CONTROLLING OUR HEART

Ardhie Praditya Syam

The Messenger of Allah, Muhammad shalallahu alayhi wa sallam said: Surely there is in the body a small piece of flesh; if it is good, the whole body is good, and if it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted, and that is surely the heart.
Reported by Imam Bukhr in his sahih

From the hadith above, our prophet gave us both warning and lesson about the two sides of heart potential, so we as the last ummah can use it properly in the way that is blessed by Allah. The warning therein is crystal clear. If heart is the one that gives the biggest influence to the whole body and determines the good or bad status, it does mean that we must pay exteremely high attention to its condition, to monitor it all the time so we may not lose control of it. Then a question arises, who wants to take control over our heart besides ourselves? The answer is without doubt the old enemy of human race. The one who had deceived prophet Adam alayhissalaam and his wife Siti Hawa to eat the forbidden fruit of khuldi tree. Can you guess? Yes, the answer will be Iblis and its follower, Shaytaan. What do they aim by controlling our heart? To give clear sight to this matter, we must go back to the moment when Iblis made promise to Allah and was condemned as the kufur. Iblis promised that he will persuade all humans to go with him to hell in the day of judgement, except those who worships Allah sincerely. This is the promise of Iblis, and today we all can see how many people that we know very well have been caught and controlled to follow the will of Iblis and Shaytaan. They disobey Allahs commands and prefer to satisfy their greedy passion without considering which is halaal or haraam. For example, how often do we meet our female friends or colleagues who wear short pant exposing their naked legs in front of their non mahram? Most of us will say very often, right? Frankly speaking, not only people that are close to us do we often see wearing this very hot trend, but we can also find them easily in our daily TV show. There are so many examples of them! This is indeed to warn us all. On the other hand, there is also a big lesson delivered by this hadith that can benefit us. As it
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is written if it is good, the whole body is good. This phrase is a hint for us. Now can you imagine what will happen if the whole body is good? Some of us may quickly say that it is about good health condition, no illness, or anything about medical status. This guessing answer is certainly correct. By possessing good health, one can do a plenty of good deeds such as to help other people. However, physical health or condition is not the only thing covered by the phrase. The next possible answer will be good mental condition. What can you do with this? Use your imagination once again, and imagine that you can control your heart and by doing so you are also releasing all negative feelings, life burdens, conflicts, and even financial distress that are always following your step wherever you go. How are you gonna feel? Very much relieved, right? It is like you are born once again as a free man. No problems, no enemies, and you really can say, EVERYTHING IS FINE! The best combination of both good health and mental condition is the real deal of this hadith. No wonder Iblis and Shaytaan never give up to make people forget to take a look at their heart, and drive it all the time. They are the first to not let us become a good Muslim and Mukmin. They will never stop trying to fill our heart with darkness. Even when you are in salaah, they will distract your focus before, during, and after performing salaah to take you away from the remembrance of Allah, so you may become their friend in hell (salaah is sholat). To win this life-to-death war, we must be able to prevent Iblis and Shaytaan from taking control of our heart, but how? Well, a useful advice to all of us is do not count on your own strength no matter how confident you are. You are merely a human being, a weak creation, an easily forgetful one. Hence this is why you must come to your creator, Allah Azza wa Jalla, the Lord of universe, and ask for His protection. You may have fallen on Iblis and Shaytaan tricks over and over again, but when you believe with all of your heart that their tricks are weak before the power of Allah, then insha Allah, you will be protected.

O Turner of the hearts, make my heart steadfast in adhering to Your religion. Ahadith reported by At-Tirmidzi