Surah Zumar: 39:18
الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ ۚ أُولَـٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَاهُمُ اللَّـهُ ۖ وَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمْ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ ﴿١٨﴾
[39:18] Yusuf Ali
Those who listen to the Word, and follow the best (meaning) in it: those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding.
For the Background and explanation of this ayah Click here…….
For rewards of the focused listener click here………
APPLIED TAZKIYAH TUN NAFS CONCERNING THIS AYAH
An important prerequisite to understand, discern and select what is good from a conversation and discard and ignore what is bad is an action of the heart.
If the heart has been hardened by constant exposure to the disobediences of Allah, then it is unable to discern what is good, or bad and definitely is cannot differentiate ehsan or the rest.
We know from the authentic Hadith that with each act of disobedience of Allah a black dot is placed on the heart.
If the acts of disobedience multiply so do the black dots eventually blinding the heart from the light of understanding, guidance and discernment. The heart is thus unable to see and follow the path of light, of knowledge and of the ultimate reality of Allah.
Thus such a heart that is “blinded” due to the disobediences has two choices:
- Remain blind and thus misinterpret what is good and what is bad because of the covering of the black dots and shutting out “The Light”
- Perform Tazkiyah tun Nafs and slowly lift the heavy veils of disobedience to let “The Light” in to show the straight path.
APPLIED TAZKIYAH
The focused listener can be subdivided into three:
- One who has a “blind” heart due to the disobedience of the owner of the heart as well as ”desensitization” to what is good or evil by continuous or repeated exposure to the disobediences of Allah.
- A heart that is in the process of being cleansed by Tazkiyah and Light is being let in.
- A heart that is cleansed such that “when the light shines into it, it emanates unchanged illuminating the truth as truth and Batil (untruth) as batil.
A potent dua on Jumma asks Allah to give us such a heart: CLICK HERE TO RECITE
The heart interprets what the ear of the focused listener hears as follows:
- The one with the blind heart will choose the good and bad from what he or she has heard, as there is no light to discern what is good or evil? (A blinded heart is unable to determine by feeling only if the smooth longitudinal circular thing is a stick or a snake?)
- The one with the heart that is in the process of performing Tazkiyah (cleansing) will discern what is good, and what is bad in the conversation
- The heart that is constantly in a state of Tazkiyah will not only discern what is good or bad but also will also recognize what is ehsan (extreme good) and latch on to it and get the Hidaya from Allah to follow it inshallah!
Respectfully presented with duas fro my teachers who taught me Tazkiyah and continue to do so as I am a slow learner. Please keep in your duas.
Siraat-e-Mustaqeem 