Hearts of Gold - Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel (Rahmatullahi 'alayh)

[amaturrahmaan]

Bismihi Ta'ala

 

 

 

My respected Shaykh, Hazrat Maulana Hakeem Muhammad Akhtar Saheb (Daamat Barakaatuhum) says in poetry:

 

 

“O Allah, we will choose the company of those who please You;                     

We will not keep company with those hearts that don’t have You.”

 

 

No one can deny the effect of company. Good company offers good influence and the opposite proves true, in that bad company offers bad influence. Companionship and friendship pave the way to either success or failure. Therefore Rasulullah (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: “A person is on the Deen of his friend.”

 

 

We are living in a time where there is mass production of “imitation” and “artificial” products. They appear genuine, but in the test of their quality, they prove to be just cheap imitation or artificial.

 

 

In the same way, we find the condition of hearts. The majority walk around with artificial or imitation hearts. Their worth is made known sooner or later, when we find infidelity, dishonesty, greed, double-standards, etc. Who we thought to be a friend, turns out to be an enemy.

 

 

Then we have the Auliya Allah – the friends of Allah Ta’ala. Their hearts are genuine “metal”; genuine gold. Their hearts have undergone various tests which make known their value.

 

 

When gold is mined from the earth, it is first pulverized and crushed and thereafter placed in a furnace. Despite its value, it has to be purified.

 

 

Thus we find that that gold is purified by the means of smelting, which requires pressure, high heat and chemicals to remove the impurities contained in it. It is after this intense process or ‘mujahadah’, that the gold is then in its purest form.

 

 

It is melted and poured into moulds to form bars or nuggets. This is now the precious pure gold that demands a high price in the markets, is utilized in making jewellery, etc.

 

 

In a similar vein, we find the hearts of Auliya Allah undergoing a purification process as well:  Their hearts experience the pulverizing and crushing of evil desires and going against the demands of the nafs. Together with this are the efforts in striving to earn the Pleasure of Allah Ta’ala, through His Obedience. These are the means which make up the purification process, until they reach that stage, that level where their hearts are like the pure gold.

 

 

We hear the cliché: “He / She has a heart of gold.” This generally indicates to a good heart, a generous heart –but a heart of genuine “gold” is the heart that belongs to a Wali of Allah Ta’ala.

 

 

Just as we have genuine gold stamped with its carat : 18 ct, 22 ct, 24 ct., these Ahlullah have their hearts stamped by Allah Ta’ala, of His Friendship, because they proved “genuine” in their faithfulness and obedience to Him and His Rasul  (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam). Their hearts have the stamp of the ‘gold’ of Nisbat-ma-Allah (Connection with Allah Ta’ala). May Allah Ta’ala make our hearts pure gold and stamp them with His Pleasure.

 

 

A Mu`min (Believer) looks for people with such hearts. If a person is faithful to Allah Ta’ala and Rasulullah (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam), we can expect him to be faithful to the creation. If the person is unfaithful to Allah Ta’ala and His Rasul (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam)), this is a sure indication, that he will be unfaithful – in some way or the other – to others.

 

 

We should not only keeps company with such people; we should work to acquire that heart of gold too.

 

 

Allah Ta’ala gives us direction in respect to who we will find to be genuine friends:

 

 

“Your (real) friends are (no less than) Allah, His Apostle, and the (Fellowship of) Believers, - those who establish regular prayers, and regular charity, and they bow down humbly (in worship).”

[surah Maa`idah 5 : 58]

 

And further :

 

“The believers, men and women, are Auliya (helpers/ friends/ supporters/ protectors) of one another, they enjoin (on the people) Al-Ma’ruf (that which Islam orders one to do), and forbid (people) from Al-Munkar 

(that which Islam has forbidden)…”

[surah Taubah]