Prostration of the Heart

By Hassan Lachheb 

In the Name of God Most Compassionate, Most MercifulPeace Be Upon His Messenger Mohammed and His Family and Companions

In his book, The Path to the Two Migrations, Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah relates that a righteous saint was asked by his pupil, “Does the heart of the believer make prostration (sujud) to the Almighty?” The master replied, “Yes, but it (the heart) never rises up from it.”

The prostration of the heart is not a sporadic “Hal” – ecstasy that ebbs and flows as the state of Iman fluctuates. Rather it is the complete immersion of the believer’s spiritual being in God’s presence. In prostrating to God in our prayers, we draw ourselves to the closest point that a slave can possibly be to Him. For that reason, prayer was the joy and real comfort of our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.  But to expand this experience outside the short period of the prayers to encompass all aspects of our lives is the real meaning of “the prostration of the heart.”To be close to God and feel His presence is not an experience limited to the prayer. Rather, it is the believer’s inner sight that is veiled from seeing Him everywhere, and recognizing Him in every aspect of life. Once that veil is lifted, the trivialities of a believer’s life cease to be insignificant, for nothing is done without the presence of God in mind. Imam Ibn ‘Ata’illah says in one of his Maxims (al-Hikam), “The Real (God) is  not veiled from you, rather it is you who  is veiled from seeing Him, for if something is veiling Him then it would cover Him, and that would be a limitation on His Being. ‘And He is the Omnipotent above his servants’”.  Imam al-Ghazali related that one of the saints (Awliya’) was sitting with his pupils when someone knocked on the door. One of the students rushed to open it and to his amazement the master stopped him and went to open the door himself. When he returned he asked the pupil, “Why did you rush to open the door?” The pupil replied, “I wanted to know who it was.” The master said, “I went to open the door with the intention of giving charity to the person who knocked if he was a beggar, or to quench his thirst if he was thirsty, or to give him shelter if he was a stranger and to protect him if he needed refuge.” Thus, every simple act, even opening the door, becomes an act of worship once the heart begins prostrating to God. The question that may press upon each of us is how to attain that status? What do we need to do to get there? The mere fact that the believer starts caring about his heart, spirituality and inner well-being is a great accomplishment, as long as it does not stop there. The real problem is when the believer is satisfied with the stagnation of his Iman and does not see it as a threat. The persistent and burning question of how to be among the guided who have their hearts fully aligned with God is a sign of the awakening of the heart. This state of awakening, however, does not remain for a very long time if it is not well cultivated; it will fade away if appropriate action does not follow and protect it from the winds of negligence.The ideal action to follow the awakening of the heart is to find companionship (suhba) in God’s Path. Many people who went “solo,” and wanted to take their own way, always found themselves back at the starting point. Sidi ‘Ali al-Jamal of

Fez used to say, “By God no one has succeeded except by keeping the companionship of someone who succeeded.” The best thing to ask God the Almighty for is that He put in your path someone who can help you out of your state of heedlessness to a state of the full awakening of the heart ultimately leading to the heights of Ihsan. Whenever we think of the treasuries of God we tend to imagine material objects. We sometimes forget that God bestows such worldly ornaments on those whom He loves as well as those whom He despises. But He grants His special blessings of Iman and Ihsan only to those whom He truly loves. Thus, it would be very foolish not to insist on asking God to be with Him, feeling and enjoying His presence in the paradise of knowledge before the paradise of heaven. Whoever looks at himself in despair and thinks that he does not have what this path needs, or thinks that this endeavor is not meant to be pursued in these demanding and hectic times, I leave them with the precious advice of Sidi Ibn ‘Ata’illah Al-Iskandari who said, “Whoever finds it astonishing that God could save him from his passion or pull him out of his forgetfulness has deemed the Divine Power to be weak. ‘And God has power over everything’”.  

This entry was posted on December 15, 2007 at 3:16 am and is filed under Issue 4 - Winter 2008, Faith, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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