A White Heart, or an Overturned Vessel

The Prophet ﷺ showed that with every fitnah, a mark is placed on the heart — white or black. In the end, hearts are of two kinds.

How the Marks Are Made

Just as a mat is woven one reed at a time, fitnah too comes one after another and stands before the heart — test after test.

An indecent sight appears before your eyes and you lower your gaze — a white mark on the heart. A hand reaches out with a bribe and you turn it away — another white mark. You are about to backbite and you hold your tongue — another one.

But the heart that soaks in the fitnah — backbiting, stealing, letting the gaze run free, intoxicants, abandoning salah — receives one black mark after another.

As many sins as you turn away, exactly that many white marks; as many as you soak in, exactly that many black ones.

The Shaykh's Explanation

In the end the heart becomes one of two kinds — white like a rock, or black like an overturned vessel.

The white heart is as hard as a smooth rock — desire and base inclinations come and break against it, unable to leave a mark. And when water is poured onto an overturned vessel, it does not fill; likewise, when an overturned heart is given advice, it does not enter, and when it is reminded, it does not remember.

The Evidence — the Hadith on Marks Placed on the Heart

تُعْرَضُ الْفِتَنُ عَلَى الْقُلُوبِ كَالْحَصِيرِ عُودًا عُودًا، فَأَيُّ قَلْبٍ أُنْكِرَهَا نُكِتَتْ فِيهِ نُكْتَةٌ بَيْضَاءُ، وَأَيُّ قَلْبٍ أُشْرِبَهَا نُكِتَتْ فِيهِ نُكْتَةٌ سَوْدَاءُ

Fitan are presented to the heart one after another, like the reeds of a mat. Any heart that rejects them receives a white mark, and any heart that soaks them in receives a black mark. (Sahih Muslim 144)Copy

Shaykh Bali says — the test begins from the very moment you wake up. So keep your iman strong, and do not become weak before the beauty that Shaytan makes attractive.

What to Do

1. Recognize the first test of your day — the eyes, the tongue or anger; be on guard right there.
2. If you manage to turn one sin away, do not stop — make the same decision for the next one too.
3. If you feel advice is not entering your ears, be afraid — this is the first sign of turning over; repent quickly.
4. Make this dua every day — “O Allah, make me one of those with a white and pure heart.”

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Source: Based on a talk by Shaykh Wahid Abdussalam Bali

Translation and compilation: Raqi Faisal Ahmed Sabit — Al Qur'an Ruqyah Healing Center