The Innermost Heart

The cleanliness of the heart is one process; a fourth degree lies beyond even this — the cleansing of the sirr, the innermost heart, from mā siwā Allāh, from everything and anything other than Allah, ghayrullāh, kept entirely away from that innermost secret. This belongs to a different field of discussion altogether: the heart of the anbiyāʾ, of the ṣiddīqīn, the heart of the greatest of the awliyāʾ — they are the ones who have achieved this fully. It remains, nonetheless, a duty for everyone to strive after such cleanliness, circumstances allowing, with Allah's (swt) help.

Whatever prevents a person from achieving that full maʿrifah and full maḥabbah of Allah (swt), reached within the sirr, is called other-than-Allah. Where a heart contains pure love for one's children and nothing besides, that love has come to occupy the place meant for the love of Allah, and this too is called other-than-Allah, and it has to be cleansed. The same is true where a person's job, good looks, strength, maqām, or status has come to occupy that particular place — in other words, these are squatters within the palace of a king, and no king will ever walk into a palace where squatters have taken up residence.

The simple matter of having wuḍūʾ turns out, then, to be a very large subject; there is not a single truly simple subject in Islam, and this needs to be understood. May Allah (swt) enable the purification of the outer as well as the inner; may Allah (swt) always keep every form of najāsah, every form of impurity, whether physical or spiritual, at a distance; and may Allah (swt) number among the fortunate those who remain always in a state of wuḍūʾ, for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that whoever dies in a state of wuḍūʾ dies as a shahīd — great news indeed from Allah (swt). May Allah (swt) forgive every shortcoming, and grant the ability to make tawbatan naṣūḥā before it is too late.