Seek out your heart

Ibn Qayyim (ra) said:

“When the slave wakes up as the night encloses him and his only concern is Allah and how to please and obey Him, then Allah takes it upon Him to fulfil all his needs and remove from him all that causes him anxiety. Allah also makes his heart free to love Him only, his tongue free to remember Him only, and his body free to serve Him only.

However, when a slave of Allah wakes up and the night encloses him and his main concern is the world, Allah will make him bear the burdens of its anxiety, grief and hardship. Allah will entrust him to his own self and He will make his heart busy, sealing it from His love since it will be preoccupied in the love of creation. Allah will keep his tongue from His remembrance because it will be engaged with His creation: his body will be kept from obedience since it will be enslaved by its desires and services. And he will toil like a beast of burden toils in the service of another. And all who turn away from the worship, obedience and love of Allah will be put into trial with the worship, service and love for creation.

Allah SWT says:

“And whosoever turns away (blinds himself) from the remembrance of the Most Gracious (Allah) (i.e this Quran and worship of Allah), We appoint for him Shaytaan to be a Qarin (an intimate companion) to him” (43:36)

Ibn Qayyim continues to say, ”Seek out your heart in three situations first, when you are listening to the Quraan, when you are part of a gathering of remembrance and third, when you are alone and away from the world and its distractions. If you cannot find your heart in these situations, then ask Allah to bestow upon you a heart, for indeed you are bereft of one.”

من فوائد ابن القيم الجوزية
قال ابن القيم
إذا أصبح العبد وأمسى وليس همُّه إلا الله وحده، تحمل الله سبحانه حوائجه كلها،وحمل عنه كل ما أهمه، وفرَّغ قلبه لمحبته، ولسانه لذكره، وجوارحه لطاعته. وإن أصبحوأمسى والدنيا همُّه، حمَّله الله همومها وغمومها وأنكادها ووكله إلى نفسه، فشغلقلبه عن محبته بمحبة الخلق، ولسانه عن ذكره بذكرهم، وجوارحه عن طاعته بخدمتهموأشغالهم، فهو يكدح كدح الوحش في خدمة غيره، كالكير ينفخ بطنه ويعصر أضلاعه في نفعغيره. فكل من أعرض عن عبودية الله وطاعته ومحبته، بُلِيَ بعبودية المخلوق ومحبتهوخدمته. قال تعالى(وَمَن يَعْشُ عَن ذِكْرِ الرَّحْمَـنِنُقَيِّضْ لَهُ شَيْطَاناً فَهُوَ لَهُ قَرِينٌ) .
-الجاهل يشكوالله إلى الناس، وهذا غاية الجهل بالمشكو والمشكو إليه، فإنه لو عرف ربه لما شكاه،ولو عرف الناس لما شكا إليهم. ورأى بعض السلف رجلاً يشكو إلى رجل فاقته وضرورته،فقال: يا هذا، والله ما زدت على أن شكوت من يرحمك إلى من لا يرحمك، وفي ذلك قيل

وإذا شكوت إلى ابن آدم إنما

تشكو الرحيم إلى الذي لا يرحم

Imam Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (May Allah send His Mercy upon him) said:

“If the slave of Allah awakes to nothing but the concern about their relationship with Allah, then Allah will take on the responsibility of all their affairs and concerns. Allah will also unburden their heart for His love, their tongue for His remembrance and their limbs for His servitude. And if the slave of Allah were to awake and retire at night with the dunya being their only concern, then Allah will burden them with its worries and distress. Allah will then dispose of the servant’s affairs to theirself. In that way the servant’s heart will become preoccupied in the love of the creation rather than loving the Creator, the servant’s tongue will busy itself in the mention of others rather than in the remembrance of Allah and the limbs will be in the [futile] service of others. The servant, being in this state, resembles a mule that works tirelessly [in the service of its master] or similar to the bellows that blows its insides out and bends its ‘ribs’ in the service of others [not itself].”

The Imam concludes by saying, “Whoever objects to the servitude of Allah and His obedience will be afflicted with the slavery, devotion and service of the created”.