The Importance of the Heart
The Holy Prophet صلی الله علیہ وسلم is reported to have said in a Hadith:
ألا إن في الجسد مضغة إذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله، وإذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله، ألا وهي القلب
(Athaf. Vol. 3, p-103)
Note it well that there is in man's body a lump of flesh; if it is good, the whole body is good and if it becomes bad, the whole body becomes bad, and that is the heart. By heart is not meant the lump of flesh which is visible to our eyes. If the heart is cut open, we shall not see in it the spiritual diseases like pride, jealousy, malice etc. If you go to a Doctor after checkup he will tell you its physical diseases concerning its palpitation, arteries, circulation of blood. This check-up is carried out with the help of fine instruments and presents only a chart of apparent working of the heart.
The human heart has some characteristics and peculiarities which are invisible and cannot be seen with our eyes. Those unseen characteristics and peculiarities are the presence or absence of these inner diseases, i.e. pride, jealousy, ingratitude, want of patience, etc. These-diseases cannot be checked up and detected by a heart specialist. No machine has been invented to detect these inner, spiritual diseases of the human heart as yet.
There is another class of Doctors who can check and detect these inner diseases of the heart and treat them. These Doctors are the respected Sufis. They are masters of the science of ethics and morality. This is a specialized branch of knowledge which is learnt and practiced in the same way as the usual medical sciences are taught, learnt and practiced in the medical colleges. You may have experienced that some physical dis eases are felt by the patient himself, like fever, pain in the body, etc. If the patient is himself not able to find out the name of the disease he will visit a Doctor who will diagnose the disease and prescribe for him some medicines. The matter with the inner diseases is quite different. Most often the patient does not feel that he is a patient of an inner disease like pride or Jealousy. So far, no machine has been invented to detect these inner diseases. It is, therefore, indispensable that to find out the inner diseases the patient should consult some spiritual physician for treatment.
Information regarding Muslim World and Pakistan.
