A heart that understands
وَٱللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّنۢ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَـٰتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْـًۭٔا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ ۙ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
Allah has brought you forth from your mothers’ wombs when you knew nothing, and He made for you ears, eyes and hearts, so that you may be grateful. [16:78]
We are powerless compared to Allah
This ayah is a reminder that we all started in nothingness, and it is Allah who brought us into existence through our mothers’ wombs. Even before birth, when we are in the womb, Allah is the one who looks after us. Many pregnancies can result in stillbirth or other complications: although our mothers do a lot for us, many things are still out of their control. Only Allah has the power to make a healthy baby be born.
The moment we are born, we are a blank page, knowing nothing. Imagine the hubris of then challenging Allah, when we are so powerless and He knows everything. All the AIs in the world are a drop in the ocean of Allah’s knowledge: He is the Lord of the Worlds, all knowledge and power is His.
The importance of using your faculties
Allah says He gave us ears, eyes and hearts. Why does He single out these three out of all organs in the human body?
Imam al-Qushayri in the 5th century commented that Allah created ears first to allow us to hear His words. What a sweet thing to be able to hear His speech. This is what the Quraysh didn’t accept it: although they could hear the message, they didn’t understand it.
لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌۭ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌۭ لَّا يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ ءَاذَانٌۭ لَّا يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَآ ۚ
They have hearts they do not understand with, eyes they do not see with, and ears they do not hear with. [7:179]
It’s not enough just to have faculties, you have to use them. Allah created our ears and eyes so we could hear His speech and see His signs all around us, in the birds, the sky, and all His creations.
Your heart is your engine
The word used for hearts in this ayah, af’ida, is usually used in the context of intellect. There is a theological debate among scholars over whether the intellect, ’aql, is found in the brain or the heart.
Beware, in the body there is a piece of flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound and if it is corrupt the whole body is corrupt, and hearken it is the heart. [Muslim]
Your heart is your engine. If it is not working, you are not working. Allah created our hearts, and He also created the mechanism for us to maintain it and keep it healthy, through dhikr, salah and siyam.
If you have a heart but can’t comprehend anything, eyes but don’t see Allah’s actions, and ears but can’t hear the truth, then what is the point? Without this we can’t fulfil the purpose that Allah has created us for.
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me. [51:56]
The last part of the ayah reminds us to be grateful. Scholars have commented that we do this by using what He has given us in a way that pleases Him. We ask Allah to make us among those who show gratitude. Ameen.
Based on the Ramadan Reflection Night 8 by Shaykh Haytham Tamim. Transcribed by Hana Khan.
Ramadan Reflections:The heart as the core
By Samia Ahmed
Shaykh Haytham’s reminder on the eighth night of Ramadan did not simply teach. It stirred something deeper.
It inspired me to sit with my own thoughts about the heart.
The heart.
Not the intellect of the mind alone.
Not the limbs alone.
But the heart as the core of the believer.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Truly in the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is sound, the whole body is sound. If it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted. Truly, it is the heart.” (Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).
The heart is where true understanding resides. Allah says,
“They have hearts with which they do not understand” (Surah al-A‘raf 7:179)
The Qur’an places comprehension within the heart, not merely the mind. The heart is the seat of sensitivity. It is also the place where spiritual diseases settle. Arrogance, envy, pride, jealousy, greed, resentment. These are not outward flaws first. They are inward conditions.
Yet not for the heart that is alive with dhikr.
Allah says,
“Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts find rest” (Surah ar-Ra‘d 13:28)
A heart that is pumped with remembrance is protected. A heart illuminated by the Qur’an does not remain stagnant. It softens. It clears. It realigns.
When the heart is sound, every faculty begins to function as it was created to.
The eyes begin to see beyond surfaces. Allah says,
“We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth” (Surah Fussilat 41:53)
The eyes were created to recognise ayat, signs of Allah.
The ears were created to hear guidance. Allah describes those who turn away as people who have ears but do not truly listen. When the heart is present, the ears receive differently.
The tongue was created for remembrance. Allah says,
“O you who believe, remember Allah with much remembrance” (Surah al-Ahzab 33:41)
A tongue that utters dhikr feels light. A tongue distant from remembrance feels heavy and restless.
But what of the opposite.
When the heart is neglected, the eyes look but do not reflect. The ears hear but do not absorb. The tongue speaks, but remembrance feels burdensome. The limbs move, but without tranquillity.
The limbs themselves respond to the state of the heart. When the heart is alive, the body bows with presence. In sujood, calmness descends. Stillness appears. Allah says about the believers,
“Successful indeed are the believers, those who are humble in their prayer” (Surah al-Mu’minun 23:1-2)
Khushu begins in the heart before it manifests in the body.
And we are reminded that these limbs will testify. Allah says,
“On the Day when their tongues, their hands and their feet will bear witness against them as to what they used to do” (Surah an-Nur 24:24)
Our faculties were not created randomly. They were entrusted to us.
Our entire existence was designed for remembrance.
Allah commands,
“Say, indeed my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds” (Surah al-An‘am 6:162)
Living itself is meant to orbit around Him.
When we move outside remembrance, the mechanisms of our body may function physically, but spiritually they are misaligned. The system works, but not as it was intended.
Ramadan offers us a glimpse of alignment. A month in which Shaytan is restrained, as mentioned in the hadith narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. A time when the heart feels lighter. When distractions are reduced. When we taste clarity.
But Ramadan also exposes our own internal obstacles. Our desires. Our attachments. The subtle barriers that block the path more than any external enemy.
The heart is like a pump that fuels the soul. If it pumps remembrance, the soul flourishes. If it pumps heedlessness, the soul weakens.
That is why we are commanded to purify the heart. Allah says,
“The Day when neither wealth nor children will benefit, except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart” (Surah ash-Shu‘ara 26:88 to 89)
Each of us experiences moments when the heart malfunctions spiritually. It hardens. It forgets. It becomes distracted.
The medicine is the Qur’an.
Allah describes it as “a healing for what is in the breasts” (Surah Yunus 10:57). That healing is not abstract. It penetrates the heart.
And so we make the duʿa taught by the Prophet ﷺ, asking Allah to make the Qur’an the spring of our hearts and the light of our chests. A spring revives dry land. The Qur’an revives the heart. From that revival, dhikr blooms. A new awakening begins.
Ramadan is not only about abstaining from food. It is about restoring the heart to its intended design.
If the heart is sound, the rest follows.
May Allah purify our hearts.
May He make the Qur’an the spring of our hearts and the light of our chests.
May He allow our limbs to fulfil their purpose before the Day they are called to testify.
Ameen.
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