Dhamm Qaswat al-Qalb
- Author died
- 795 AH
- Editions
- al-Fārūq al-Ḥadīthah lil-Ṭibā‘ah wal-Nashr
Dhamm Qaswat al-Qalb (The Censure of Hardness of the Heart) is a short treatise on spiritual ethics and heart-softening counsels (رقائق) written by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (d. 795 AH / 1393 CE) . The work focuses on the spiritual disease of hard-heartedness, detailing scriptural warnings against it, the behavioral causes that produce it, and the spiritual remedies that restore softness to the heart .
Content and Structure
The treatise is organized around three primary themes: the censure of spiritual hardness, the causes that harden the heart, and the remedies that soften it.
Censure of Hard-Heartedness
Ibn Rajab opens the treatise by citing Quranic verses that rebuke hardness of heart, including the verse comparing hardened hearts to stones: ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً ("Then your hearts hardened after that, being like stones or even harder") . He also cites the Prophetic tradition recorded by al-Tirmidhi: لَا تُكْثِرُوا الْكَلَامَ بِغَيْرِ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ، فَإِنَّ كَثْرَةَ الْكَلَامِ بِغَيْرِ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ قَسْوَةٌ لِلْقَلْبَ، وَإِنَّ أَبْعَدَ النَّاسِ عَنِ اللَّهِ الْقَلْبُ الْقَاسِي ("Do not speak excessively without the remembrance of God, for excessive speech without the remembrance of God causes hardness of the heart, and the farthest of people from God is the hard-hearted") . To emphasize the severity of this condition, he incorporates sayings of early ascetics, such as Malik ibn Dinar's remark that no punishment inflicted upon a servant is greater than hardness of the heart .
Causes of Hardness
Ibn Rajab enumerates several core causes that generate spiritual hardness:
- Excessive speech without remembrance of God: Speaking unnecessarily without mentioning God .
- Breaching covenants with God: Citing Quranic passages and the preaching of Ibn 'Aqil cautioning that breaking commitments leads to cursed, hardened hearts .
- Excessive laughter: Citing the hadith that excessive laughter deadens the heart .
- Excessive consumption of food: Particularly from doubtful or unlawful sources, citing statements by Bishr al-Hafi and Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
- Accumulation of sins: Corroborated by the Quranic concept of rān (stains encasing the heart) and verses of poetry by 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak on how sins cause spiritual death .
Remedies and Softening of the Heart
The treatise presents multiple practical and spiritual remedies to remove hardness:
- Remembrance of God and recitation of the Quran: Engaging in remembrance where the heart and tongue align, and contemplating Quranic verses, which Yahya ibn Mu'adh and Ibrahim al-Khawwas counted among the primary cures of the heart alongside empty bellies, night vigils, supplication at dawn, and sitting with the righteous .
- Benevolence toward orphans and the destitute: Stroking the head of an orphan and feeding the poor, as recorded in reports transmitted from Abu al-Darda' and Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
- Remembering death: Frequently recalling the destroyer of pleasures, as counseled by 'A'ishah and early pious figures .
- Visiting graves: Contemplating the condition and final destination of the deceased to induce tears and humility, citing reports about Safwan ibn Salim and Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir .
- Reflecting on the ruins of past generations: Observing deserted dwellings to internalize human mortality, drawing upon reports transmitted by Ibn Abi al-Dunya regarding 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar and al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym .
- Consuming lawful sustenance (أكل الحلال): Ibn Rajab concludes the work with a narrative in which Ahmad ibn Hanbal, when asked how hearts are softened, replied that it is attained through consuming only what is lawful, a response endorsed by contemporary ascetics as the foundational essence of spiritual rectitude .
Towards the conclusion of the text, Ibn Rajab incorporates an admonitory poem of his own composition addressing the deception of worldly life, the inevitability of death, and self-rebuke, noting that he had passed the age of forty-six while still falling short in preparation for the hereafter .
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