Diseases of the Heart and Their Cure

By Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiya

This book offers a deep understanding of spiritual heart disease, which has become prevalent in our society today. We live in an era when the trials of doubt and desire have become unrestrained and have filled most of our hearts with spiritual diseases. In addition, there are so few scholars who give authentic advice, and those who use effective spiritual treatments have become so rare. We feel an urgent need to cleanse our hearts, to cleanse them of these diseases and to protect them from what surrounds them. And we can think of no one else than Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) who explained to us the reality of our ailments and the proper use of remedies so that we can be cured with the help of Allah. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Al-Jannat Publications
• Release date: Sep 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223626190

Book preview

Diseases of the Heart

And

Their Cure

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiya

Copyright 2023 Al-Jannat Publications

Table of Contents

Heart ailments and their cure

Quranic verses about healing

On the diseases of the heart and their cure

Between sickness and death

The Qur'an is a cure for the hearts

Righteous acts are a cure for the heart

Leaving indecent acts is a cure for the heart

The effect of sins on the purity of the heart

Types of Zulm

The life of the heart

The state of the dead heart

The need for beneficial knowledge

The reality of the life of the heart

Envy is a disease of the heart

The types of envy (hasad)

Between Hasad and Ghubta

The competition between Abu Bakr and Umar (Allah be pleased with them)

Moses exhibits ghubta

He whose rank becomes high is secured from ghubta

Blameworthy jealousy

The cure for jealousy

The causes of jealousy

Between jealousy and miserliness

Between jealousy and desire

The reality of passionate love (ishk)

The natural inclination of the heart is love for Allah

Preventive measures against passionate love

Some cures for the heart

Heart ailments and their cure

THE HEARTS ARE OF THREE TYPES:

(i) The correct heart, which is secured against all desires that oppose Allah's command and His prohibitions, and it is secured against all doubts that contradict what He informs. Just as it is secured from worshipping anything other than Allah and from seeking judgment from any person other than His Messenger.

(ii) The dead heart, which is the opposite of the correct heart, which contains no life, neither knows its Lord nor worships Him.

(iii) The heart that has some life but also has a defect. So it contains love for Allah, faith in Him, sincerity and trust in Him from those things that are essential for it to remain alive. It also contains love for vain desires and preference for them, despicable morals and manners from the things that cause it to die, and it constantly wavers between these two states.

So the first type of heart is the living, humble, soft and gentle heart. The second is the dry, hard and dead heart. The third is the diseased heart, which can either be made safe or have its destruction sealed.

All diseases of the heart are based on desire and doubt. The life of the heart and its enlightenment is the cause of all the good that exists in it, and its death and darkness is the cause of all the evil that exists in it.

The heart can never be alive and correct except through truth, loving it and preferring it above all else.

There can never be any happiness, joy, or correction for it, unless it makes its sole object of worship and desire Allah alone.

This can never be perfected without the purification of the heart, repentance and its liberation from all forms of false love and despicable manners. This can only be achieved by fighting hard against one's soul, which incites evil, and by calling it to account and fighting the satans among the jinn by holding fast to Allah, knowing their plans and objectives and protecting oneself from them by remembering Allah, the Exalted, and seeking refuge with Him from them.

When the heart becomes defective and weak, two basic things are involved: corruption of knowledge and corruption of intentions. These in turn lead to two destructive diseases - anger and misguidance. Miguidance is the end result of the corruption of intent. So these two diseases are the rulers of all the afflictions that afflict the heart. The cure lies in guidance based on knowledge. Guidance based on knowledge is in knowing the truth and following it. The entire Qur'an is a cure for these two diseases and others, and it contains perfect guidance.

Quranic verses about healing

ALLAH, THE MOST HIGH, SAID,

He will heal the breast of a believing people.

[Surah Tawba (9) : 14]

And when I fall ill, He heals me.

[Surah Shu'ara (26): 80].

...There has come to you an admonition from Your Lord, a healing for what is in your breasts, a guidance and mercy for the believers.

[Surah Yunus (10): 57]

And We reveal from the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy for the believers...

[Surah Isra' (17): 82].

It is a guidance and a healing for those who believe.

[Surah Fussilat (41): 44].

From their stomachs comes a drink of different colors in which there is healing for mankind.

(Surah Nahl (16): 69)

On the diseases of the heart and their cure

ALL PRAISE TO Allāh, we seek His help, and we seek His forgiveness, and we seek refuge with Allāh from the evil of our souls and the evil of our actions. Whom Allāh guides, no one can mislead, and whom Allāh misleads, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, Who has no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.

Allah