The main act prescribed by Tassawwuf is Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) in order to achieve Ihsan, Abdullah ibn Umar narrated, “Allah’s Messenger (saw) said, ‘These hearts become rusty just as iron does when water affects it.’ On being asked what could clear them he replied, ‘A great amount of remembrance of death and recitation of the Qur’an.'” (Al-Tirmidhi, 673).
The above hadith is a simile for a literal and spiritual matter that affects all of us, rust builds up on metal just by being in water it doesn’t have to do anything, this is the similitude of man while he is on earth his heart wears out, this rust (in the Quran is called Rann) builds on the heart because of the acts man does in life, sins are the worst type of acts with the worst results on man’s heart which is why Allah made them impermissible. The more “rust” builds up the more the heart, conscious and self are weighed down, just like a machine whose parts become rusty slows down until it cant move.
The more sin that accumulates on the heart the more difficult it becomes to behave as we want, so people find it easier to just live out the bad in their heart, lying, stealing or even killing eventually this leads to a person simply acting on impulse like an animal because it becomes to difficult to think before we act. This is because the heart becomes constricted, to tight and narrow to be capable of entertaining thought so impulse becomes easier for them, those whose hearts are expanded eventually gain wisdom because they can entertain many thoughts before judging.
Allah says “So whoever Allah wants to guide – He expands his breast (heart) to Islam (religion is wisdom); and whoever He wants to misguide – He makes his breast tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky (it becomes difficult for him to have well though out acts). Thus does Allah place defilement upon those who do not believe.”(6:125)
Allah has mercy on people who commit sin so He puts them through a trial which cleanses the heart of it’s rust, at that time they experience something like a shock or an awakening because the sin was all removed in a short span of time, rather than steadily and gradually through constant practice of dhikr and salat (prayer).
Had Allah chosen to make that rust disappear instantly this would be a miracle Allah gave that person because quantum particles would have to disappear or be rearranged, the rust is our actions at the subatomic level, we are surrounded by these particles and we influence them just like our body produces chemical reactions we use them to create the world we see in our dreams and the images we imagine in our mind.
For most people Allah removes this rust through events the person will have to live in life, so just as it builds up it has to be removed and the easiest way is through Dhikr (remembrance), Salat (prayer) and Istighfar (repentance) because the acts themselves produce the physiological results that purify us from the effects of sin.
This reality of Man in the Universe Allah made very clear in the Quran, in surah al Asr, which is significantly named “Time” or ‘by mans time in the universe’, Allah says “By (the Token of) Time (through the ages), Verily Man is in (a condition of) loss, Except (those who do the following) such as (wilfully) have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and enjoin upon one another (in a community) the keeping to truth, and enjoin upon one another patience in adversity.” (103:1-3)
The meaning of the verse becomes more significant once we understand the picture Allah is painting and realise what Allah means by man is always in loss, Allah is talking about the systems in the Universe and in our physiology, the acts He mentioned are the things that stop man from being in a state of loss.
In fact the second law of thermodynamics states this very thing, if we consider the human body and how it works the law states “every energy transfer increases the entropy of the universe due to the loss of usable energy.” Entropy is the amount of energy that becomes unavailable for use each time a reaction occurs, as chemical reactions reach a state of equilibrium, entropy (energy loss) increases; and as molecules at a high concentration in one place diffuse and spread out, entropy (energy loss) also increases, all of this is chemistry, physics and quantum mechanics.
The choice is given to man in how he wants to deal with life or how he wants to be dealt with, his actions can cause him loss or he can do what Allah said to put himself in a state of gain.
Allah literally tied morality into how the universe works, our actions impact it and others in society, and in turn the universe and others impacts us, as Allah explains this all occurs in the ghayb (unseen) of the universe, at the quantum or subatomic level, today physics is proving the interconnectedness of particles regardless of distance and space with laws like quantum entanglement and string theory and because mans body is influenced by subatomic particles and heavily relies on them for life we are also influenced by what is happening in the atmosphere at the quantum level.
That Allah was referring to quantum mechanics, which is the physics of subatomic particles can established with ease, there are many facts we will mention later in this work but here are just two.
