The heart is on a journey to Allah, and the wonders of the Hereafter. It follows a path that is traversed with light.
There are five corruptors that extinguish the light, distort its vision, muffle its hearing, dumfound it, weaken its
power and strength altogether. They weaken it's health, slacken its drive, halt its decision, and reverse it (sending it backwards)
And if one does not sense it than their heart falls victim to the Angel of Death.
They are impediments that prevents it from achieving its perfection, and prevents it from arriving to what it was created for.
There is no pleasure, sweetness, ibtihaaj, or perfection except by knowing Allah and loving Him, peace in remembrance of Him, happiness and ibtihaaj in being close to Him and desiring to meet Him.
This is the early paradise of the heart. It has two paradise, it will not enter the second until it has entered the first. The truly
unfortunate people of this world are those who leave the world without tasting the sweetest thing it contains, Knowing Allah.
These five matters cut the people off from it, block the heart, impede its journey.
The effect of frequent socializing is that it fills the heart with the smoke of anfaas
until it becomes black, causing it to be scattered, torn apart, worried, upset, and weak.
It causes it to carry what it is unable to from mu’nat evil companions and waste what is beneficial for it.
The heart becomes busy with scattered thoughts in the valleys of their requests and wishes(those evil companions).
So what remains of it for Allah and the life to come? How many adversities has mixing with people brought and how many blessings has
it repelled? How many trials has it caused and opportunities disabled? The socializing based on love in this world, the fulfillment of
desires in this world from others will all change to enmity when realities become manifest.
"Indeed what you have taken besides Allah are only idols" The useful defining principle in the matters of socializing
is that one should mix with people in acts of goodness, like Jumu‘ah, the ‘Eids, Hajj, learning knowledge, giving advice; and avoid them in [acts of] evil, as well as unnecessary permissible things.
Riding the sea of wishes. This is a sea without a shore. It is a sea ridden by the bankrupt of the world.
Wishes are the capital of the bankrupt, and its' travel provision are the promises of the Shaytan, and impossible
imagination and falsehood. The wealth of false wishes and false imaginations continues to play with the one who rides them.
The righteous one wishes to get closer to his Lord. While the ignorant one wishes for worldly matter (women, money, etc...)
Allah
This is the worst of all the corruptors. There is none more harmful
than attachment to other than Allah. If a heart becomes attached to other than Allah,
Allah makes the heart dependant on what he is attached to, and he will ultimately be betrayed by it.
The person most betrayed is the one who is attached to other than Allah. For what he missed of benefits, happiness
and success is far greater than what he obtained from that to which he was attached to. And what he is attached to is
vulnerable, it is exposed to disappearance and loss. But Allah is not vulnerable, and He will never disappear. See His
attribute of Life and Existence
This makes acts of obedience burdensome and it preoccupies the heart with chasing
belly desires until it captures it. If it captures zafara he becomes preoccupied with muzaawalat following its tasarruf activities and protecting the self from its harm, and being hurt by its weight, and it strengthens the elements of desire. It paves paths for Satan and expands them, for he moves among humans in the veins. Fasting narrows its passages and closes his paths and filling the stomach paves paths and widens them. Whoever eats a lot, drinks a lot, sleeps a lot and loses a lot. In the famous hadith:
“No human fills a container worse than his stomach. Two small portions of food to straighten his backbone are sufficient. If he must [eat more], then let it be a third for food, a third for drink and a third for breathing.” [7]
It is said that [on one occasion] Iblees – may Allah curse him – met Yahyaa, son of Zakariyyaa – peace be upon them – and Yahyaa asked him: “Did you take anything from me.” He replied: “No, except one night when food was presented to you, I made it so desirable to you that you ate your fill and you went sleep without making your regular supplications.” Yahyaa said: “I swear by Allah that I will never eat my fill again.” Iblees then said: “As for me, I swear by Allah that I will never advise another human again.”
It deadens the heart, makes the body heavy, wastes time, gives birth to a lot of negligence and laziness.
The best form of sleep is what takes place when there exists a strong need for it. Sleep at the beginning of the night is
more praiseworthy and beneficial than at the end of the night. sleep in the middle of the day is better than at its beginning and end tarafayhi. The closer sleep is to the beginning and ending of the day the less the benefit and the more the harm. [This is] especially the case for sleeping in the after noon (‘asr) and sleeping at the beginning of the day, except for one who stayed awake all night. Among the disliked aspects
according to many scholars is sleep between Fajr and Sunrise, for it is a time for special reward. The most balanced/moderate form of sleep is sleep during the first portion of the night and the last sixth
of the night. According to medical practitioners the amount of sleep should be 8 hours. In their view more sleep than that or less sleep than that would cause deviation in one's natural disposition.
BACK TO ALLAH
