With the Noble Prophetic Hadith (8)
The people of Yemen have come to you... They have the softest hearts and the most tender feelings!!
We greet you all, dear listeners, everywhere. We meet you in a new episode of your program "With the Noble Prophetic Hadith" and we begin with the best greeting and the purest peace. Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you. Hereafter:
Muslim narrated in his Sahih that Abu Bakr bin Abi Shaybah and Abu Kuraib told us: Abu Muawiyah told us, from Al-A'mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "The people of Yemen have come to you, they have the softest hearts and the most tender feelings. Faith is Yemeni, and wisdom is Yemeni, and the head of disbelief is towards the east."
Dear listeners:
"Hearts" is the plural of "heart." Some are hard and some are soft. God Almighty said: (Then your hearts hardened after that, so they were like rocks or even harder. And indeed, among the rocks are those from which rivers burst forth, and indeed, among them are those that split open and water comes out of them, and indeed, among them are those that fall down for fear of God. And God is not unaware of what you do). (Al-Baqarah 74) And God Almighty said: (Then is one whose breast God has opened to Islam, so he is upon a light from his Lord [like one who is hard-hearted]? Then woe to those whose hearts are hard against the remembrance of God. Those are in clear error. God has sent down the best statement: a consistent book wherein is repetition. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance of God. That is the guidance of God by which He guides whom He wills. And whoever God leaves astray - for him there is no guide). (Az-Zumar 23)
And "feelings" is the plural of "feeling." Some are tender and some are not tender. God Almighty said: (Say, "It is He who has produced you and made for you hearing and vision and feelings. Little do you thank [Him]"). (Al-Mulk 23) And God Almighty said: (And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the feeling - about all those will be questioned). (Al-Isra 36)
The question that arises in this context is: Is there a difference between hearts and feelings? Or are they two names for one thing? To answer, we say: Many scholars have discussed this issue, including Dr. Fadel Al-Samarrai, and Dr. Hussam Al-Nuaimi. Here is some of what was said in this regard:
Some of them said: The feeling is the heart itself, and some of them said: The heart is not the feeling, but rather the feeling is the covering of the heart; because our Arabic language is a precise language. It names the parts of things, it names each part by its name. So what seems likely to us from the words of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and from the words of the Holy Qur'an, is that the feeling is the covering of the heart. But when the feeling is mentioned in the texts of the Qur'an and the Prophetic Hadith, then the feeling means the covering of the heart and what is inside it; because the origin of the feeling is from "al-tafa'ud," which means burning and igniting, as if the heart is the place of these things, so it was used like this in this place.
The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, loved the people of Yemen and said: "Faith is Yemeni." And he says: "The people of Yemen have come to you, they have the most tender feelings and the softest hearts." And in Lisan al-Arab: "He roasted the bread in the embers." The heart is sometimes roasted by what is heard and what is said to it, but not in the sense of real roasting!! The heart was named the feeling because of its burning and igniting, and it was said: "The feeling is the middle of the heart." And it was said: "The feeling is the covering of the heart," and this is what we have chosen. But when we say: "We have chosen this meaning," we do not mean that we are canceling the other meanings; because they are statements and opinions of some of our scholars who reached them through their knowledge of the Arabic language, and we can choose what seems likely to us from them, when the scholars have more than one opinion. The evidence that we have strengthens the choice that we have made: In his saying, may God bless him and grant him peace: "The people of Yemen have come to you, they have the most tender feelings and the softest hearts." He mentioned the feeling and the heart, so he described the feeling as tender, and he described the heart as soft. Tenderness and transparency are for the tender thing, and softness is for the thick thing that has dimensions. So the heart is soft, and the feeling is tender. The feeling is the covering that covers, and the heart is what softens, and the Hadith that we have clarifies this in a way that leaves no doubt; because he used the two words in one place! He used tenderness for the feeling, and softness for the heart, and softness is different from tenderness. If that is the case, then what is the significance of His saying in Surah Al-Qasas (And the heart of Moses' mother became empty [of all else]. She was about to disclose [the matter concerning] him had We not bound fast her heart that she would be of the believers.)? (Al-Qasas 10) To answer, we say: The Arabs use the words "heart" and "feeling" in the same sense, but the Hadith differentiated between the two, so he made the feeling for the covering, "most tender feelings" and made the softness for the heart, "softest hearts." So we took the saying mentioned in Lisan al-Arab: "The feeling is the heart, and it was said: its middle, and it was said: The feeling is the covering of the heart" and this does not conflict with the verse, so the emptiness of the feeling of Moses' mother includes the emptiness of the heart as well, and it is not a real emptiness, and it contains an indication of non-preoccupation, so she was no longer preoccupied. And His saying (had We not bound fast her heart) means that We made her patient; because binding on the heart means patience, he bound on his heart, meaning he made him patient. As in the dictionary!!
