if a person intends to travel through a dangerous jungle or intends to go on a journey, then he only thinks about this, therefore, when the connection of the remembrance of death is directly to the heart, it will be effective and such signs will appear as one will lose interest in this world to an extent that every joy of this world will become worthless for him.

(Ihya-ul-‘Uloom, vol. 5, pp. 195)

To visit the graves

In order to get rid of hard-heartedness, every now and then one should visit the graves and ponder over the helplessness of the dead, like this: Some of them did not even bear a stain of dust on their clothing, and today they are buried beneath tons of earth. Some of them were so sensitive that they did not tolerate anything, but today what would insects have done with them? After visiting the graves, ponder over the above and اِنْ شَــآءَالـلّٰـه عَزَّوَجَلَّ one will become soft-hearted. The Beloved Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ تَعَالٰى عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم has said to the blessed Companions: I forbade you to visit the graves, but now you visit the graves, because it softens the heart, brings tears to the eyes and reminds one of the Hereafter. (Al-Mustadrak, vol. 1, pp. 710, Hadees 1433)

Summary of speech

Dear Islamic brothers! Today, we have heard a speech about hard-heartedness. Surely, hard-heartedness is a kind of punishment from Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ because of which a person commits major sins, even sometimes committing Kufr (disbelief). Hard-heartedness makes a person cruel. Hard-heartedness puts a person far away from the mercy of Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ. Hard-heartedness is a sign of misfortune. Hard-heartedness keeps a person away from worship. Hard-heartedness weakens the faith. Hard-heartedness makes a person bold in committing sins and it wastes the previous good deeds. Hard-heartedness is a curse because due to it, advice has no effect on the heart. May Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ enable us to abstain from hard-heartedness by pondering over the causes of it!

اٰمِيۡن بِجَاهِ النَّبِيِّ الۡاَمِيۡن صَلَّى اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى عَلَيۡهِ وَاٰلِه وَسَلَّم

صَلُّوۡا عَلَى الۡحَبِيۡب           صَلَّى اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى عَلٰى مُحَمَّد