The Heart is where it begins

Have you ever been told to listen to your heart?
Why do people tell us so? Is the heart right? Is it necessarily the best choice for us?

The heart is where every thought, every action and everything that defines us begins.

How do you define your heart? What is it?

Al-Nawwas bin Sam'an, radiyallahu 'anhu, reported that the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said:

"Righteousness is good character, and sin is that which wavers in your heart and which you do not want people to know about."

[Muslim]

According to Wabisah bin Ma'bad, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said:

I came to the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, and he said: "You have come to ask about righteousness ?" " Yes," I answered. He said: "Consult your heart. Righteousness is that about which the soul feels tranquil and the heart feels tranquil, and sin is what creates restlessness in the soul and moves to and fro in the breast, even though people give you their opinion (in your favour) and continue to do so."

[A good hadith transmitted from the Musnads of the two Imams, Ahmad bin Hanbal and Al-Darim

(This is what I obtained from the hadith classes conducted in MMU Surau. Any mistake is purely my own fault. Please comment if there are any mistakes)

The first thing that should be pointed out is that even though the second hadith is weak by itself, due to supporting evidence it is raised to the level of hasan (authentic). These two hadiths state the meaning of righteousness and sinfulness. (Taken from http://fortyhadith.iiu.edu.my/hadith27.htm)

People say charity starts from the home but I feel that anything we do, it starts from ourselves. It is from our heart that we decide (for ourselves) what is the course of action that we wish to take.
Even the poorest and most misrable can give charity to others. It can be in a form of action, words of encouragement, a helping hand or even a shoulder to cry on. Charity is not only in monetary form.
To share food when you yourself is hungry; that's charity.
To share knowledge with others; that's charity.

Two parts of the class that really struck me was this line said by the ustaz:
1. "Hate the sin, but not the sinner. (Benci perkara makruh dan bukan orang yang melakukannya.)"
2. "Help those that have been abused and help those who abuse."

From my understanding the first part means that even though someone has done something sinful, do not hate him/her.
A person can change; given the chance. So give them a chance. The sin cannot be erased but that doesn't mean that the person can't ask for Allah S.W.T. forgiveness. The second part in my opinion means that we should help people that have been abused and also those that abuse others. Why should we help those who abuse others? The people who abuse others are ultimately hurting themselves and destroying themselves in the eyes of Allah S.W.T.. We should help them by preventing or advising them against abusing others.

Every single good thing we do will be rewarded. InsyaAllah.

~cheerio

p.s. Do not kill your heart. Fill it, Feed it and Listen to it. :D
p.s.s To read more on this topic please click here!