisperings of Satan, and to safeguard it from thieves, strangers, and all filth. In this way, it will be blessed with all kinds of bounties, and find salvation from many calamities and evils. Those noble essences will not be tainted by filth and impurity. Thieves will not be able to touch them. “All power and strength belong to Allah. There is no power and strength except with Allah.”

Fifth principle: The qalb has five states that are not found in any other limb. The first of these is that everything, friend and foe, comes to it. For example, the whisperings of Satan lie in ambush over the qalb and wait (in readiness). For the qalb is the abode of both whispering and inspiration. Thus, the fatigue and distress from the confusion of these two calls is exceedingly great.

The second state of the qalb is that its occupation is greater than that of the other organs. For it is the field of battle between reason and desire (hawā). The qalb has always been the arena and place for the struggle of these two kings and the battle of these two armies. Thus, to be unaware of such a great war is a great deficiency. To protect such a fortress from an enemy like hawā brings safety and security. It leads to maʿrifa (experiential knowledge of Allah).

The third state of the qalb is that its accidents are countless and innumerable. For the thoughts from Allah (khawāṭir-i Ḥaqq) are shot into the qalb like arrows. Perhaps, like unceasing rain, they descend day and night. It is not possible for the qalb to be protected from thoughts and to remain empty of them, but it is difficult.

For the qalb is not like the eye between two eyelids that can find rest by being closed. Nor is it like the tongue between the teeth and two lips that can be saved by silence. Rather, the human qalb is a target set up for the arrows of thoughts and ideas (sihām-i khawāṭir), and at no time or in any state can it escape from those arrows. Therefore, protecting the qalb from thoughts is a difficult task, not an easy one.

The fourth state of the qalb is that its treatment and cure is very difficult. For, being distant from sight, its condition is not known unless it is afflicted with some illness. Thus, unless one looks with careful attention and practices much spiritual discipline (riyāḍa), the preservation of the qalb is not possible.

The fifth state of the qalb is that, being the organ most prone to turning and change (inkilāb), calamities reach it very quickly. The qalb changes faster than boiling things change. If, unintentionally and unwillingly, a slip (zalla) occurs from the heart, its occurrence is more difficult and severe than anything else, and its lowest degree is hardness, inclination and love for things other than Allah (mā siwā), and its final degree is kufr (disbelief), deviation, and denial of the Exalted Lord. As the Exalted Truth has said in the Qur’an: “We shall turn their hearts and their eyes away, just as they did not believe in it the first time, and We shall leave them in their transgression, wandering blindly.” (al-Anʿām, 6:110)

For this reason, the elect servants of Allah, with utmost care and effort, have made the dhikr (remembrance) and thought of the Exalted Truth their habit. Thus, with the help of the Truth, they have found the right path. By distancing themselves from everything other than Allah (mā siwā), they have remained constantly in the assembly of the Truth’s presence.

Poetry

1-Do not incline outward, O heart; seek the beloved within yourself. Enter inside, find within yourself that friend, the companion and guide.

2-If you seek a friend, the friend is the one who never leaves you. Leave the fruit and leaf of the body, and eat the fruit from the beloved of the soul.

3-Find the Beloved in the soul, let the heart be filled with beautiful thoughts. Be distant from both worlds, but do not be distant from yourself.

4-Do not buy or sell transient beauty; do not exchange the eternal love for the transient. Cross these two rivers; drink from that, for it is the eternal Kawthar.

5-O heart, you are a vast abode; always for that beloved. Therefore, I do not seek this body and soul, nor a home, like a wanderer.

6-The adornments of the beauties of the world are the veil of the soul. Lift the veil and behold the beauty of the face of the beloved.

7-Be silent, O heart! Do not reveal the states of the heart! If you desire safety, do not disclose the secret.

In contemporary Turkish