Allah said we should enjoin upon one another in a community, the keeping of truth to ward off being in a state of loss, meaning the atmosphere of truth a community creates will stop man being in a state of loss it isn’t enough that individuals keep to the truth man has to come together in a society to achieve this, in Islam this is called “Fard Kifaya” a communal obligation which we will be held accountable for if we don’t achieve it.
And because Allah uses the subatomic world and quantum particles as the main form of punishment for people on the day of judgment, He mentions this often in the Quran. The Human body needs photons (light) to survive and stay healthy, being deprived of it causes severe depression and eventually a complete mental breakdown.
On the day of judgment Allah will show man the sun then He will take it away and say the only light on this day will be given to him because of what He earned in life, Allah says in the Quran “On that Day shall the hypocrites, both men and women, speak
This suffering is caused by depravation of light which people could not acquire, and the abundance of light and mercy will allow the believers to be in a state of grace and elegance, which is a quality of generosity and the furthest thing from depression.
People involve themselves in different degrees and types of Sin, all of which have a different effect on the heart and in turn the human body. The Prophet (saws) said, “There is in the body a clump of flesh – if it becomes good, the whole body becomes good and if it becomes bad, the whole body becomes bad. And indeed it is the heart” (Bukhari) this is because the heart is man’s main connection to the spiritual world (ghayb) and what occurs their will impact us physically in the end, the connection between the acts of man and the physical heart is made clear in the following hadith.
An-Nu’man ibn Bashir narrated, “I heard Allah’s Apostle saying”, “Both legal and illegal things are evident but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So whoever saves himself from these suspicious things saves his religion and his honor. And whoever indulges in these suspicious things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the Hima (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it (illegally). (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart.”(Bukhari)
The Prophet (saws) connected the spiritual world (quantum universe) with the spiritual heart (essentially the hearts nervous system which is sophisticated enough to qualify as a mini brain) and connected the spiritual heart with the physical heart which affects the entire body. So we know from his words that he was teaching mankind that the spiritual world effects the physical world and today science is establishing how our universe relies on what is occurring at the subatomic levels of space.
What occurs in the unseen world is the cause for many things that occur to us physically, because He (saws) said, “There is a piece of flesh (the physical heart) in the body if it becomes good (good deeds affect the spiritual heart through mans psychology) the whole body becomes good (the spiritual heart is connected to the physical heart) but if it gets spoilt (if something effects the spiritual heart) the whole body gets spoilt (it effects the physical body) and that is the heart.”
Many of these Ahadith are describing something simple, but they seem difficult to understand because we are missing a piece of the puzzle the prophet (saws) understood, the spiritual world is the subatomic world or quantum universe, the world of the finest particles in creation (this is discussed in later issues of this Journal), all of the advice and warnings He (saws) is giving to man is regarding what is occurring to man at this level of creation because it is all part of the same universe.
If we think, how can a particle so small affect man, we should understand it isn’t simply what one particle is doing, the question is what is occurring when a multitude of particles entangle with each other to have a greater affect on us as a result of our actions. A simple cup of coffee can’t even cool to room temperature unless the hot particles entangle (or connect) with the cold particles and then slowly change to be the same as them, this act is part of the building blocks of the universe. Our body produces a more complex type of entanglement evident in the fact we have complex thoughts, this type of science occurs with everything in the universe and our physiology connects our minds and hearts to the universe around us at the quantum level of existence.
So in the prophets (saws) words is the understanding that our acts impact that level of the universe which in turn affects our body because it is connected to it physiologically, this is the essence of what surah al Asr is warning man about man is always in a state of loss unless he creates a society of justice and truth (haq).
What we call life is a result of all the systems in the human body at every level, our conciseness is a cumulative result of all our senses and perceptions combined, meaning how our sight, hearing, smell, taste, feelings and senses, all these inputs combine in the body to create what we are experiencing at this moment in time.
The spiritual heart may essentially be the hearts nervous system, but it is more specifically the cumulative result of everything that goes on in the heart and affects it at every level in the same way that human consciousness is the sum of all our senses, (insha allah we will discuss what these are later in our work).