Teosofi: Jurnal Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam

Volume 12, Issue 1 (2022), 1-21

ISSN: 2442-871X [Online]; 2088-7957 [Printed]
https://doi.org/10.15642/teosofi.2022.12.1.1-21

Abstract: Within Islam, the topic of the heart (qalb) occupies an

important place. In order to understand the breadth and depth of this
topic, it is necessary to understand its intricacies. The Qur’ān, the H{adīth,
and scholarly interpretations detail the potentialities that, to varying
degrees, lie dormant within each and every individual. The heart is
described as being able to be pure and to find peace while equally being
able to be darkened and rust. The qalb is mentioned frequently
throughout the sacred texts of Islam. This article examines the notion of
qalb salīm, mentioned twice within the Qur’ān, both times with regard to
the Prophet Ibrahim. Firstly, the importance of qalb will be elaborated.
Secondly, an examination of the qalb salīm within the major Qur’ānic
commentaries (tafsīr), particularly Sufi exegesis, is examined. Thirdly,
related h}adīth literature is analyzed. An attempt is made to understand the
soundness of a sound heart. The analysis in this article will highlight the
qualities associated with the qalb salīm. While a comprehensive analysis of
the notion of qalb salīm is beyond the scope of this article, an attempt is
made to open further discussion on this important concept and address
the dearth of currently available academic literature.

Keywords: Sound heart; qalb salīm; certainty; yaqīn; contentment; rid}ā;

nearness; qurb.

Article history: Received: 02 February 2022 | Revised: 15 March 2022 |

Accapted: 09 May 2022 | Available online: 01 June 2022

How to cite this article:

Cook, Abu Bakr Sirajuddin, and Salih Yucel. “Soundness of the Heart:
An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm”. Teosofi: Jurnal
Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam 12, no. 1 (2022): 1–21.
https://doi.org/10.15642/teosofi.2022.12.1.1-21

© 2022. The author(s). Teosofi is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Salih Yucel

Introduction
The Qur’ān makes frequent and varied references to the heart
(qalb). The Qur’ān states that the heart can be veiled (6: 25), locked
(47: 24), deviated (3: 8), agitated (79: 8), hardened (6: 43), diseased (8:
49), and sealed (2: 7) just as it can have wisdom (22: 46), goodness
(8:70), faith (58: 22), softness (39: 23), humbleness (2: 74), assurance
(8: 10), strength (18: 14), and be engaged in (57: 16) and find
satisfaction in (13: 28) the remembrance of Allah. The frequent
mentioning highlights the importance placed on the heart within
Islam and the variance in terminology highlights the importance of
understanding the distinction between the qualities and degrees that
the heart may be placed in. This article will focus on one such quality
of the heart, namely a “sound heart” (qalb salīm). In attempting to
understand what it is to have a sound heart, this article will examine
the importance of the heart within Islam, include a linguistic analysis
of qalb and salīm, explore the two explicit mentions of a sound heart
within the Qur’ān, survey the commentary literature to understand
the traditional elaborations on this concept, furnish these
understandings with the H{adīth literature, and see what, if any, depth
can be added with analogous reasoning.
The importance of the heart (qalb) within Islam has long been
acknowledged in both traditional and academic works. The Prophet
Muhammad said, “Allah does not look at your bodies or your
(outward) forms; rather He looks at your hearts,”1 placing a direct
connection between the state of the individual’s heart and the
worship they perform. It is widely recognized that “the Qur’ān assigns
a clearly epistemic and intellectual function to the heart”2 and “the
seat of belief, unanimously agreed upon by all Muslim scholars, is the
heart.”3 Yet, unlike traditional medical perspectives, within Islam the
heart is not considered to be merely a pump. An examination of the
Qur’ānic verses and H{adīth “reveals that all of the heart’s attributes
and roles, whether positive or negative, are primarily and directly

1 Abū al-H{usayn Muslim Ibn al-H{ajjāj, S{ah}īh} Muslim, trans. Nasiruddin al-Khattāb
(Riyadh: Dār al-Salām, 2007), 6542.
2 Ibrahim Kalin, “Reason and Rationality in the Qur’ān,” The 2nd Muslim-Catholic

Forum (The Baptism Site, Jordan 2011), 15.

3 Mehmet Yavuz Seker, “A Map of the Divine Faculty: The Concept of Qalb (Heart)

in Classical and Contemporary Islamic Scholarship” (PhD Thesis, Australian

Catholic University, 2012), 14.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

connected with its capacity to understand and perceive,” 4 such that

the heart is understood as “being the centre of knowledge,
perception, cognition and belief.”5 Understanding the heart’s function
also involves understanding the sources from which it gains
perception and knowledge. Abū H{āmid al-Ghazālī (d.505/1111)
states,
The heart then is like the reservoir and knowledge like water.
The five external senses are like streams. Knowledge may
possibly be conducted to the heart by means of the streams of
the senses and the consideration of things observed until it is
thus filled with knowledge. It is also possible to stop these
streams from it by solitude and retirement and averting the eyes
from seeing, and then to resolve in the depths of the heart upon
purifying it and taking away from it the layers of coverings until
the fountain of knowledge bursts forth from within it.6
Al-Ghazālī can be understood to be advocating for the
implementation of practices that result in the purification of the
external data that feeds into the heart so that the perception that wells
up within it is equally purified. For this, “Sufi psychology stresses the
need to nourish and develop the heart” such that the “one whose
heart is open is wiser, more compassionate and more understanding
than one whose heart is closed.”7 The centrality of the heart (qalb)
within Islam is such that the practice of “Islam where the heart is not
understood is composed merely of dry form”8 and “the heart’s being
understood implies understanding of the spirit of Islam.” 9 Given the
Qur’ān contains a multitude of references to types and qualities of the
heart, it becomes important to understand the meaning of each. Much
has been made within Islamic literature of the importance, types,
qualities, and constituent parts of the heart. One of the earliest to
write extensively on this topic was al-H{ākim al-Tirmīdhī (d.255/869),
whose work Bayān al-Farq bayn al-S{adr wa al-Qalb wa al-Fu’ād wa al-Lubb
“presents a Sufi psychological system concerned with the interaction
of the heart (qalb) and the self (nafs),” details the differentiation of the

