2.3.3. Why do our supplications remain unanswered?

Please note that this text doesn’t contain any scientific notion.

In the Name of Allah – the Exalted! 

Introduction: 

We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.
(Surah Qaaf (Chapter 50 – Qaaf) verse 16)

 

And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.
(Surah Al-Baqarah (Chapter 2 – The Cow) verse 186)

 

Yet have you ever wondered why many of our supplications are not answered by Allah (SWT)? 

This is a typical question that involves us all whoever we might be. 

Let us take the example on the relation between a man and a wife. When the wife travels away under a certain period her husband will miss her and then think about her often. The man will try to reach her by phone (or any other means of communication). As soon as he starts talking to her he asks her how she is doing and expresses his yearning for her. If they are not a happy couple then she might give him a harsh reply which would lead to a tiff. However, if they are a happy couple then they would more likely have a nice and warm phone conversation. 

The relationship between a man and his wife can be compared to that of a human being and his Lord – Allah (SWT). Even though the Creator of mankind (God) is invisible He has sent prophets after prophets to teach humans how to communicate with the Lord of the Universe. 

Among all the divine teaching (provided though the holy prophets (A.S.)) the most important one is the Salat (prayer), which is the heart (core) of the religion and of course one of the pillars of Islam. 

 

Criterias: 

If we wish to get our supplications realized by our Lord then there are certain criterias that we have to fulfill: 

1.  In order to have the supplications answered, first of all one should strive for the purification of the mind and soul, be repentant over (past) sins (and never repeat them again), embark upon construction and development of the self and seek inspiration from the lives of divine leaders by reaching the Divine Goal in life. These leaders can be Holy Prophet (SAAS) and the infallible Imams (AS) or even other people who carried out positive and revolutionary reforms in their own live as well as to their surrounding, such as Imam Khomeini (RA). 

It has been reported that Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: 

Let it never be that any of you seeks a thing from God except that he first praises and glorifies Him, sends salutations upon the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) and his holy progeny, confesses to his sins and exhibits repentance over them; after having done these, he should then seek his desire from Him.
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448, 449.)
 

2. Endeavoring to have a pure life, free from usurped riches, oppression and injustice, and to refrain from acquiring one’s livelihood by illegal means, is the second step that must be taken. 

It has been reported that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said: 

One, who desires to have his supplications answered, should purify his food and earnings.
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448, 449.) 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .
3. Followed by this one should not desist from combating evil and inviting others towards God. 

This is because the supplications of those, who forsake ‘enjoining the good (amr bil ma’roof) and forbidding the evil (nahi anil monkar)’, are not answered. 

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) has said: 

You must enjoin the good and forbid the evil or else God will cause the evil ones to prevail over the righteous ones from amongst you, and however much they may pray, (their prayers) shall not be answered!
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448, 449.) 

In fact, abandoning this great duty of ‘national supervision’ leads to turmoil within the society as a result of which the society would be left open for the evil ones; (when this happens) supplications for the elimination of the consequences arising out of this state would be futile since this state has resulted out of man’s own deeds.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              . 
4. Acting in accordance with divine covenants. 

Faith, good deeds, trustworthiness, and righteousness, (collectively) form another of the conditions for the acceptance of prayers. This is because one, who is not faithful to his pledge with respect to God, should not expect God’s promise, of answering a supplicant, to be true for him too. 

A person once, complaining to Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about his supplications not being answered, said: 

“Despite the fact that God has said “Call upon Me, I will answer you”, why is it that when we supplicate to him, He does not answer our prayers?” 

The Imam (AS) said: 

Your thoughts [hearts and minds] have been unfaithful with respect to eight things (and this is the reason your supplications go unanswered) 

1- You have acquired the cognizance of God but you do not fulfill what is due to Him; consequently your cognizance of Him has not benefited your state! 

2- You have brought faith upon His Messenger but (later) went on to oppose his customs; where then is the yield of your faith?  

3- You have read His book but have not acted upon it; you stated: “We have heard and we obey”, but then rose up in opposition to it! 

4- You say: “We fear God’s punishment”, but perpetually perform acts that lead you closer to it. 

5- You claim to be covetous of God’s reward however you continue to perform acts that lead you away from it. 

6- You consume God’s bounties but do not extend thanksgivings to Him. 

7- You have been ordered to be Shaitaan’s enemy (whereas you sketch plans to befriend him); you claim to be his enemy but, in practice, you do not oppose him. 

