The Decline of ‘Qalb-e-Munib’
Younus AlGohar
The Qalb (Heart) of an ordinary person is called Qalb-e-Snobar (Senseless Heart). This Qalb-e-Snobar has no faculty of perception or understanding. This Qalb remains trapped within the 1,80,000 nets of the six basic instincts – lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and jealousy. 30,000 nets for each of the basic instincts. In other words, this Qalb remains imprisoned.
But God has said in the Holy Quran:
Surah At-Taghabun, Verse 11 (64:11)
Wa may yu’min billahi
Whoever believes in God,
Yahdi qalbahu
God renders guidance to his heart.
But, how can this imprisoned Qalb receive guidance? In order to receive guidance, the Qalb must be freed first. And to free the Qalb, a perfect spiritual master (Kamil Murshid) is required. Through his spiritual gaze, a spiritual master unties the 1,80,000 nets from our Qalb. At that point, a sub-spirit (Jussa) emerges from the Qalb. The spiritual master places God’s Personal Name (Ism-e-Zaat ‘Allah’) upon that sub-spirit. The sub-spirit of the Qalb then continues to perform the remembrance of God, and the Divine Energy of God (Noor) begins to develop there. This Divine Energy keeps our Qalb secured from the basic instincts – lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and jealousy. These instincts arise within our Qalb, but the Divine Energy (Noor) burns them out. At this stage, our Qalb becomes secured (Salamat). For this reason, this Qalb is called Qalb-e-Salim (Secured Heart). ‘Salim’ means ‘Salamat’, or secured.
The direction (Rukh) of this Qalb becomes oriented towards Belief (Iman) and Paradise. Such people take pleasure in worship, fasting, and remembrance, and they continue performing these acts with the objective of attaining Paradise. Their direction is not toward the spiritual master or God.
After this, if the ‘Vision of God’ is written in our destiny, the spiritual master brings out another sub-spirit from our Qalb. At this point, the direction of our Qalb becomes oriented towards God. But where does God reside? God resides within a spiritual master. Therefore, at this stage, the direction of our thoughts and consciousness becomes oriented towards our spiritual master. The desire for Paradise and its damsels disappears from our minds. The fear of Hell and the punishment within the grave also disappears. At this point, the person no longer takes pleasure in worship, fasting, and remembrance. Instead, he finds pleasure in the company of the spiritual master, the vision of the spiritual master, and the words of the spiritual master. He thinks about the spiritual master constantly. This Qalb is called ‘Directed Heart’ (Qalb-e-Munib).
The direction of Qalb-e-Munib is towards the spiritual master. At this stage, we must give priority to the spiritual master above all other worldly things we do. Only then can we gradually progress towards God. However, if we still give priority to the world instead of the spiritual master, God becomes displeased with us and considers that this servant of Mine does not want to attain Me. He does not want to come to Me. He loves the world and Paradise more than Me. At this point, God turns the direction of our Qalb away from Him. He turns our Qalb away from His Person (Jaat-e-Khoda). The Qalb once again becomes Qalb-e-Salim, and it will never again be able to rise to the level of Qalb-e-Munib. God permanently closes that path.
So that we may not fall into such a situation, God has instructed us in the Holy Quran to seek His help. After becoming Qalb-e-Munib, if we make any mistakes or shortcomings, may God forgive us, and may He not cause our Qalb to decline.
Surah Aal-e-Imran, Verse 8 (3:8)
Rabbana
O our Lord
La tuzigh qulubana
Do not turn our Qalb away (from Your Person)
Ba’da idh hadaytana
after You have guided us
Wa hab lana milladunka rahmatan
and bestow upon us special mercy from You.
May Allah, through His special mercy, protect us from this trial.
There can be two reasons why the direction of our Qalb becomes oriented towards the spiritual master:
1. Due to Qalb-e-Munib
2. Due to the presence of a sub-spirit of the spiritual master within us
Now the question is: How can we understand whether the direction towards the spiritual master has developed due to Qalb-e-Munib or due to the presence of a sub-spirit of the spiritual master?
If the direction of our Qalb has become oriented towards the spiritual master due to Qalb-e-Munib, then after ‘Beholding God’, the direction of the Qalb turns away from the spiritual master and becomes oriented towards God.
However, if the direction towards the spiritual master is due to the presence of his sub-spirit within us, then even after ‘Beholding God’, the direction of the Qalb remains oriented towards the spiritual master. There will be no change in its direction.