By Moulana Yunus Patel rahimahullāh

Being a heart patient and having gone through a quadruple bypass, I have taken many lessons from the experience of ill health and cardiac surgery.
One lesson is analogous to the present condition of the Ummah.

In the initial stage, the heart’s condition begins to weaken and one suffers from Angina, where there is a lack of oxygen to the heart and there is a feeling of heaviness and crushing pain in the chest, accompanied by shortness of breath, fatigue, etc.
On consultation, one’s doctor prescribes medication, a healthy diet, regular exercise and avoiding stress.

If one takes the required care, then a little medication clears the problem. If one is negligent in respect to the prescription, the condition of the heart will deteriorate and this leads to heart damage.

If the heart is severely injured, a heart attack occurs, where there is a blockage in one or more of the arteries – which does not allow blood to flow to an area of the heart. The person needs to be hospitalized and requires a period of rest, together with medication, diet and so forth. Sometimes an Angioplasty is necessary to clear the blocked arteries or widen the narrowed arteries, enabling the flow of blood, which contains oxygen and food for the tissues.

If this prescription is also not followed through, the cardiac condition will worsen and reach a stage where neither medication nor an Angioplasty will help. The solution is either a bypass or in the extreme circumstance, a heart transplant.

I had reached the stage where four arteries were blocked and an artery bypass was regarded as the only option. Alhamdulillah, the operation was very successful. However, the analogy that came to my mind was that this damage of the physical heart and blockage of the arteries is exactly the situation with the Ummah.

In the final analysis, we have severely injured the spiritual heart with sins, and we have blocked the arteries of Aqaa`id (beliefs), Ibaadaat (worship), Mu`aamalaat (Business transactions and dealings), Mu`aasharaat (Social dealings) and Akhlaaq (character) with our ignorance, our indifference, our negligence, and by moving away from the Qur`aan and Sunnah, and adopting un-Islamic culture, dress, and practices. Our business dealings, our relationships with wives, parents, children, neighbours, Muslims and non-Muslims, do not in any way reflect the beauty and purity of Islam and the Sunnah.

The ‘ECG’ (electrocardiogram) for the spiritual hearts has disclosed the spiritual heart failure of so many, due to their statements reflecting weak faith, or faith on the threshold of kufr, or outright rejection of the teachings of the Qur`aan and Sunnah.

Since we did not heed the warnings of the ‘Ulama, Mashaa’ik, and the righteous Scholars of Islam, in the initial stages, the spiritual heart is now so damaged, that speeches upon speeches, quotations upon quotations from the Qur`aan Shareef and Sunnah, do not cause any change, except in a few.

The only solution is the transplant of the spiritual heart. What is this transplant of the spiritual heart? It is sincere Taubah (repentance) and Rujoo ilallah (‘return’ to Allah Ta’ala).

Why should we wait for punishment to hit us in the form of earthquakes, tornadoes, bombs and other disasters? Let us employ the protection given to us against punishment: Sincere repentance and mending our relationship with Allah Ta’ala and His Rasul (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) , with obedience.

When we are going to make use of the prescriptions of sincere Taubah, Du’aa and Zikrullah, which is the food and oxygenated ‘blood’ for the spiritual heart, we will gain in spiritual health

and strength, and we will not suffer spiritual imbalance. The spiritual arteries will become unblocked without the pain and discomfort of a bypass or transplant.

However, just as a heart patient has to submit himself to a surgeon, so is there a requirement that we submit ourselves to a specialist of the spiritual heart – a Shaykh who is experienced, learned, practicing and pious; whom Allah Ta’ala uses as the medium in the bypass or transplant of the spiritual heart.

After an operation on the physical heart, there are follow-up assessments, visits to the doctor, and an ECG is done, at least once a year. Similarly, there has to be regular visits and correspondence with one’s spiritual mentor for assessment of one’s spiritual condition.

We should understand that an attack of the physical heart, at the most, only leads to death, whereas that of the spiritual heart leads to death of Imaan and severe loss in the Hereafter.

May Allah Ta’ala grant us the understanding, the concern for our spiritual health and well-being, and the Taufeeq of connecting ourselves to the teachings of Qur`aan and Sunnah, through Amal.

(Malfoozaat Hadhrat Mawlana Yunus Patel RH)