8- You place into great scrutiny the faults of others but conveniently disregard your own; with such a state of affairs, how do you expect your prayers to be answered when you yourself have shut its doors? Be pious, rectify your deeds and enjoin the good and forbid the evil so that your prayers are answered.
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448.) 

This meaningful tradition (by Imam Ali(AS)) explicitly states: God’s promise to answer the supplications of a supplicant is not absolute, but conditional – the condition being that you should fulfill your own pledges and covenants; however the reality is that you have broken your pledge by eight ways. If you were to put an end to these, your prayers shall be answered, inshaAllah. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           .
5. Another condition for the acceptance of one’s prayers is to conjoin it with efforts, hard work and activity. 

In one of the short sayings of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) we read: 

A supplicant (who prays) without effort and endeavor is like an archer without a bowstring! 
(Nahjul Balaghah, short sayings 337) 

In view of the fact that the bowstring is a means to propel the arrow towards the target, the influence of ‘effort’ in the effectiveness of dua’ becomes plainly manifest.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          . 

The diverse situations concerning dua: 

Yet, knowing and accepting everything given above, a brother once asked me the following question: 

“I have seen many people’s supplications go unanswered even though they applied all these eight criterias with piousness and even the other steps raised. So what is the reason now for not getting their supplications answered?” 

Since we haven’t yet covered the details answering the question above we will move on and answer the question accordingly, inshaAllah. 

In order to understand the result of our supplication we will have to separate it into three situations (maslahat): 

1. Allah will give whether we ask for it or not 

This situation indicates one of God’s Attributes – Allah’s Rahma (Compassion). Here we are talking about things that we usually never thank for, such as our good health (which He as given us), a normal working aql (intellect), good parents, good upbringing, etc. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .
2. He will not give whether we ask or not. 

What does this mean? Since Allah is All-Knowing, He knows that what the pleading person is asking for is not meant for him and because it isn’t good for him Allah will not answer this supplication. This is a part of the question that was raised by the brother. 

An example on this could be an individual who supplicates to Allah to become a leader to help people and restore justice and eradicate corruption in a society. This is a typical example on how Allah usually doesn’t realize one’s dua. 

Now this person might conclude that God isn’t Compassionate. Wrong, He is always Compassionate. The fact is that He Compassionate, All-Knowing and owns knowledge about the Unseen (ilm al-Ghayb). Thus, if He doesn’t grant that pleading servant (what he is asking for) then it is due to the fact that this person might become a worse person than what he already is; making him a dictator for instance after having attained power and money. This is why a person has to have qina’a (contentment) and be thankful for what he is and has at all time. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .
3. He will give only if we ask. 

What’s meant with this third category is that there are things that Allah only gives after a certain time. Attributes such as qina’a (contentment) and sabr (patience) are very important for the pleading person at all time. 

Contentment lead to the fact that people becomes contented with what they already possess in this life, concentrate on their aims in life and at the same time occasionally ask for things that are meant to be taken with to the next life, such as becoming a more spiritual person, finding and helping those who are truly poor, etc. 

To be patient is extremely important, since impatient and begging repeatedly for something might be given by Allah but later seen as a loss by the servant. A typical example, which is included in this category, can occur within the business field. For example, someone is looking for a house to buy but he ends up not being able to buy one because of many financial problems  hinder him from doing so. He prays to God that he’ll be able to buy this house but as long as such obstacles remain he won’t be able to buy it. After a couple of weeks, while the obstacles still remain, news reaches him that the prices of all the houses in that area have diminished thus now he can buy the house much cheaper. This typical example occurs in our society and is also the answer to the question (above) that was brought forth to me by the brother.  Hence, Allah knows best when is the best time for our supplications to be realized, since He and only He possesses ilm al-ghayb (science of the Unseen, including the future).    

This is emphasized in the Holy Quran: 

Fighting is enjoined on you, and it is an object of dislike to you; and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows, while you do not know.
(Surah Al-Baqarah (Chapter 2 – The Cow) verse 216) 

As a conclusion it is worth mentioning that some people prefer not to ask God for anything simply because they feel that they are satisfied with their life. This is wrong! Everyone has to ask (Allah) for something. Allah has given us this right even though we are his servants. It doesn’t have to be something from this world. For example, one could ask Allah to be given a healthy life or to die old and painless. An important fact concerning dua is that every time one makes dua one actually gets rewarded for it and that good deed gets registered into one’s book of deeds (which will be opened on the Judgment Day). 

