Take Back Your Heart - YM

No one likes to fall. And few people would ever choose to drown. But in struggling through the ocean of this life, sometimes it's so hard not to let the world in. Sometimes the ocean does enters us. The dunya seep into our hearts. And like the water that breaks the boat, when dunya enters, it shatters our heart. It shatters the boat.

We drowned.

If you allow dunya to own your heart, like the ocean that owns the boat, it will take over. You will sink down to the depths of the sea. You will touch the ocean floor. And you will fell as though you were at your lowest point. Entrapped by your sins and the love of this life, you will feel broken, surrounded by darkness. That's the amazing thing about the floor of the ocean. No light reaches it.

However, this dark place is not the end. Remember that the darkness of night precedes the dawn. And as long as your heart still beats, this is not the death of it. You don't have to die here. Sometimes, the ocean floor is only a stop on the journey. And it is when you are at this lowest point, that you are faced with a choice. You can stay there at the bottom, until you drown. Or you can gather pearls and rise back up - stronger from the swim and richer from the jewels.

Seek God to bring you back up, for when He does, He will rebuild your ship. The heart that you thought was forever damaged will be mended. What was shattered will be whole again. Know that only He can do this. Seek Him.

And when He saves you, beg forgiveness for the fall, feel remorse over it - but not despair. As ibnul Qayyim has said: "Satan rejoiced when Adam came out of Paradise, but he did not know that when a diver sink into the sea, he collects pearls and then rises again."


RECLAIM YOUR HEART - YASMIN MOGAHED

Ocean of The Dunya - YM

This worldly life, the dunya, is just like the ocean. And our hearts are the ships. We can use the ocean for our needs and as a means to get to our final destination. But the ocean is only that: a means. It is a means for seeking food of the sea. It is a means of travel. It is a means of seeking a higher purpose. But it is something which we only pass through, yet never think to remain in. Imagine what would happen if the ocean became our end - rather than just a means.

Eventually we would drown.

As long as the ocean's water remains outside the ship, the ship will continue to float and be in control. But what happens as soon as the water creeps into the ship? What happens when the dunya is not just water outside of our hearts, when the dunya is no longer just a means? What happens when the dunya enters our heart?

That is when the boat sinks.

That is when the heart is taken hostage and becomes a slave. And that is when the dunya - which was once under our control - begins to control us. When the ocean's water enters and overtakes a ship, that ship is no longer in control. The boat then becomes at the mercy of the oceans.

The moment we let the dunya enter our hearts, we will sink. The ocean was never intended to enter the boat; it was intended only as a means that must remain outside of it. The dunya, too, was never intended to enter our heart. It is only a means that must not enter or control us. This is why Allah s.w.t repeatedly refers to the dunya in the Quran as a mata'a. The word mata'a can be translated as a "resource for transitory worldly delight". It is a resource. It is a tool. It is the path - not the destination.



RECLAIM YOUR HEART - YASMIN MOGAHED