Imām al-Muhāsibī quotes the following in his text Risālah al-Mustarshidīn:
“The parable of the heart is like that of a house with six doors. Be careful and do not allow anything to enter one of those doors, or your home will be ruined. Your heart is the house, and the six doors are your tongue, your sight, your hearing, your sense of smell, your hands and your limbs. When one of those doors is opened without knowledge, the home is lost.”
www.virtualmosque.com
Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.
From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.
Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.
I believe Imam Zaid did a class on this text called Purification of the Soul
It can be purchased at http://www.zaidshakir.com I believe.
Imam Zaid series is called “Purification of The soul” You can also hear it online.
http://nadeem.lightuponlight.com/indexaudios2.html#Zaid_Shakir
As well as Imam Suhaib has audio about this book on this site in audio section. Though the the mp3 doesn’t work for me on wma. It may have been encoded wrong.
note: Please reupload mp3 webmaster.
As Salaam Alaykum
I forgot to add Imam Zaid also released a english translation of this book a few months ago.
http://islamicbookstore.com/b10002.html
I love this example! Dr. Omar AbdelKafy gave a similar example too (I don know if he was quoting someone else or not) pertaining to performing sunnah acts. He said imagine a house with a huge garden and a strong gate, and a house with no garden. If a thief were to try come in through the first house, the inhabitants of the house would hear him before he entered as he would have to get past the first gate and the garden, and they would be able to prevent him. However, in the case of the second house, the thief would be able to enter the house before they realize.
The house with the garden is like a person who not only does the fardh, but adds to it the sunna. When shaitan tries to make him fall, he will have to get through the sunna acts before he can even get to the fardh. The house with no garden is like a person who only performs the fardh. Shaitan can get to those acts more easily.
‘When one of those doors is opened without knowledge, the home is lost.’
I didn’t understand this. If anyone could elaborate I would be very grateful.
Jazakallah
MAy Allah bless Imam Zaid for caring about the English speaking Muslims enough to translated and offer this beneficial text to aid us in the development of our closeness to our Lord
“When one of those doors is opened without knowledge, the home is lost.”
Mohammad I believe it means that everything has purpose and if your don’t know the beneficial or detriment effects of a action you will most likely ended up causing harm to yourself. One must always have a clear understanding of what the end result of performed action is. In other words if you don’t know where you’re going how do you know when you get there?
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has great video about Risalah al Mustarshidin and protecting the heart called “Curing The Heart”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAcr7qhsBvs