HADITH TEN: ALLAH LOVES THE GENTLE HEARTS
HADITH TEN : ALLAH LOVES THE GENTLE HEARTS. The Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said, «Allah has vessels from the people of earth, and the vessels of your Rabb are the hearts of His pious servants. And the most beloved to Him of these vessels are the softest and gentlest.»
Reported by al-Tabarani in Musnad al-Shamiyyin (840). Al-Iraqi declared its chain good in his study of the hadiths of al-Ihya. Al-Haythami and al-Albani declared the hadith hasan (al-Silsilah al-Sahihah, 1691)
Commentary
Soften your heart to receive Allah’s love.
Allah’s vessels
Our hearts are containers. And so, they will always carry something inside. They are filled with emotions, they retain knowledge, and they are constantly cogitating. They have the capacity to carry good as well as evil. Malik ibn Dinar said:
The hearts of the pious are boiling with righteous deeds, while the hearts of the impious are boiling with sinful deeds. And Allah sees your concerns [inside your hearts], so consider what your concerns are, may Allah be merciful with you.
Al-Hamm wa al-Huzn by Ibn Abi al-Dunya (p. 76)
The hearts of the pious overflow with righteous thoughts and intents: they want to do so many good things that their hearts seem like they are overcrowded, boiling with good desires. The impious, on the other hand, are obsessed with sins. They chase
after them with such craving that their hearts become agitated with sinful plans and desires, unable to sit still until they sin. But if Allah can see inside our hearts—something we often forget—we should protect our thoughts and desires as we do our deeds. All sins come from thoughts that we allowed to grow.
The hearts are the most essential vessels we have because they carry and preserve our beliefs and intents. They are also Allah’s vessels, the place where Allah deposits what He loves. Allah sends His revelation to them, and they decide to believe and follow. They are where Iman and Taqwa settle, where the love of Allah resides. They are the core from which mercy and kindness flow. It is there that we decide to maintain our integrity and purity amid corruption and mistreatment. If your heart does not surrender, then you are never defeated.
To protect these vessels, we need to keep filling them with virtue and guard them against contamination. Ibn Mas‘ud said:
These hearts are but vessels. So occupy them with the Quran and do not occupy them with something other than it.
Al-Musannaf by Ibn Abi Shaybah (vol. 7, p. 106)
The condition of our hearts is simply a reflection of what we put into them, what we feed them, and what we allow to grow inside them.
Softest and gentlest
Not all hearts are alike. The traits of each heart determine what it can carry and do. Some hearts are big. When it is big, a heart will comprehend more, tolerate more, and give more. When a heart is small and tight, it will not accept much of the light of
revelation inside it, it will be irritated with everything, and it will give very little to others (e.g. kindness, forgiveness, and help). Some of the People of the Book justified their rejection of Islam by saying:
And they said, “Our hearts are wrapped [against what you say].”
Al-Baqarah (Q2:88)
Allah explained in the rest of the ayah that it is their defiance that stands between them and Iman, not a real screen that hindered their understanding. Disbelief corrupts the heart, shrinks it, and hardens it. And it is the greatest obstacle to understanding the truth.
The feature that makes the heart beloved to Allah is softness and gentleness. In Arabic, there is a difference between the two words mentioned in the Hadith. When a heart is ( رقَيِق ), it is imagined as having a thin outer layer. The thinness of this layer allows outside influences to penetrate quickly, making this heart receptive and sensitive. The other word used to describe the heart is ( ليَِّنْ ), a soft heart that is easily moved. The two
words paint a picture of a heart that is wide open to the truth and follows it willingly.
How are the hearts that Allah loves open and soft? First and most importantly, they are open and soft with Allah’s revelation. These hearts have not constructed barriers between them and Allah or allowed such construction. And because of how close
they want to be to Allah, these hearts are ready to embrace what Allah says. Allah described the effect of the Quran on these hearts when He said:
Allah has sent down the best of speech: a consistent Book with repeated lessons. The skins of those who are in awe of their Rabb shiver because of it. Then their skins and their hearts soften at the mention of Allah.
Az-Zumar (Q39:23)
This is how sensitive and gentle the hearts of the believers are. And because they acquire this softness from the Quran—i.e. they allow the Word of Allah to change their hearts—they acquire sensitivity and softness when dealing with everyone and everything around them. This is the second meaning of the open and soft hearts: kindness and mercy towards creation.
We encountered in Hadith Eight the connection between knowledge and mercy when Allah said:
O our Rabb, you have encompassed all in mercy and knowledge.
Ghafir (Q40:7)
The ayah points to a direct connection between knowledge and mercy: as the first increases, so does the second. Since Allah is the All-Knowledgeable, He is also the All-Merciful. As humans acquire more knowledge, they should also acquire more mercy. Knowledge devoid of mercy is destructive.
