The student then asked what colour darkness is, to which the person said black. “O uncle!”, the student finally said, “Tell me, is there anything darker and blacker than sin?”

The person was shaken to the core after hearing this and began to cry uncontrollably in regret.

The student said, “You now have the cure by which you can clean your heart: these are your tears of regret. They wash away sins and purify the heart. Proof for this is found in a hadith of the final Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم, in which he explained, “Tears shall certainly extinguish an ocean of fire on the Day of Judgement.”^[1]

صَلُّوۡا عَلَى الۡحَبِيۡب                 صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلٰى مُحَمَّد

Everything is right if your heart is right

Dear Islamic brothers! Our hearts are priceless slates. Cleansing them from sin is a religious necessity. This itself is the secret to amendment and the path to rectification. It is this which takes a person to success.  The Messenger of Allah صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم explained:

 اَلَاۤ وَ اِنَّ فِي الجَسَدِ مُضْغَةًاِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ، وَاِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ، اَلَاۤ  وَهِيَ القَلْبُ

Come to know! There is indeed a piece of flesh in the body; if it becomes good, the entire body becomes good, and if it is corrupt, the entire body becomes corrupt. Come to know! That piece of flesh is the heart.^[2]

The efficacy of a pure heart

As narrated by the Companion Anas رَضِىَ الـلّٰـهُ عَـنْهُ, Allah’s Messenger صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم once said to someone, دَعْ مَا یَرِیْبُکَ اِلیٰ مَا لَا یَرِیْبُکَ - “Abandon what disturbs your