4 Ibid.,” 51.
5 Ibid., 14.
6 Abū H{āmid al-Ghazālī, Wonders of the Heart, trans. Walter James Skellie (Kuala

Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, 2007), 67.

7 Robert Frager, Heart, Self, & Soul (Wheaton: Quest Books, 1999), 21-22.
8 Seker, “A Map of the Divine Faculty,” 9.
9 Ibid., 3.

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Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Salih Yucel

parts of the heart, namely the breast (s}adr), the heart (qalb), the inner
heart (fu’ād), and the kernel or innermost consciousness (lubb).10 Thus,
the importance of the heart as an organ of understanding and
comprehension is well documented within Islamic literature.
Against the background of the importance of the heart (qalb)
within Islam, there is a lacuna regarding explicit studies on the
qualities and kinds of hearts mentioned within the Qur’ān. Rather
than compare and contrast the qualities and kinds of hearts, this
article will focus on developing an understanding of the sound heart
(qalb salīm). Aside from brief mentions of the sound heart (qalb salīm)
within the existing literature, such as the major Qur’ānic
commentaries (tafsīr), particularly Sufi exegesis, there has not been a
focused study of this material. Without being comprehensive, this
article modestly addresses this gap in the existing literature by drawing
together some of the available materials mentioning the sound heart
(qalb salīm) in an attempt to understand some of the unique qualities
of this type of heart (qalb).

Word Conjugations for the Qalb Salīm

An important aspect of understanding Arabic is delving into the
word roots. The Arabic for heart (qalb) comes from the root q-l-b. The
term qalb “comes from the root ‘to turn’ or ‘to revolve’”11 and
denotes “turning something inside out, inverting and transforming.”12
The literal meaning of “turning something inside out or upside down,
inverting, transforming” denotes “the organ that enables blood
circulation throughout the body.”13 Yet, for an organ to be associated
with, possess, and develop the range of qualities associated with it
within the Qur’ān, the heart must be understood as more than a mere
pump. The traditional depiction of a love heart has the tip pointed
toward the ground, indicating that it is most frequently orientated
towards earthly intentions. A corresponding turning of this point,
away from these earthly intentions, moves towards a greater
openness, culminating in incremental epistemological shifts towards
the ontic reality of Oneness (tawh}īd). In “turning” the blood through

10 Nicholar Heer, “Introduction to A Treatise on the Heart,” in Three Early Sufi Texts
(Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2009), 4.
11 Frager, Heart, Self, & Soul, 24.
12 Seker, “A Map of the Divine Faculty,” 28.
13 Ibid., 13.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

the body, the heart impacts the entirety of an individual’s being and
can be seen as the symbolic centre of the individual. The increasing
openness towards, and acceptance of, the underlying Oneness as the
heart approaches the quality of being a sound heart runs contrary to
Seker’s assertion that “‘aql and qalb as being synonymous.”14 The
intellect (‘aql) literally means ‘that which fetters’ in that it aims to limit
by means of reason, whereas the heart (qalb) has a limitless quality as
it turns towards the Absoluteness of Allah.
The Arabic for sound (salīm) comes from the root s-l-m. The
Arabic word salīm “means to submit in obedience, make peace, accept
a judgment, be free of every kind of visible and hidden danger and
illness, and slavery.”15 Furthermore, salīm shares the same root as the
words taslīmiyya (submission) and salām (peace).16 The acceptance of
judgement is a submission to the ontic reality of Oneness, which the
heart is beckoned towards, and it is in this that the heart finds peace
in that it knows that the source of every occurrence within perceived
multiplicity is Allah. From the same root comes the Divine Name al-
Salām, the Flawless. Regarding the individual’s share in this Divine
Name, al-Ghazālī states the one who can be considered flawless “is
one whose essence is free from defect, whose attributes escape
imperfection, and whose actions are untarnished by evil.”17 While al-
Ghazālī states that Allah is the only one who is properly qualified by
these attributes, the one with a sound heart is a “servant whose heart
is free from deceit, hatred, envy, and evil intent” such that their
“limbs are unblemished by sins and forbidden actions.”18

Synonyms in the Qur’ān

It is important to note the precision of language within the
Qur’ān. Specific words and turns of phrases are used with varying
repetitions throughout the text. Even phrases with equivalent
referents, due to the Qur’ānic language’s precision, emphasize
different aspects of that referent. For instance, when the addressee is
“O mankind” or “O children of Adam” the intended referent in both
cases is humanity, yet the former involves an immediacy and
14 Ibid., 49.
15 Ibid., 94.
16 Ibid.
17 Abū H{āmid al-Ghazālī, The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God, trans. David B.

Burrell and Nazih Daher (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1992), 61.
18 Ibid.

