Three types of hearts like three kinds of rocks

In Suratul Baqarah, Allah describes a group of people whose hearts became hard. And strangely, He starts describing different kinds of rocks in the very next ayah. In that ayah, Allah describes that there are some rocks from which entire rivers burst out. And there are other rocks from which only a little bit of water comes out. And then there are other rocks that fall from the fear of Allah.

Now you might assume that Allah is perhaps teaching a lesson of the science of rocks. Except, He swt is not just talking about rocks when He describes them. Through this example of rocks, Allah is actually describing different kinds of hearts. So let’s look at each of those ‘rocks’ one by one and see which kind of heart we have.

The first kind of rock that Allah describes is the type of rock from which entire rivers gush out. This kind of heart is like the heart of Abu Bakr (RA). He was an intellectual person who had realized that there has to be more to life than just the respect and glamour of this world. So when the message of Islam was presented to him, it didn’t take much for him to become muslim. Because he was already thinking about the purpose of life. And he had the decency within him to realize that this is nothing but the truth. His heart was so full of iman already that it took very little to shake the rock and to see rivers come forth.

The second kind of rock is like the heart of Umar (RA). The kind of rock that has to be split open for the water to come out. Just like Umar (RA), who only accepted Islam after he got hit with a traumatic experience. He hit his sister and he saw the blood of his sister on his own hand. His heart was rattled at that moment. And the iman came out. The water came out. When he was reminded with the words of his Master, right at that moment.

What we learn from this is that some people will come to Islam through an intellectual journey. They are deep thinkers and they are already looking for something meaningful before they hear the Truth. When their hearts do come into contact with the Truth, they immediately believe and their eyes start overflowing with tears. Just like the rivers that come out of the rocks. But then there are other people who are distracted in life. All they can think of is the temporary pleasure of this world. All they can think of is the next movie, the next episode, the next profile picture, the next trip abroad, the next vacation etc….For these people, they may not want to hear the Quran when they are engaged in one of their pleasures. But when Allah tests them with hardship, with a painful disease, loss of wealth, loss of a family member, their hearts are shaken, and iman comes out. You start seeing tears in their eyes when they pray and when they make dua. And those tears remain as they are when they realize that its only Allah brings them out from hardships.

If you could not relate to either of the rocks described above, perhaps the third one is yours. Allah says that there are some rocks that fall from the fear of Allah. You can imagine the rocks slipping down from a mountain. Now this time, there is no mention of water. This means there is no iman seen from the outside of these rocks. But still these rocks are fearing Allah. The people who have this kind of heart, do realize that Islam is the truth. And they submit to the commands of Allah as much as they can. They pray and they try their best to stay away from haram. They keep falling into sajdha in prayers just like the rocks are falling. But you may not see tears in their eyes. Because their hearts have not tasted the sweetness of faith yet. But there is hope for these people as well. Because when the rocks fall and eventually hit the ground, what will happen? They will split open and the water will come out. Subhaanallah!

So if you find yourself to be the third kind of person, where you are trying you fear Allah even if it’s a little, you fear him when you fall into sin or fall short in your worship, just keep turning to him. Keep falling into sajdha. Because you never know when your heart will split and water will come out.

May Allah make us of those whose hearts are fill with iman. Ameen!

*Taken from a lecture by Ustadh Nouman

(post related to the story ‘Noor’)

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