Thus, during every supplication, do not forget to praise and glorify Allah (SWT), send blessings to the last Prophet Mohammad (SAAS) and his holy Household (AS), confess your sins and show sincere grief over them. Besides that, before asking anything for oneself one should pray for others, such as one’s family members, neighbor, relatives, friends, etc. In such a manner one’s supplication often gets answered faster. 

God is closer to us than our jugular vein (50:16). He hears everything, sees everything and read off the brain’s and heart’s secrets. Not a single secret can be hidden from our Creator. Thinking about a certain thing is enough for Allah to become aware of it, yet He loves the servant that asks for His help by uttering himself to Him.
Hence, don’t forget the conditions that our beloved Imam Ali (AS) has given us to maximize the purification of our heart and soul and consequently make our supplications become realized by being kept guided in His Straight and True Path, inshaAllah.

2.3.9. Why are hazardous games haram/makrooh?

In the Name of Allah, the Exalted!  

The question regarding why hazardous games are forbidden (haram) or unrecommended(makrooh) can be answered from a philosophic and logic perspective as well as from a psychological and of this a medical one.  

Prefrontal corex or al-naseyah

As fun as it may be, hazardous games influence the human psyche and even the forelock, called al-naseyah (in Arabic) – named in the Holy Quran – or medically speaking, the prefrontal cortex (in Latin):  

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most merciful.

Does he not know that Allah does see?
Nay, but if he cease not We will seize him by the forelock –
The lying, sinful forelock –
(The Holy Quran: Surah Al-Alaq (Kapitel 96 – The Clot) verse 14-16)  

  

 


The verses above tells us that humans will be dragged by their forelock and will be thrown in the fire of hell on the Day of Judgment if they don’t cease lying and commit sins. 

A man’s forelock (or al-naseyah) is the center of planning, reasoning… and decision-making, such as to become angry and lie; which is medically proven and even taught in medical schools all around the world.
In other words, al-naseyah is the ‘government’ of our nervous system that gives order to our other body parts to carry out good deeds or to commit sins, such as by hitting someone or become angry.  

So far it is too early to get into the subject of hazardous games since the linkage between this topic and al-naseyah isn’t obvious yet; therefore, another scientific aspect is needed in order to enable understanding of the existing correlation.
One of many medical studies (such as Prefrontal Cortex Deactivation During Video Game Play, by the Japanese Dr.Goh Matsuda and Dr.Kazuo Hiraki, source) carried out, have shown that those playing video games and watch television a lot get a decrease in their forelock activity; which is one of the reasons why one cannot leave the TV to carry out more important things, such as doing homework or perform the prayers, after having watched TV long enough. On every such occasion we say to ourselves:”Ahh… I’ll get up a bit later.” This excuse is used most of the time and its true cause is that as soon as the activity in the forelock shrinks the whisperings of Satan will commence and distract the person in order to hinder him from thinking, planning, and therefore prioritize more important things in life. This is why youths tend to become more addicted to video games and TV; since their ability to think, plan and decide gets inactivated and as a result they “surrender” themselves to the TV’s entertaining role.    

Now is the time to start with the main topic, namely hazardous games.  

Let us take the example of card games, where luck decides most of the game’s outcome.  

Many medical studies, such as Why do we gamble and take needless risks?, by Professor Keith Kendrik, a British scientist (source), have shown that each time a person wins the forelock gets activated, whereas each time he loses the forelock gets inactivated. This indicates that each time a person loses he gets deeper and deeper into a downwards state that doesn’t lead to any reward for the brain’s hormonal activity but instead results in the inactivation of our thinking and decision ability.  

This is among the many reasons why a card game is taken seriously even though no money has been bet nor are any enemies playing along, other than friends.  

The diminishing activity in the forelock leads to the fact that one cannot think clearly and at the same time wants to get back the reward-sensation one used to get on every winning occasion. When an individual doesn’t get any reward he becomes desperate, becomes more and more jealous and as a result gets angry. It is at this specific time that Satan’s whispering takes such a full effect that the angry person would react verbally (by swearing for instance) or moreover, react physically and become violent. It is interesting to know that the central site of the human intellect is the naseyah. As soon as a person’s intellect isn’t controlled by one’s own ego (nafs) he gets exposed to risks to commit sins due to the fact that the negative feelings above dominate the brain’s activity.  

This is the reason why in desperate situations, the person often sells his clock, his furniture, his car and even his own child (which has been seen in extreme cases) after having lost more and more money and fallen into deep debts.  