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Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Salih Yucel

directness, whereas the latter includes an indirectness through a

shared ancestry. Al-H{ākim al-Tirmīdhī “argues against the existence
of synonyms,” showing that “one lexical term cannot have multiple
meanings” and that each term “must be distinct entities and cannot
represent different aspects of a single entity.”19 More than a strictly
linguistic activity, “the idea of the non-existence of true synonyms is
an idea that later became a part of H{anafī Us}ūl (legal methodology).”20
Al-H{ākim al-Tirmīdhī was of the view that “the content of individual
words refers to separate experiences or functions of man’s internal
spiritual organs.”21 Softening this view, namely that “there are no true
synonyms according to al-Tirmīdhī,”22 and admitting that there are
similar referents without exact equivalence, there remains an
importance in understanding the differences between specific terms
with similar referents. These differences might be more differences in
degree rather than kind. Nevertheless, it becomes important to
understand the qualities of a sound heart (qalb salīm) so that it can be
differentiated from the other types/qualities of hearts mentioned in
the Qur’ān.

The Qur’ānic References to and the Tafsīr of the Qalb Salīm

The term qalb salīm occurs twice within the Qur’ān. The first
occurrence refers to the day of judgement, stating “the day whereon
neither wealth nor sons will avail, but only he [will prosper] that
brings to Allah a sound heart” (26: 88-89). The second occurrence
refers to the Prophet Ibrahim’s interaction with the idol worshippers,
stating “behold he [Ibrahim] approached his Lord with a sound
heart” (37: 84). Read in conjunction and with an awareness of
context, it becomes apparent from these verses that the quality of a
sound heart (qalb salīm) pertains to benefits both in the herenow and
in the hereafter. Both verses mention an approach to Allah, indicating
that nearness (qurb) is an element of the qalb salīm.
Nearness with regard to Allah is not to be understood as an
increase in physical nearness, for the Qur’ān states that Allah is closer

19 Aiyub Palmer, Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: al-H{akīm al-Tirmidhī’s Theory of
Wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 122.
20 Palmer, Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam, 123n. 42.
21 Bernd Radtke and John O’Kane, The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism

(Surrey: Curzon Press, 1996), 4.

22 Palmer, Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam, 123.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

than our jugular veins (50: 16). Allah’s closeness to an individual is

constant, whereas the individual’s awareness of this closeness varies
according to their state (h}āl) and station (maqām). The nearness of the
individual to Allah is dependent on the awareness of Allah’s nearness
to the individual. This is brought about through epistemological shifts
towards an increased understanding of the ontological reality of
Allah’s Oneness (tawh}īd). Ibn ‘Ajiba (d. 1224/1809) states, “for the
novices, nearness is largely through obedience; for the aspirants, it
comes through spiritual combat; for those advanced in the way,
through contemplative vision”, whereas its antonym distance (bu‘d)
“is first from grace, then from following the path, and then from
realization.”23 This process of increasing nearness is described in a
h}adīth qudsī which states, “My slave keeps on coming closer to Me
through performing nawāfil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what
is obligatory) till I love him, so I become his sense of hearing with
which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his
hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks.”24 The
outcome of this incremental increase in nearness is Allah’s love and
corresponds with an epistemological blurring of multiplicity towards
an affirmation of the ontological reality of Allah’s Oneness.
A traditional point of departure for understanding concepts
within the Qur’ān is the commentary literature (tafsīr). The Qur’ānic
commentaries predominantly describe a qalb salīm by traits that is does
not possess. For instance, a qalb salīm is “a heart free from any
blemish,”25 “free from ignorance and vice and moral depravity,” 26
“does not follow carnal soul desires,”27 and free “from idolatry and
hypocrisy.”28 It is “a heart free of sins and love for this worldly life; it
is also said that it means: a heart free of hatred for the Companions of

23 Ahmad Ibn ‘Ajiba, The Book of Ascension to the Essential Truths of Sufism, trans.
Mohamed Fouad Aresmouk and Michael Abdurrahman Fitzgerald (Louisville: Fons
Vitae, 2011), 59.
24 Muh}ammad b. Ismāīl al-Mughīrah al-Bukhārī, S{ah}īh} al-Bukhārī, trans. Muhammad

M. Khan (Riyadh: Dār al-Salām, 1997), 6502.

25 Ibn ‘Abbās, Tafsīr Ibn ‘Abbās, trans. Mokrane Guezzou (Louisville: Fons Vitae,

2008), 590.
26 Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Mafātih} al-Ghayb, Vol. 24 (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1981), 145.
27 Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī, Lat}āif al-Ishārāt, Vol. 3 (Cairo: al-Hay’ah al-Mis}riyya li

al-Kitāb, 2000), 15.

28 Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūt}ī and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Mah}allī, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn, trans. Feras

Hamza (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2008), 348.

