The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, mentioned about Abu Bakr as-Sidiq where he said that If you place the iman of all the Muslim ummah on one scale and the iman of Abu Bakr as-Sidiq on the other scale, the iman of Abu Bakr as-Sidiq would outweigh the iman of the whole ummah. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, also said that there is something present in the heart of Abu Bakr as-Sidiq that distinguished it from others, and as it is known he was called as-Sidiq. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, once said about Abu Bakr: “When I call someone to Islam, he will have some hesitation…except Abu Bakr as-Sidiq. The minute I talked to him about Islam, straight away he believed in me, he believed in Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah.” So it has to do with the heart that distincted Abu Bakr as-Sidiq to be al-Khalifatul-Awal, and to be the first Sahabi (Companion). From this, it can be concluded that every Muslim should care about his/her heart, purify it and activate iman in the heart, and practise the great principles of Tawhid, such as to love Allah, to fear Him, to rely on Him, to have hope in Him, to seek assistance and other help from Him and to seek refuge in Him so that the heart is alive, activated and full of iman. And at the same time we have to make ensure that there should be no diseases or anything bad within our hearts, e.g. greediness, envy, arrogance, etc. Only then will the heart be sound.
In another related narration the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, mentioned that: “The heart will be exposed to fitan (trials) again and again. The heart which is influenced by fitnah will have a black spot placed on it. And if the heart avoids the fitnah, there will be a white spot on it.” The heart then is either a pure one, or a heart that has been sealed after being influenced by fitan or prohibited or doubtful matters again and again. Even though the heart pumps out blood and the person is alive, the heart in real sense is not alive, because the iman is weak, making the heart unsound. Hence refraining from and getting away from the fitan is very crucial in order to have a pure heart, especially in these contemporary times where it is full of evil that attracts the heart.
The evil doers promote evil and impose such evil on others. So if a Muslim is not careful, his/her heart might be stolen. As stated by the great contemporary scholar, Sheikh Abdur Rahman adDusari, there are many thieves today who steal the hearts, sometimes without the owner even being cognizant of it.
If you read any hadith of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, it discusses about a matter, whether it is something good that we should do, or something bad that we should refrain from and not do. And then in the hadith the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, will state a principle. Usually, the principle, which is the sole point of the hadith, is the last words or sentence. The hadith above mentions about the lawful and unlawful being crystal clear, and then there is the doubtful matter. And then there is the last sentence of the narration. This is the bottom-line of the hadith, the sole thing, the main issue. If we want to get away from the muharramat (unlawful), and also get away from the doubtful matters, we have to care about our heart. We have to purify our heart and ensure it is sound and alive, and it is not lost from us.