Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 948 [Read full issue]
Changing Hearts
A person will be judged according to his belief and actions at the time of his death. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "A person does the deeds of the People of Hell while he is from the People of Paradise. And a person does the deeds of the People of Paradise and he is from the People of Hell. And verily the deeds are based on their final [deeds]." [Bukhari.] In reality, this is a very scary thought. It means that every Muslim must be on guard at all times to make sure that he does not stray from the straight path. He cannot look to his present deeds and feel assured because it could be that he changes his ways and starts performing the deeds of the people of the Hell-fire. Hence, he must always be on his toes. He must always pursue those avenues that strengthen his faith, revive it or keep it strong. And he must always stay away from those avenues that weaken and damage his faith, as he does not know what they may lead him to and he may end up dying in a wretched state.
It is a simple thing for a person's heart to change. The Arabic word for heart, qalb, comes from the fact that it can change completely from one direction to another. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "It is only called the qalb (heart) because of how it can change. The similitude of the heart is like a leaf hanging by the trunk of a tree that is being blown upside down by the wind." [Ahmad]
Another hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) states how the hearts can be turned easily. Hence, the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself used to pray to Allah to make his heart firm. Al-Tirmidhi recorded the following hadith: "The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to say often, "O changer of the hearts, make my heart firm upon Your religion." The Companion said, "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), we have believed in you and what you have brought. Do you fear for us?" He answered, "Yes. Verily, the hearts are between two of Allah's fingers and he turns them any way He wills."
Compiled From:
"Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, pp. 351, 352