Why are knowledge and mercy connected? When our knowledge grows, three things happen. First, we know Allah to be The Merciful who loves compassion, kindness, and forgiveness. Our love of Allah and sincere desire to please Him will push us to adopt and promote these qualities. We realize that everything around us is Allah’s creation, and we notice how much Allah is Merciful towards it. So, rather than go against Allah’s wishes for His creation, we should be merciful as Allah is so incredibly Merciful. In other words, be to Allah’s creation as He is to them and do not torment them. He did not create them for us to abuse them. This includes humans, animals, and the environment.
Mercy is proportional to Iman. When our Iman is strong, we are more likely to forgive others and seek our reward solely from Allah. But when our Iman is weak and our heart is hard, we will seek revenge on everyone around us, whether they deserve it or not.
Second, when our knowledge increases, we will unfailingly notice in Allah’s revelation and law the heavy tilt towards mercy and kindness. The more that we learn, the more that Allah will remind us to forgive and be soft-hearted. We will also notice that there is latitude in Islamic law for legitimate differences of opinion, and so our hearts will expand to accommodate legal differences as our minds expand. We also realize that no matter how knowledgeable one is, they cannot escape their human nature and be infallible. Thus, we learn to excuse scholars for mistakes in religious pronouncements but continue to honor them even as we reject the error itself.
Third, as our knowledge increases, we will look at people through the lens of mercy as well as that of the Shari’ah. Ibn Taymiyyah spoke about these two viewpoints in Al-Fatwa al-Hamawiyyah (p. 555). When we view reality from the angle of Allah’s commands and rights, we see why Allah threatened sinners with punishment. But when we look at the sinful as confused, in pain, hurting themselves with their choices,
trapped by Shaytan, and with punishment awaiting them, we feel for them and try our best to help them. The sympathy we feel prompts us to forgive and reform, not punish and destroy. Our goal is not to send more people to Hell but to save all from Shaytan. This is why the more learned we become, the more merciful we should be. And if we find that our knowledge is not leading to increased mercy, then we are either learning the wrong thing or are learning the right thing wrongly.
The one who knew Allah the Best was the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and this is why his heart was the softest and gentlest. As his heart was the depository of knowledge and wisdom, it was also the depository of mercy and kindness. Allah said about him in the
Quran:
It is from Allah’s Mercy that you were soft with them.
Ali ‘Imran (Q3:159)
Allah, the Most Merciful, made the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم merciful. This was why he attracted so many hearts to him. And as his love for Allah grew, his mercy grew as well. Loving Allah, the Most Merciful, made the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم more merciful.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم singled out the people of Yemen for soft-heartedness. He صلى الله عليه وسلم praised them when he said:
The people of Yemen have arrived. Their hearts are gentler and softer.
Reported by al-Bukhari (4338) and Muslim (52)
Possessing this heart is real virtue, not wealth and status. The latter brings temporary human esteem and praise. The former brings lasting love from Allah and the wise. The softer hearts receive the favors of Allah.
Allah the Merciful loves the merciful
Whatever Allah loves tells us something significant about Allah. Loving gentle and soft hearts tells us that Allah Himself is Gentle and Merciful. And it is out of His Gentleness that He exhorted us all to be gentle and merciful to each other. Take some time to ponder this. Allah is so Merciful with you that He commanded all those around you to treat you well. He receives nothing from this except your happiness. He rewards people when they take care of you, making these good deeds a path to Jannah. Your parents, your spouse, your children, your neighbors, and everyone who sees you are reminded to look after you for the sake of Allah. And if they do not, Allah will be angry with them. This should tell you how much Allah cares, and how much we should love Him.
The gentle hearts beat faster as soon as they hear Allah’s Name and His ayahs. They are very close to Him, more attached to Him than they are to anyone else. They like what Allah likes, and are disturbed by what He hates. Their hearts move with a rhythm that repeats the Name of Allah, and can only find peace close to Him, like a child who can only be comforted by his mother. They have forgotten about the troubles of this world
because their hearts have no space in them for that: Allah’s love has chased away all these worries. Our Beloved will take care of us, their hearts repeat, so we will not worry. If I have Allah, I have everything.
As these hearts feel Allah’s care for them, they also care for those around them. They pulse with compassion for all. They know that many people have hard lives, so they do not seek to make it harder. They offer excuses before condemnations, and forgiveness before vengeance. They can forgive because Allah loves forgiveness, offering the offender the chance to escape Hell. They forget about themselves for the Sake of their
Beloved. If He is happy, they are delighted. He takes care of all of His creation, and we will take care of them too for His sake. What makes Him happy makes us happy.
If we want Allah’s love, we have to soften our hearts and improve our character. The soft and gentle hearts receive the greatest gifts from Allah. He protects them and guides them. He grants them wisdom, serenity, and detachment from worldly concerns. He elevates them in this life and the next. They chose Allah, so Allah chooses them. And if you become Allah’s chosen, do you need anyone else?
DR. ALI ALBARGHOUTHI
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