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Polishing the Rusted Heart: Returning to Clarity Through Remembrance and Forgiveness

Written by Abdullah Jallow on . Posted in Methodology - 'Manhaj', Morals and Manners - 'Akhlaaq', Purification of The Soul, Scholars of Islam, Worship - 'Ibaadah'.

 In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

The heart becomes rusty through two things: heedlessness and sin. And it is polished by two things: seeking forgiveness and remembering (Allah). Thus, the one whose heedlessness happens during most of his time, the rustiness accumulates on his heart, and its rustiness is determined by the extent of his heedlessness. And when the heart becomes rusty, the perceptions of knowledge will no longer remain in the manner they truly are, so the person sees falsehood as truth, and truth as falsehood.

Al-Wabil As-Ṣayyib. p. 92