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Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Salih Yucel

the Prophet”29 and “one who is preserved from innovations (bida‘),

who commits his affairs to God and who is content with God’s
decree (qadar).”30 One who possesses a qalb salīm is “in a state of self-
surrender (mustaslim), having committed his affairs to his Lord,
resorting [to Him] through his innermost secret (sirr) in every
situation,”31 and “pleased with every condition.”32 Al-Qushayri (d.
465/1074) stated, “the hearts of the ecstatics (qulūb al-wājidīn) remain
ever prostrating (sājida) on the carpet of nearness”33 and “a sound
heart is completely focused on returning to God.”34 Al-Rāzī (d.
606/1210) stated the “jurists (us}ūliyyūn) said the meaning of sound
heart refers to whoever lives and dies with a purified heart which has
no stains of disobedience, polytheism (shirk), deceits, hatred, or
jealousy.”35 Al-Samarqandī (d.373/983) mentioned, “there are three
indications of the qalb salīm: it does not annoy or harm anyone, it is
not annoyed or harmed by anyone, and it does not expect anything
from anyone even if they do anything good.”36 ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī
(d. 1166) commented that the sound heart does not expect any
punishment or reward, nor does it act for reward or to avoid
punishment, rather it acts only to please God in every action or
deed.37 Ismail Haqqi Bursevi (d. 1725) stated, “nothing in the world
confuses a sound heart.”38 This has continued within modern
understanding that describes a qalb salīm as “a heart that is pure and
unaffected by the moral ills that affect others” and “is a personal
condition which is free from bad characteristics that are both

29 Ibn ‘Abbās, Tafsīr Ibn ‘Abbās, 476.

30 Sahl b. ‘Abd Allah al-Tustarī, Tafsīr al-Tustarī, trans. Annabel Keeler (Louisville:
Fons Vitae, 2011), 143.
31 Ibid., 165.
32 Abū ‘Abd al-Rah}mān Muh}ammad al-H{usayn al-Sulamī, H{aqāiq al-Tafsīr, Vol. 2

(Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Ilmiyya, 2001), 80.

33 al-Qushayrī, Lat}āif al-Ishārāt, Vol. 1, 69.
34 Ibid., Vol. 3, 235.
35 al-Rāzī, Mafātih} al-Ghayb, Vol. 26, 145.
36 Abū al-Layth al-Samarqandī, Bah}r al-‘Ulūm, Vol. 2 (Beirut: Dār al-‘Ilmiyya, 1993),

476.
37 ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, Tafsīr al-Jīlānī, Vol. 3 (Quetta: al-Maktaba al-Ma‘rūfiyya,

2010), 368.
38 Ismail Haqqi Bursevi, Rūh} al-Bayān, Vol. 6 (Istanbul: Mat}ba‘at al-Uthmāniyya,

1330 H), 287-288.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

personally and socially dangerous”39 meaning “the heart which is

submitted to God and which is at peace with religion, is a sound
heart.”40 Consistent across these descriptions, at times implicitly, is
that “the very basis for qalb salīm is a strong grasp of tawh}īd (the
oneness of Allah),”41 as al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021) stated explicitly “the
sound heart is the one which meets with God without associating any
partner with him.”42 Bursevi commented, “A sound heart is on its
natural disposition (fit}ra).”43 However, amongst these commentaries is
the description of a qalb salīm by the traits it lacks. In doing so, these
commentary descriptions of a qalb salīm do not explicitly describe
what is particularly “sound” about a sound heart.
There have been some attempts to positively describe the
sound heart. Al-Sulamī comments:
“Some said soundness means coming to this world with
soundness [without any sin], living in this world with
soundness, leaving this world with soundness [having repented
for all major and minor sins], and meeting with God with
soundness ... [It is] pleased with every condition.”44
“Pleased with every condition” is a quality of contentment
(rid}ā). Contentment is to “leave the choice to God in all that He has
planned and brought about” while being “without criticism for what
comes from God.”45 It is closely related to submission (taslīm), which
is to “serenely relinquish your self-direction and choice to the flow of
divine decree.”46 The contrary quality involves worry and displeasure
with the condition that Allah has placed the individual in and this
leads away from the development of a sound heart, as Ibn ‘At}ā’ Allah
(d. 709/1309) states, “if you see a person who wakes up in the
morning worried about his provisions, know that this person is far
removed from God.”47 The embodiment of this is seen through the
39 Dindin Solahudin, “The Workshop for Morality: The Islamic Creativity of
Pesantren Daarut Tauhid in Bandung, Java” (Masters Thesis, Australian National
University, 2008), 81.
40 Seker, “A Map of the Divine Faculty,” 94-95.
41 Solahudin, “The Workshop for Morality,” 81.
42 al-Sulamī, H{aqāiq al-Tafsīr, Vol. 2, 80.
43 Bursevi, Rūh} al-Bayān, 287-288.
44 al-Sulamī, H{aqāiq al-Tafsīr, 80.
45 Ibn ‘Ajiba, The Book of Ascension, 8.
46 Ibid., 59.
47 Ibn ‘At}ā’ Allah, Tāj al-‘Arūs: al-H{āwī li Tahdhīb al-Nufūs, trans. in Sherman A.

Jackson, Sufism for Non-Sufis? (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 86

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Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Salih Yucel

individual’s action, for “a qalb salīm has to possess faith which turns
out to be the most beautiful character traits in one’s behaviour.”48
Another verse of the Qur’ān explains that these character traits can be
found in the example of the Prophet Muhammad, stating “ye have
indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for
anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day” (33: 21). Aisha
stated, “the character of the Messenger of Allah was the Qur’ān” 49
and this can be understood as the embodiment, and thus enactment,
of the teachings of the Qur’ān, chief amongst which is the affirmation
of Allah’s Oneness (tawh}īd). While these Qur’ānic commentaries give
an indication of what a qalb salīm looks like, they do not explicitly
discuss how the soundness of a heart ensures that it is free of such
vices or how it is able to affirm the Oneness of Allah.

