Heart and Mind
As an adolescent I used to think that I think with my “mind” and feel with my “heart”. As I started reading more I learnt that there is the “conscious” and “subconscious” included in the mind. Then the terms “psych” appeared in English and “self” appeared in Arabic. Add to that the always vague “soul”. Later on I learnt that we do not “feel” with the “heart” and that it is actually a self sustaining “pump” that “responded” to different “hormones” and “nervous input” in addition to having its own role in producing certain hormones. Even later I learnt from some true stories that some people who underwent cardiac transplantation had a change of their personality!
Now this was becoming really confusing; who or which is doing what exactly? What do we really know about all these “terms”? Is our knowledge a fact to be taken for granted or do we have some great misconceptions here?
The only way to find an absolute answer is to get the “manual” of these objects and read what it says about them. The “manufacturer” is the “Creator” (SWT) and the “manual” is the “Qur’an” and authentic “Ahadeeth”.
Regarding the “soul” or “spirit” Allah (SWT) says; “And they ask you about the Spirit. Say, “The Spirit is of the Command of my Lord; and in no way have you been brought of knowledge except a little.”(TMQ, 17:85). So I decided to abandon further search on this one.
Regarding the “self” I was content to know that there are 3 forms and what each one does; the “reproaching self”, the “composed self” and the “evil-inclined self”.
Regarding the “psych”, “conscious” and “subconscious”, the scientific explanations did not take into consideration the spirit’s role but gave precise chemical and electrical recordings of “what” is going on and “how” but not “why”. On the other hand Allah (SWT) tells us we will not know much about the spirit (which I believe has the answer for the “why”) so that was again another dead end for me.
So what really remained confusing and still are very amazing, subhan Allah, are the heart and mind. They are both mentioned extensively in Divine revelations and are continuously undergoing scientific research.
“The heart is a pump”, “the heart is a pump” was the answer I kept getting from science. What about “…they have hearts with which they do not comprehend, and they have eyes with which they do not behold, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like the cattle; no indeed, they are further in error. Those are they (who are) heedless”(TMQ, 7:179), and “but He will take you to task for whatever your hearts have earned”(TMQ, 2:225) among many other ayat which convey similar or close meanings? Again I was told that these were metaphors.
Now what about “Surely then it is not the beholdings (i.e. the eyes) that (grow) blind, but (it is) the hearts within the breasts that (grow) blind.”(TMQ, 22:46)? This is the only ayah in which it is stressed that it is the “heart within the breasts” that is meant to be mentioned. I could not see the metaphor here.
Surgeons performing heart transplantations are mostly materialistic Westerns or atheists in general so they were not intrigued by the true stories of people having certain changes to their personalities following heart transplantation so that issue remains further uninvestigated.
The definite answer is to be found in the ayah, “The Day when neither money nor sons will profit (anyone), Except for him who comes up to Allah with a sound heart.”(TMQ, 26: 88-89). Also our Beloved’s saying, “Truly in the body there exists a lump of flesh which if is sound the whole body will be sound and if is bad the whole body will be bad, and that (lump of flesh) is the heart.” Now some people might argue that is what really happens when the heart is medically in failure which affects the whole body but the context of the rest of that Hadeeth in which that phrase was mentioned is talking about halal and haram. Accordingly the heart is definitely doing something else other than “pumping blood”, “responding to hormones and nervous input” and “producing certain hormones”.
Now let us move to some real life experience to compare between what each of the heart and mind do. I am sure that each of you had tens of similar experiences like the one I will narrate about myself here.
I always understood with my “mind” the ayah “Say, ‘Surely my prayer, and my rites, and my living, and my dying are for Allah, The Lord of the worlds. No associate has He; and this I am commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims.’ (Literally: of the ones who have surrendered to Allah).”(TMQ, 6: 162-163) but it was not until one day Allah (SWT) willed that I “feel” and “understand” it with my “heart” that I found the great difference between understanding with one’s “heart” and understanding with one’s “mind”. It is also manifested when one wants to feel humility to Allah (TWT). It does not happen when one “logically” understands that meaning and not at any time (to refute some physician’s claim that it is a conditioned reflex that one can train himself to do); one only gets the “true feeling” when Allah (SWT) wills regardless of how much one “wants” to “logically feel it”. And the list goes on.
This also applies to the meanings of words as mentioned in the previous article. That is why one has to take the time and effort to let the “meanings” of “words” sink into his/her heart and not just pass rapidly by his/her mind.
So whenever arrogant human science tells you the heart is just a pump “think” and “feel”, “and in no way have you been brought of knowledge except a little.”(TMQ, 17:85).”
May Allah (SWT) grant us all sound hearts.
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