Of course our topic isn’t about money here, but from the example given above, one finally understands why our 6^th Imam, Imam Sadiq(A.S.) said:
“One shall not take a ‘path’ that leads to commit sin(s)” [instead of simply saying that one shall not commit sin(s)].
Actions that lead a person to a ‘place’ or a ‘state’ – where sins are usually committed (in this case hazardous games) – should be avoided at all cost so that a series of following and growing sins aren’t carried out.  

But still, let us assume that a person still chooses to play card because he is certain that he can control his temper by avoiding becoming jealous and angry each time he loses. This leads us to the question:
“If he succeeds in not becoming angry what guarantees that the others around the table don’t fall into such negative feeling after each loss or stressful situation?”
To answer this question let’s compare this situation to one of Fatima al-Zahra’s (A.S.) sayings, the daughter of the Holy Prophet Mohammed(S.A.A.S.): that a female doesn’t wear libas al-taqwa (i.e. hijab) exclusively for Allah and herself; she wears it also so that other people wouldn’t see her and as a result fall into sins. Thus, by reasoning in such a logic manner, she even took into account the consequences that a lack of hijab could lead to in a society. The same principle goes for hazardous games; an individual might believe that he won’t fall into risks but should instead take into account the fact that his friends might become victims of such risks. This is how a true ‘responsible’ Muslim person acts.  

Finally, by taking into account the medical and psycho-neurological aspect of this topic (even by the help of the saying of Zahra(A.S.)), we should classify hazardous games at least as makrooh (unrecommended) or preferably as haram in order to avoid a series of sins that can occur to the friends playing around the table or even to ourselves.   

 

7.1. The Ear of the Heart

In the Name of Allah, the Exalted!

In this section we will be dealing with the amazing sayings of our sixth Imam, Imam Sadiq (Peace be upon him).

Imam Sadiq (AS) said:

 “The heart possesses two ears; the spirit of belief slowly invites him towards righteous deeds, while the Satan slowly invites him towards evil deeds. Therefore, whoever becomes victorious in this struggle takes over heart’s control.”
(Source: Bihar al-Anwar vol. 70, p.53)

Since this saying involves both a medical and especially spiritual aspect it would be wise enough to bring forth its medical one as a start. The information revealed to us is very specific since the word ‘ears’ are named. Anatomically (outside the frame of Islam or any other religion) it is known that the human heart has two ears, called in Latin auricular dexter (right ear) and auricular sinister (left ear). These are located in the upper right and left part of the heart. What this saying is telling us is that the cells(or its smallest entities within) in the ears are involved in performing righteous deeds. Medically speaking, there are left ‘and’ right auricles (referred to as atrial appendages) which are continuous with the left atrium and right atrium (the upper chambers of the heart) respectively. They are believed to be remnants of the left and right atrium of the developing heart when we were embryos.
In the medical course of Human Physiology on learns that the human heart works myogenic, meaning that the heart’s beating is not triggered by the brain (neurogenic), but rather by the heart itself. Moreover, the exact place where the impulse of the heart ‘is initiated’ is located in the atrial wall, as said by Imam Sadiq (AS) through the words “takes over the heart’s control”. The exact location that generates nerve impulse on the auricle is called the sinoatrial (SA) node. The SA node is also referred to as the pacemaker of the heart as it sets the rate of contraction for the heart. Beyond that it spontaneously contracts and generates nerve impulses that travel throughout the heart wall causing both atria to contract; Sobhan Allah! (God be Praised!)’, that is exactly what Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said. The reason why this is possible is because the node is a specialized type of tissue that acts like both muscle and nervous tissue. When nodal tissue contracts (like muscle tissue) it generates nerve impulses (like nervous tissue) that travel throughout the heart wall.

But how do impulses generated from the SA node travel through the heart?
These impulses reach the atrioventricular (AV) node, which is a section of nodal tissue that lies on the right side of the partition that divides the atria, near the bottom of the right atrium. The AV node delays cardiac impulses from the sinoatrial node to allow the atria to contract and empty their contents first to the lower chamber called ventricles (see the picture below). Then the AV node relays cardiac impulses to the atrioventricular (AV) bundle. The atrioventricular bundle is a bundle of fibers that are located within the septum (wall) of the heart. The AV bundle carries cardiac impulses down the septum to the ventricles via the Purkinje fibers. These fibers are fiber branches that extend from the AV bundle and relays cardiac impulses to the ventricular cells causing the ventricles to contract so that the blood can be sent to the cells of our body as well as to our lungs through our blood vessels.