Ah}ādīth on the Qalb Salīm

Like the Qur’ān, the H{adīth literature has much to say about
the heart. Of particular pertinence to this discussion is the Prophet
Muhammad’s statement, “in the body there is a piece of flesh which,
if it is sound, the entire body will be sound, but if it is corrupt, the
entire body is corrupt, verily it is the heart.”50 This H{adīth indicates
that there is reciprocity between the body and the heart and that the
heart’s soundness is equally reflected within the soundness of the
body. This does not necessarily refer to physical health benefits rather
in that the heart is an organ of perception, likewise the body is an
organ of action, indicating that the soundness of the heart is reflected
in the soundness of an individual’s actions.
The soundness of action, welling up from a heart free of
polytheism (shirk), can be seen to be the result of these actions
embodying and affirming the Oneness of Allah (tawh}īd) in
correspondence with a qalb salīm. This culminates in an
epistemological blurring of lines, as described in the h}adīth qudsī “My
slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing nawāfil
(praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love
him, so I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his
sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips,
48 Solahudin, “The Workshop for Morality,” 85.
49 Abū ‘Abd al-Rah}mān Ah}mad b. Shu‘ayb b. ‘Alī al-Nasā’ī, Sunan al-Nasā’ī, trans.
Nasiruddin al-Khattab (Riyadh: Dār al-Salām, 2007), 1602.
50 Muslim Ibn al-H{ajjāj, S{ah}īh} Muslim, 4094.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

and his leg with which he walks.”51 Acknowledgement of Allah as the

source, the Prophet Muhammad would frequently make an oath “by
the One Who turns the hearts (muqallib)…”52 and implore Allah for
his need in this manner, such as “O Changer of the hearts (muqallibal
qulūb), strengthen my heart upon Your religion.”53 The strengthening
of the heart, as opposed to any other organ, can be seen to indicate
the centrality and primacy of the heart with regard to the other organs
and limbs of the body. The Prophet also indicated for the
permissibility of supplicating for a qalb salīm, petitioning Allah with “I
ask You for a sound heart and a truthful tongue”54 and again “I ask
You for a truthful tongue and a sound heart.”55

The “Soundness” of the Qalb Salīm

Another way of attempting to gain a deeper understanding of a
qalb salīm is by way of analogy. Drawing a correspondence between
the “soundness” of a sound heart and that of a sound argument
opens the way for another level of understanding. In its most simple
definition, “a sound argument is a valid argument with true premises,”
where “a valid argument is an argument such that if the premises are
true then the conclusion must be true.”56 Sound arguments are
important because “if the argument is sound, then we know we can
have a very high level of confidence in the (definite) truth of the
conclusion.”57 Furthermore, “sound arguments expand our
knowledge and increase our understanding”, and for this reason
“developing the ability to recognize sound arguments is so
important.”58 If the soundness of an argument and the soundness of a
heart have a type of congruence, then the premises of the heart can
be understood as being the sense data, in that the premises are input
of an argument and the streams of the senses are the input of the

51 al-Bukhārī, S{ah}īh} al-Bukhārī, 6502.

52 Ibid., 7391.
53 Abū ‘Isā Muh}ammad b. ‘Isā al-Tirmīdhī, Jāmi‘ al-Tirmīdhī, trans. Abu Khaliyl

(Riyadh: Dār al-Salām, 2007), 2140.

54 al-Nasā’ī, Sunan al-Nasā’ī, 1305.
55 al-Tirmīdhī, Jāmi‘ al-Tirmīdhī, 3407.
56 Paul Tomassi, Logic (London: Routledge, 1999), 5.
57 Robert Cogan, Critical Thinking: Step by Step (Lanham: University Press of America,

1998), 79.
58 William Hughes and Jonathan Lavery, Critical Thinking 4th Edition: An Introduction to

the Basic Skills (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2004), 23.

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Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Salih Yucel

heart. Similarly, the conclusion, being the output of an argument, is

likened to the actions that stem from the heart. The description of
sound reasoning being “a rational faculty which follows the Law is
well-guided and ‘sound’ (salīm)”59 correlates with the commentary
literature describing the sound heart as “one who is preserved from
innovations (bida‘), who commits his affairs to God and who is
content with God’s decree (qadar)”60 as both emphasize an
unwavering commitment to the Divine law and decree. Seen in this
light, Ibn ‘Arabī’s (d. 638/1240) comment, “in the case of him whose
reason is ‘sound’ (salīm), that is, he who is not overcome by any
obfuscation deriving from imagination and reflection, an obfuscation
which would corrupt his consideration”61 recalls “a heart free from
any blemish,”62 free “of any doubt or the like,”63 free “from idolatry
and hypocrisy,”64 and “in a state of self-surrender (mustaslim), having
committed his affairs to his Lord,”65 drawing a strong likeness
between a sound argument and a sound heart. From this perspective,
there is a correlation between the soundness of an argument and the
soundness of the heart.
It is possible to see the use of analogous reasoning between a
sound argument and a sound heart to have been utilized within the
work of Ibn ‘Arabī. Ibn ‘Arabī stated:
“Two ways lead to knowledge of God. There is no third way ...
The first way is the way of unveiling [kashf]. It is an
incontrovertible knowledge which ... receives no obfuscations
... The second way is the way of reflection and reasoning
(istidlāl) through rational demonstration (burhān ‘aqlī). This way
is lower than the first way, since he who bases his consideration
upon proof can be visited by obfuscations.”66
The precedence given to the knowledge that wells up within the
heart by Ibn ‘Arabī is reminiscent of al-Ghazālī’s statement to
“resolve in the depths of the heart upon purifying it and taking away
from it the layers of coverings until the fountain of knowledge bursts
59 William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge (Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1989), 179.
60 al-Tustarī, Tafsīr al-Tustarī, 143.
61 Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 169.
62 Ibn ‘Abbās, Tafsīr Ibn ‘Abbās, 590.
63 al-Suyūt}ī and al-Mah}allī, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn, 426.
64 Ibid., 348.
65 al-Tustarī, Tafsīr al-Tustarī, 165.
66 Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 169.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