Dear listeners:
Some scholars said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, described them as having soft and tender hearts, then he attributed faith and wisdom to them, as if he was informing that the building of faith is based on compassion for God's creation, may He be glorified and exalted, and tenderness towards them, as that was the attribute of those to whom faith was attributed by his saying: "Faith is Yemeni." And wisdom is: Doing what pleases God and what He loves, and abandoning what angers and hates Him, and that can only be achieved with tenderness and purity of the heart, so that the deterrents of truth are witnessed in it, because the deterrents of God are in the heart of every believer, so whoever has a purer heart, then he is better at perceiving that deterrent, and more accurate in hitting it, therefore he attributed wisdom to whoever has a tender heart, and the mention of the heart and the feeling may be an expression of one thing, and it is permissible that the feeling is an expression of the inner heart, for the wise men said: The chest is outside the heart, and the feeling is inside it, so he described the heart with softness, and the soft thing bends and flexes, which is the change, and the heart was called a heart because it is changeable, Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with them, said: The heart was only called a heart because it changes, and the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "The likeness of the heart is like a feather in a wilderness of the earth that the winds turn over and over." And the changeable changes to such and such, as if he described the people of Yemen as having the softest hearts and the most changeable and flexible, and that their flexibility and turning to faith and wisdom is greater than their flexibility and turning to others, because their feelings are more tender, so they are more witnesses to the unseen, because the tender thing is more penetrating in the things that prevent, and the veils that cover than the thick thing, and whoever penetrates the veils realizes faith and its reality, and wisdom, which is speaking about God Almighty.
It is also permissible that he indicated by the softness of the heart to lowering the wing, and softness of the side, and submission and endurance and abandoning arrogance and exaltation; because these actions only appear from those whose hearts have softened, and they are outward descriptions, and he indicated by the tenderness of their feelings to their compassion for creation, and mercy for them, and kindness towards them, and compassion for them, and sincerity towards them, and to love for them what they love for themselves, and these are inward descriptions, as if he indicated that they have the best morals outwardly and inwardly, and the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "The most complete of the believers in faith are those who have the best morals." So his saying: "Faith is Yemeni" means: The people of Yemen are the most complete of people in faith, and wisdom is one of the descriptions of those whose faith and certainty are complete. It is also permissible that his description of them as having soft hearts is an indication of accepting the truth, because the people of Yemen responded to Islam by invitation without warfare and fighting, so they accepted the truth because of the softness of their hearts; because whoever has a hard heart does not accept the truth, even if its evidence is abundant and its arguments are established, God Almighty said: (So We said, "Strike the slain man with part of it." Thus does God bring the dead to life, and He shows you His signs that you might reason. Then your hearts became hardened after that, so they were like rocks or even harder). (Al-Baqarah 74)
He informed that whoever has a hard heart does not return to the truth, even if its signs appear, and the signs are only understood by those whose attribute is the opposite of the attribute of those whose hearts are hard, therefore he attributed faith to them, because they accepted it without violence, and he attributed them to wisdom, because wisdom is hitting the truth, so they hit the truth, so they believed because of the softness of their hearts and their conformity, and their acceptance of the truth. It is also permissible that the meaning of his saying: "most tender feelings" is an indication that in their view of the conditions of the unseen there is tenderness, and with that their conditions testify, and those who see them know it, as if he indicated that they are stronger in outward conditions than in inward conditions, and God Almighty is higher and more knowledgeable.
Dear listeners: We thank you for your good listening, our appointment with you in the next episode, God willing, until that time and until we meet you always, we leave you in God's care, protection and security, and peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.
Written for the Central Media Office Radio of Hizb ut Tahrir
Professor Muhammad Ahmad Al-Nadi - Jordan Province
31/8/2014 AD