From medicine to spirituality:

You may have noticed that in this section I’ve said that heart commands one’s action whereas in other sections I have said the brain does it. The matter of fact is that both are true. Those who have read the chapter human heart have learned that the heart’s Electromagnetic(EM)-radiation is much stronger than that of the brain and has therefore a much greater influence on the rest of the body compared to the brain. Beyond that many scientists have discovered that the heart and brain communicate with each other bilaterally (2-ways). We all know that it is our brain’s frontal cortex (prefrontal cortex for higher decision-making) that commands the performing of actions through our body and senses. However, since the EM-wave of the heart is much greater than that of the brain and the fact that the heart has an EQ-intelligence(not IQ) due to the existence of heart cells capable of memorizing information (just like brain cells) it confirms us what some specialist have told us regarding the decision-making. It is the brain(in normal cases) that takes decision however since the heart could play a greater role it can influece the brain’s decision-making(by sending information to it); and this is what the saying above is about. That the information sent from the heart could alter the decision that is about to be made by the brain. Here’s an example on two people, one named Ali and the other Zaker. Let’s say Zaker is a poor person who comes to a mosque and begs for help. The first person who sees him is Ali. Ali is very tired and is very busy in the mosque. When he sees that Zaker is approaching him for help he tries to avoid him, yet at that specific moment he hesitates to do so. Some kind of feeling comes in his heart (a feeling of mercy and care) that makes him more humble and as a result he doesn’t avoid him but instead he goes toward him and help him with what ever he needs. This is an example on how Ali, at first, got negative thoughts in his brain however what saved him from taking such an inhuman action is that his spirit of belief slowly invited him towards righteous deed. Therefore, in this case, it is the spirit of belief that became victorious in this struggle, which lead him to help the poor man.

Finally we can realize that Imam Sadiq(AS) is truly among the most pure people ever created after the Holy Prophets(peace be upon them all) both from his spirituality and moral as well as his scientific-mystical knowledge on heart is unique. The fact that medical scientists use the word ear and that its phsysiological role correlates with that which has been mentioned in Imam Sadiq’s(AS) hadith leaves no room for any doubt or any possible coincidence. Since we all know that there wasn’t any medical or technological devices at that time we have to accept the fact that such knowledge had to be derived from a divine source, thus from no other than Allah Allmighty. Hence try to use the knowledge that you have learned from this section on heart as well as the chapter on the human heart(and brain) to reach the exceptional goal that is the true gift of God on earth; this gift is Ahlulbayt (AS) – the Household of the Holy Prophet Mohammed(SAAS). Therefore, as an individual, open a space in your heart for the love of all the last Prophet Mohammed (SAAS) and especially the Ahlulbayt (AS)(his household) by applying their teachings with the intention that the cells(or the deepest entity) of your body (particularly your heart) experience the true blessing of it, as Dr. J. Andrew Armour proved its existence scientifically and Patrick Glynn medically, statistically and clinically.

wa aleykom sallam wa rahmatollah!

2.4.8.1. The Ear of the Heart

In the Name of Allah, the Exalted!

In this section we will be dealing with the amazing sayings of our sixth Imam, Imam Sadiq (Peace be upon him).

Imam Sadiq (AS) said:

“The heart possesses two ears; the spirit of belief slowly invites him towards righteous deeds, while the Satan slowly invites him towards evil deeds. Therefore, whoever becomes victorious in this struggle takes over heart’s control.”
(Source: Bihar al-Anwar vol. 70, p.53)

Since this saying involves both a medical and especially spiritual aspect it would be wise enough to bring forth its medical one as a start. The information revealed to us is very specific since the word ‘ears’ are named. Anatomically (outside the frame of Islam or any other religion) it is known that the human heart has two ears, called in Latin auricular dexter (right ear) and auricular sinister (left ear). These are located in the upper right and left part of the heart. What this saying is telling us is that the cells(or its smallest entities within) in the ears are involved in performing righteous deeds. Medically speaking, there are left ‘and’ right auricles (referred to as atrial appendages) which are continuous with the left atrium and right atrium (the upper chambers of the heart) respectively. They are believed to be remnants of the left and right atrium of the developing heart when we were embryos.
In the medical course of Human Physiology on learns that the human heart works myogenic, meaning that the heart’s beating is not triggered by the brain (neurogenic), but rather by the heart itself. Moreover, the exact place where the impulse of the heart ‘is initiated’ is located in the atrial wall, as said by Imam Sadiq (AS) through the words “takes over the heart’s control”. The exact location that generates nerve impulse on the auricle is called the sinoatrial (SA) node. The SA node is also referred to as the pacemaker of the heart as it sets the rate of contraction for the heart. Beyond that it spontaneously contracts and generates nerve impulses that travel throughout the heart wall causing both atria to contract; Sobhan Allah! (God be Praised!)’, that is exactly what Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said. The reason why this is possible is because the node is a specialized type of tissue that acts like both muscle and nervous tissue. When nodal tissue contracts (like muscle tissue) it generates nerve impulses (like nervous tissue) that travel throughout the heart wall.