forth from within it.”67 Both al-Ghazālī and Ibn ‘Arabī view the heart
as being capable of soundness that cannot be achieved by knowledge
derived from reason. Ibn ‘Arabī defines sound knowledge as “a sound
knowledge concerning which he has no doubt and no disquiet,
neither from himself, nor from anyone who is before him or present
in his thoughts.”68 Soundness of knowledge, whether through
argument or heart, is not open to doubt and brings with it certainty
(yaqīn). The purification of the sense-data mentioned by al-Ghazālī
becomes necessary because it is utilized by reason informed by bias,
as has been acknowledged “contemporary rational faculties can
certainly not be described as wholesome and ‘sound’ (salīm), since
they are governed by the prejudices and presuppositions of a
scientistic and materialistic age.”69 Ibn ‘Arabī delineates that the
certainty (yaqīn) that corresponds to the soundness of knowledge has
a specific source. He states:
When the knowledges—by which I mean the known things—
becomes manifest through their essences to knowledge, and
when knowledge perceives them as they are in their essences,
this is sound knowledge and complete perception within which,
as a matter of course, there is no obfuscation.”70
Ibn ‘Arabī can be seen to state that the soundness of
knowledge, which arises in a sound heart (qalb salīm), involves a
correspondence between soundness in comprehension of the sense
data, their processing of it, and the actions that arise from them as a
result of it.
The soundness of the comprehension of sense data, rather than
the soundness of the sense data, is a point that Ibn ‘Arabī highlights.
Ibn ‘Arabī stated:
“There are six things which perceive: hearing, sight, smell,
touch, taste, and reason. Each of them—except reason—
perceives things incontrovertibly (d}arūrī). They are never
mistaken in the things which normally become related to
them.”71

67 al-Ghazālī, Wonders of the Heart, 67.

68 William C. Chittick, The Self-Disclosure of God (Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1998), 384.
69 Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 242.
70 Chittick, The Self-Disclosure of God, 348.
71 Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 160.

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Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Salih Yucel

He emphasized this point numerous times, having stated “that

which judges misses the mark, not sense perception”72 and “the error
belongs only to that which passes judgement.”73 The sound of
knowledge that arises within a sound heart has, from the truthfulness
of the sense data, true premises. This is on condition that this sense
data is not diverted by the judgement of reason. In this way,
abstaining from judgement that arises to the rational faculty is like
“taking away from it the layers of coverings”74 which may stunt the
development of a sound heart.

Ibrahim and the Qalb Salīm

It is interesting to note that both mentions of a sound heart
(qalb salīm) within the Qur’ān are made with reference to Prophet
Ibrahim. In Sura al-Shu‘rā’ (the Poets), after detailing Prophet Moses’
engagement with Pharaoh, the submission of Pharaoh’s magicians to
“the Lord of Moses and Aaron” (26: 47), and the subsequent
migration of the Israelites from Egypt, the chapter then turns to
Prophet Ibrahim’s engagement with the idolaters who were only
following their ancestors in the worship of idols. In Sura al-S{affāt
(Those Ranging in Ranks), after detailing a cosmographic description
and some eschatological concerns, describing elements of Heaven and
Hell, Prophet Noah’s calling to his people, the chapter then turns to
the Prophet Ibrahim, stating “verily among those who followed his
[Noah’s] Way was Ibrahim” (37: 83), and the subsequent engagement
with his father and the idol worshippers. In both instances the
Prophet Ibrahim, who is both described as possessing a sound heart
and mentions the benefit of possessing a sound heart, is placed in
contradistinction with those who worship idols.
The connection between the Prophet Ibrahim and the qalb salīm
has been acknowledged by previous writers. In his tafsīr, al-Baqlī (d.
606/1209) explains the sound heart as being connected to the
spiritual station of Prophet Ibrahim.75 For Ibn ‘Āshūr (d. 1973), the
qalb salīm consists of all types of good character and all attributes of

72 Ibid., 123.
73 Ibid., 160.
74 al-Ghazālī, Wonders of the Heart, 67.
75 Ruzbahān al-Baqlī, ‘Arāis al-Bayān fī H{aqāiq al-Qur’ān, Vol. 3 (Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb

al-‘Ālamiyya, 1971), 50-51.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

the Prophet Ibrahim.76 With both mentions of a sound heart

occurring within the Qur’ān occurring with relation to the Prophet
Ibrahim there is an important connection between the heart of
Prophet Ibrahim and the sound heart. Ibn ‘Arabī described a spiritual
station of those individuals who are upon the heart of Ibrahim.
Describing those who have heats like the Prophet Ibrahim, Ibn ‘Arabī
stated “they have no ugly conjecture—or rather, they have no
conjecture, since they are a folk of sound knowledge.”77 The lack of
conjecture arises as a result of their soundness, soundness of thought
and action arising from possessing a sound heart. Ibn ‘Arabī further
stated:
Their experiential place is a safety from every suspicion and
doubt. God has removed rancour from their chests in this
world, and the people are safe from any bad opinion on their
part, as they have no opinion; no, they have no opinion,
because they are people of true knowledge, as opinion occurs
in those who have no information about something.78
Opinion, based on conjecture, is open to doubt. The certainty
(yaqīn) that arises within a sound heart has no doubt, just as there is
no doubt in the certainty that arises from a sound argument.
There is a connection between certainty and submission to
Allah. It is recorded that it was the Prophet Ibrahim that named those
that submit to Allah as Muslim, supplicating “Our Lord, make of us
Muslims, bowing to Thy (will), and of our progeny a people Muslim,
bowing to Thy (will)” (2:128). Muslims, literally those who submit, are
placed in direct contradistinction to idol worshippers, as seen in both
references to the qalb salīm in the Qur’ān. Certainty in the enacting of
submission to Allah is seen as being of the utmost importance, as the
Prophet Muhammad said, “O people, the people are not given
anything better in this world than certainty of faith and well-being, so
ask Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, for them.”79 Conjecture
arises from the perception of a multitude of possibilities and can, in a
way, be likened to polytheism, which arises from the belief in a
multitude of objects of worship. “Certainty of faith” in the Oneness

76 Muh}ammad al-T{āhir b. ‘Āshūr, al-Tah}rīr wa al-Tanwīr, Vol. 23 (Tunis: al-Dār

Tūnisiyya li al-Nashr, 1984), 137.
77 Chittick, The Self-Disclosure of God, 373.
78 Ibn ‘Arabī, The Count, trans. Eric Winkel (Create Space, 2016), 141.
79 Ah}mad b. H{anbal al-Shaybānī, Musnad Imām Ah}mad b. H{anbal, trans. Nasiruddin

al-Khattab (Riyadh: Dār al-Salām, 2012), 38.

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of Allah (tawh}īd) realigns the individual’s epistemic outlook, seeing

everything in creation as being from Allah, and removes the
possibility of conjecture and opinion as everything is relegated back to
Allah. This is apparent in verse “We will show them Our signs on the
horizons and within themselves until verily they know that this is the
Truth” (41: 53), where the multiplicity of signs, horizons, and selves
are relegated back to the singleness of “the Truth.” In this way, the
sound heart (qalb salīm) can be seen to focus on ontological Oneness
(tawh}īd) as a result of the removal of conjecture and opinion that
arises from the perception of multiplicity.

A Return to the Tafsīr of the Qalb Salīm

It is in light of the above understanding of the soundness of a
sound heart and its contradistinction to the idol-worshippers within
the Qur’ān that it becomes understandable that the Qur’ānic
commentaries predominantly describe a qalb salīm by traits that is does
not possess. The sound heart is “in a state of self-surrender
(mustaslim)”80 and purified from polytheism (shirk)81 by virtue of the
qalb salīm’s focus on the Oneness of Allah (tawh}īd), which is the
antithesis of idol worship. The Unicity of focus of the qalb salīm
cannot but be “content with God’s decree (qadar)”82 and “pleased
with every condition,”83 because of the knowledge of the source of
the decree and conditions within which it finds itself. As a result of
this knowledge “a sound heart is completely focused on returning to
God,”84 for the qabli salīm, focused on Allah’s Oneness, and is aware
that “To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return” (2: 156).
Described as “a heart free from any blemish,”85 can be related to
being clear of the blemishes of sin as stated by the Prophet
Muhammad,
Verily, when the servant commits a sin, a black spot appears
upon his heart. When he refrains from it, seeks forgiveness and
repents, his heart is polished clean. But if he returns, it
increases until it covers his entire heart.86

80 al-Tustarī, Tafsīr al-Tustarī, 165.

81 al-Rāzī, Mafātih} al-Ghayb, Vol. 26, 145.
82 al-Tustarī, Tafsīr al-Tustarī, 143.
83 al-Sulamī, H{aqāiq al-Tafsīr, Vol. 2, 80.
84 al-Qushayrī, Lataif al-Isharat, Vol. 3, 235.
85 Ibn ‘Abbās, Tafsīr Ibn ‘Abbās, 590.
86 al-Tirmīdhī, Jāmi‘ al-Tirmīdhī, 3334.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

With the soundness of the heart being related to the soundness

of the body,87 a consequence is that the individual with a qalb salīm is
“free from ignorance and vice and moral depravity”88 and “does not
follow carnal soul desires.”89 That the qalb salīm is “a heart free of
hatred for the Companions of the Prophet”90 relates to the Prophet
Muhammad’s statement about the Helpers in Medina (ans}ār) “no one
loves them but a believer, and no one hates them but a hypocrite.
Whoever loves them, Allah will love him, and whoever hates them,
Allah will hate him.”91 As carriers of the message and methodology of
Islam from the Prophet Muhammad, the importance placed on the
companions is understandable for rejecting them entails rejecting the
aspects of Islam that they are recorded as having transmitted.
Focused as it is on the Oneness of Allah (tawh}īd) the qalb salīm
works within the secondary causes without giving them priority.
Relating everything as being from Allah, the possessor of a qalb salīm
is not mired in the fluctuations of the secondary causes and for this
reason, “nothing in the world confuses a sound heart.” 92
Furthermore, by relating everything back to Allah, it is understandable
that the possessor of a qalb salīm “does not expect anything from
anyone even if they do anything good”93 to the point where they do
not expect any punishment or reward94 as these arise within the
secondary causes. From the preceding analysis, it becomes apparent
that the soundness of a sound heart arises due to its consistency as a
result of focusing on the source of the fluctuations that occur within
the secondary causes. The removal of hindrances that give rise to the
necessary epistemological shifts that result in a qalb salīm make it
understandable that most commentators would provide descriptions
of a sound heart by the qualities that it does not possess as this aids
others in identifying the qualities those qualities that hinder
development of a sound heart within themselves.

