If we are to right the world, we must first rectify our hearts, and this is why every revelation has been granted to humanity: to make firm our hearts.

1. The Structure of Happiness
The sufferingof the worldisspokenof intermsof wars, starvation,hatred,competition,andthe
struggle of the survivalsof the fittest.Yetall the sufferingof the worldoriginatesinthe humanheart.
Everycrime committed,everyactof oppression,everycallouscruelty,andeveryinjustice tothe self or
othersemanatesfromthe heartsof men.However,foreverywrongwroughtbythe humanheart,a
thousandacts of mercy have issuedforth:everymother’slove,everychild’sforgiveness,everyteacher’s
care, andevery father’sconcernforthe well-beingof hisprogeny-all have theirsource inthe core of
humanbeing,the humanheart.If we are to rightthe world,we mustfirstrectifyourhearts,andthisis
whyeveryrevelationhasbeengrantedtohumanity:tomake firmourhearts.
The most oft-recitedprayerof the blessedProphet,peace andprayersbe uponhim, was,ORevolverof
the hearts,make firmmy heartuponthe straightway. Innoequivocal terms,the QuranstatesOnthe
day of Judgment,whenneitherwealthnorchildrenwill avail,onlyone whobringsforthasoundheart?
A soundheart!The soundestof heartswasthe heartof the messengerof Allah,peaceand
prayersbe uponhim,who throughhispurityand singularityof intentiontransformedthe world.His
teachingremainsandthe challenge isforeachof us to take it andwithit transformour heartsand
therebythe veryworldinwhichwe nowreside.Time isof the essence asthe diseasesof the heart,so
prevalentamongmennow,threatenthe verybiospherewe have beencommissionedtoprotect.Before
youis a textthat givespractical meansandmethodsfortransformation.Learnthem, anduse them,and
thenpassthemon.
Purificationofthe Heart
The Heart
Allah(SWT) says,"Onthat day nothingwill benefitthe humanbeing,neitherwealthnorchildren,only
the one who bringsAllahasoundheart."A soundheartisone thatis free of defectsandspiritual
blemishes.Thoughthe spiritual heartis centered inthe physical heart,the heartbeingreferredtohere
isthe spiritual heart,notthe physical heart.InancientChinese medicine,the hearthouseswhatis
knownas "chen"whichis"a spirit."The Chinese characterfor"thinking,""thought,""love,""virtue,"and
"intendingtolisten"all containthe ideogramforthe heart.Infact,in everyculture inthe world,people
use metaphorsthatdeal withthe heart;in English,we call people whoare cruel,"hard-heartedpeople."
There isalso the ideaof having "a coldheart" and"a warmheart."People whodonothide their
emotionswell"weartheirheartsontheirsleeves."Whendeeplyaffected,we say,"he affectedme in
my heart"or "inmy core."In fact, the Englishword"core"means"innermost,"andinArabic,the
equivalent"lub"comesfromthe Latinword,meaning"heart."Thus,the core of the humanbeingis
indeedthe heart.The word"courage"alsocomesfromthe same rootword as for "heart"because
courage is centredinthe heart.The mostancientIndo-Europeanwordforheartmeans"thatwhich
leaps."The heartleapsor beatsinthe breastof man.For example,peoplesay,"myheartskippeda
beat"in reactiontoseeingsomebody.Manysuchmetaphorsare usedfor the heart.

2. Three Types of People
The ancientswere aware of the spiritual diseasesof the heart,andthisiscertainlyat the essence of the
Islamicteaching.One of the firstthingsthe Qurandoesis define three typesof people:the mu'minun,
the kafirun,andthe munafiqun.The mu'minunare peoplewhose heartsare alive while the kafirunare
people whose heartsare dead.The munafiqunare people whohave adisease orasicknessintheir
hearts;thus,Allah(SWT) says,"Intheirheartsis a disease,andtheywere increasedintheirdisease."
Thisis alsoinaccordance withanotherverse:"Whentheirheartsdeviated,Allahmade themdeviate
further."WhensomebodyturnsawayfromAllah(SWT),Allah(SWT) causesthemtodeviateeven
furtherfromthe truth.
The Heart and the Brain
The actual physical heartinour breastbeatsat about 100,000 timesa day,pumpingtwogallonsof
bloodperminute,100 gallonsperhour,24 hours a day,sevendaysa week, 365 daysa year foran entire
life time!The vascularsystemthatsendsthislife-givingbloodisover60,000 mileslong:itismore than
twotimesthe circumference of the earth.Furthermore,itisinterestingtonote thatthe heart starts
beatingbefore the brainisformed;the heartbeginstobeatwithoutanycentral nervoussystem.The
dominanttheory wasthatthe central nervoussystemiswhatiscontrollingthe entirehumanbeingfrom
the brain,yetwe knownow that infact the nervoussystemdoesnotinitiatethe heartbeat.Itisactually
self-initiated;we wouldsay,itisinitiatedbyAllah(SWT).
The heart isthe centerof the humanbeing.Many people thinkthe brainisthe centerof consciousness,
yetthe Quran clearlystates,"Theyhave heartsthattheyare notable to understandwith."Accordingto
the Muslims,the centerof humanconsciousness isthe heartandnot the brainitself,anditisonly
recentlythathumanbeingshave learnedthere are over40,000 neuronsinthe heart;inotherwords,
there are cellsinthe heart that are communicating.Now,itisunderstoodthatthere istwo-way
communicationbetweenthe brainandthe heart:the brainsendsmessagestothe heart,butthe heart
alsosendsmessagestothe brain.The brainreceivesthese messagesfromthe heart,whichreachthe
amygdalaand the thalamus.The cortex receivesinputfromthe amygdalaandthalamusthatit processes
to produce emotion;the newcortex relatestolearningandreasoning.Theseprocessesare recent
discoveries,andalthoughwe donotfullyunderstandthem,we doknow thatthe heart isan extremely
sophisticatedorgan.
Accordingto the hadith,the heartisa source of knowledge.The Prophet,sallallahu'alayhi wasallam,
saidthat wrongaction iswhatirritatesthe heart.Thus,the heartactuallyknowswrong actions, andthis
isone of the reasonswhypeople cando terrible things,but,ultimately,theyare affectednegatively.In
Crime andPunishment,the brilliantRussianauthorDostoevsky'sindicatesthatcrime itself isthe
perpetrator'spunishmentbecausehumanbeingshave tolive withthe resultof theiractions:theirsouls
are affected.Whenpeople dosomethingagainstthe heart,theyactagainstthe soul,andthat actually
affectshumanbeingstothe degree thattheywill gointoa state of spiritual agitation,andpeoplewill
use manyways to coverthisup.This iswhat kufris:"kufr"means"coveringup."To hide theiragitation,
people use alcohol,drugs,andsexualexperimentation;theyalsoseekpower,wealth,andfame,
takingthemselves intoastate of heedlessness,submergingthemselvesintothe ephemeralworldwhich

3. causesthemto forgettheiressentialnature andtoforgettheirhearts.Thus,people becomecutoff
fromtheirhearts.
http://shaykhhamza.com/transcript/The-Alchemy-of-Happiness
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