But how do impulses generated from the SA node travel through the heart?
These impulses reach the atrioventricular (AV) node, which is a section of nodal tissue that lies on the right side of the partition that divides the atria, near the bottom of the right atrium. The AV node delays cardiac impulses from the sinoatrial node to allow the atria to contract and empty their contents first to the lower chamber called ventricles (see the picture below). Then the AV node relays cardiac impulses to the atrioventricular (AV) bundle. The atrioventricular bundle is a bundle of fibers that are located within the septum (wall) of the heart. The AV bundle carries cardiac impulses down the septum to the ventricles via the Purkinje fibers. These fibers are fiber branches that extend from the AV bundle and relays cardiac impulses to the ventricular cells causing the ventricles to contract so that the blood can be sent to the cells of our body as well as to our lungs through our blood vessels.

From medicine to spirituality:

You may have noticed that in this section I’ve said that heart commands one’s action whereas in other sections I have said the brain does it. The matter of fact is that both are true. Those who have read the chapter human heart have learned that the heart’s Electromagnetic(EM)-radiation is much stronger than that of the brain and has therefore a much greater influence on the rest of the body compared to the brain. Beyond that many scientists have discovered that the heart and brain communicate with each other bilaterally (2-ways). We all know that it is our brain’s frontal cortex (prefrontal cortex for higher decision-making) that commands the performing of actions through our body and senses. However, since the EM-wave of the heart is much greater than that of the brain and the fact that the heart has an EQ-intelligence(not IQ) due to the existence of heart cells capable of memorizing information (just like brain cells) it confirms us what some specialist have told us regarding the decision-making. It is the brain(in normal cases) that takes decision however since the heart could play a greater role it can influece the brain’s decision-making(by sending information to it); and this is what the saying above is about. That the information sent from the heart could alter the decision that is about to be made by the brain. Here’s an example on two people, one named Ali and the other Zaker. Let’s say Zaker is a poor person who comes to a mosque and begs for help. The first person who sees him is Ali. Ali is very tired and is very busy in the mosque. When he sees that Zaker is approaching him for help he tries to avoid him, yet at that specific moment he hesitates to do so. Some kind of feeling comes in his heart (a feeling of mercy and care) that makes him more humble and as a result he doesn’t avoid him but instead he goes toward him and help him with what ever he needs. This is an example on how Ali, at first, got negative thoughts in his brain however what saved him from taking such an inhuman action is that his spirit of belief slowly invited him towards righteous deed. Therefore, in this case, it is the spirit of belief that became victorious in this struggle, which lead him to help the poor man.

Finally we can realize that Imam Sadiq(AS) is truly among the most pure people ever created after the Holy Prophets(peace be upon them all) both from his spirituality and moral as well as his scientific-mystical knowledge on heart is unique. The fact that medical scientists use the word ear and that its phsysiological role correlates with that which has been mentioned in Imam Sadiq’s(AS) hadith leaves no room for any doubt or any possible coincidence. Since we all know that there wasn’t any medical or technological devices at that time we have to accept the fact that such knowledge had to be derived from a divine source, thus from no other than Allah Allmighty. Hence try to use the knowledge that you have learned from this section on heart as well as the chapter on the human heart(and brain) to reach the exceptional goal that is the true gift of God on earth; this gift is Ahlulbayt (AS) – the Household of the Holy Prophet Mohammed(SAAS). Therefore, as an individual, open a space in your heart for the love of all the last Prophet Mohammed (SAAS) and especially the Ahlulbayt (AS)(his household) by applying their teachings with the intention that the cells(or the deepest entity) of your body (particularly your heart) experience the true blessing of it, as Dr. J. Andrew Armour proved its existence scientifically and Patrick Glynn medically, statistically and clinically.

wa aleykom sallam wa rahmatollah!