87 Muslim Ibn al-H{ajjāj, S{ah}īh} Muslim, 4094.

88 al-Rāzī, Mafātih} al-Ghayb, Vol. 26, 146.
89 al-Qushayrī, Lataif al-Isharat, Vol. 3, 15.
90 Ibn ‘Abbās, Tafsīr Ibn ‘Abbās, 476.
91 Muslim Ibn al-H{ajjāj, S{ah}īh} Muslim, 237.
92 Bursevi, Rūh} al-Bayān, 288.
93 al-Samaraqandī, Bah}r al-‘Ulūm, 476.
94 al-Jīlānī, Tafsīr al-Jīlānī, Vol., 368.

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The Importance of the Qalb Salīm

Just as those who possess a sound heart (qalb salīm) are free
from conjecture and opinion, they are also protected from the
burdens that arise from change and fluctuation. The Prophet
described the fluctuation as being a consequence of the relationship
between the individual and Allah, stating “indeed the hearts are
between two of Allah’s fingers, He changes them as He wills.”95 Ibn
‘Arabī “sees the heart as a place of constant change and fluctuation”,96
and it is this type of fluctuation described by the Prophet that he
feared for his community. Yet, it has been said that “a sound heart is
one protected and nurtured.”97 It is not that those upon a sound heart
are necessarily protected from calamities. Rather such individuals look
to the source of such events, as Ibn ‘At}ā’ Allah commented, “do not
stretch out your hand to take from creatures unless you see that the
Giver (al-Mu‘t}ī) amongst them is your Lord.”98 In doing so, those
upon a sound heart show correct etiquette (adab) to Allah, as Prophet
Ibrahim did in stating, “when I am ill, it is He who cures me” (26: 80),
attributing lack and need to themselves while attributing generosity,
the fulfilling of need, and the giving of health to Allah. It is in this
sense that “the sound heart is understood to be free of character
defects and spiritual blemishes.”99 It has been stated the universe and
the entire creation also, as manifestations of God’s attribute of Qudrah
(power), can be perceived like a book by the heart. Put differently,
that which is to understand and comprehend both the Qur’ān and the
‘book’ of the universe, is the heart.100
The heart that may be described as a sound heart (qalb salīm),
possessing the qualities described within this article and free of the
defects mentioned by previous authors, is one that has undergone
substantial soteriological development.
Further supporting the description of a sound heart by the
qualities that it does not possess, the type of soteriological
development undertaken is not to gain qualities. Rather, the type of
soteriological development undertaken is seen to be a freeing up of
the clutter that comes with giving primacy to the secondary causes.
95 al-Tirmīdhī, Jāmi‘ al-Tirmīdhī, 2140.
96 Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 106.
97 Hamza Yusuf, Purification of the Heart (Mountain View: Sandala, 2012), 181.
98 Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, Sufi Aphorisms, trans. Victor Danner (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973), 50.
99 Yusuf, Purification of the Heart, xiii.
100 Seker, “A Map of the Divine Faculty,” 52.

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 Soundness of the Heart: An Analysis of the Unique Qualities of the Qalb Salīm

The Prophet Muhammad stated, “no child is born except on al-fit}ra,

and then his parents convert him to Judaism or Christianity or to
Magianism.”101 Al-Ghazālī stated, “the basic primary innate
disposition (fit}ra) is necessarily a sound heart,”102 indicating both a
correspondence between the sound heart and the innate disposition
and that the quality of a sound heart involves returning to this innate
disposition, free from the conditioning mentioned by the Prophet
Muhammad. ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Alawī al-H{addād (d. 1132/1720) stated:
“To give the call to prayer (adhān) in the right ear of a newborn
baby, and the iqama in its left ear, to remind the child of its
primordial nature (fit}ra) according to which God has made
people, namely tawh}īd.”103
This highlights that there is an important link between the
human’s innate disposition (fit}ra) and the affirmation of Allah’s
Oneness (tawh}īd), which is also at the core of a sound heart (qalb
salīm). From this it makes sense to describe the sound heart by the
qualities that it does not possess because the development of such a
heart involves removing the conditioning imposed on the individual
by their society.

Concluding Remarks
The constant turning of everything back to Allah results in a
level of deference to the source of creation that is not mired in the
fluctuations within the secondary causes. This results in the
development of a range of virtues, such as certainty (yaqīn),
contentment (rid}ā), and nearness (qurb). Yet, rather than qualify a
sound heart (qalb salīm) by the virtues it possesses, traditional
descriptions have predominantly described it by those qualities that
are needed to be removed so as to move the individual closer to their
innate disposition. In attempting to understand what it means to have
a sound heart, it becomes apparent that this quality of heart, despite
being mentioned only twice within the Qur’ān, is both an important
quality and deserves greater attention for understanding the
expansiveness of the heart within Islam.

101 al-Bukhārī, S{ah}īh} al-Bukhārī, 4775.

102 Abū H{āmid al-Ghazālī, Mukhtas}ar Ih}yā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, trans. Marwan Khalaf
(Cyprus: Sophr, 2013), 255.
103 ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Alawī al-H{addād, The Lives of Man, trans. Mostafa al-Badawi

(Louisville: Fons Vitae, 1991), 18.

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