THE VIRTUE OF THE MIND:
The excellence of a thing is known by its fruits, and from among the fruits of the mind is knowing the Creator, may He be exalted. The mind contemplates the proof of the existence of the Creator until it knows Him. It contemplates the proofs of the truthfulness of the Prophets until it recognizes their truthfulness. The mind then encourages obedience to Allah and His Messengers, SubhanAllah. The mind taught the body to relinquish the life of this world for promises of the Hereafter. Its existence causes the human beings have excellence over the animals. The mind qualifies man for the speech of Allah and His commandments. With it, man reaches the highest of ranks that can be reached for the good of this life and the good of the Hereafter, in knowledge, speech and action.
May Allah enable us to gain the most of this blessing that is our mind, to use it to see His signs and to put into practice His commandments, in order to strive and attain the highest station in his Jennah. Ameen.
DISPRAISE OF DESIRES:
Desire or Hawa is the inclination of one’s nature to what suits it. This is not a matter for concern when what is sought is lawful. However, it must be dispraised when it is used to pursue impermissible acts or indulge in excess.
We should know that part of our inner self is intellectual, the virtue of which is wisdom, the vice of which is ignorance. Part of it is elicited, the virtue of which is poignancy, the vice of which is cowardice. Part of it is lustful, the virtue of which is chastity and the vice of which is unrestrained Hawa.
Restraining oneself and practicing patience in the face of vice is a merit of the inner self, and through it a person can endure both goodness and evil. Whoever lacks patience and allows their Hawa to lead their mind has been made the subject of their own desires. Ultimately, even if they were to get all the things that they desire, they will be harmed by them instead of benefitting from them, and experience sadness where they expected happiness to be.
Human beings are favoured over animals because of the intelligence or their mind. The mind is designated to enable us to retrain ourselves from following our desires. Therefore when one rejects both Divine commandments and the better judgement of their own mind in order to follow their desires, they become no better than animal.
A person of sound mind should comprehend that enduring hardship when contradicting their Hawa is easier than enduring what comes from following it. Know that the example of Hawa is like a rampant flowing water leading the ship of one’s nature. If we allow Hawa to lead our actions it will take us into troubled waters. Contemplating these matters makes it easier for us to reject the callings of our Hawa.
THE PERSPECTIVES OF THE MIND AND DESIRES
Know, dear reader, that our desires, call to attaining pleasure without any consideration as to the consequences. Even though we might know that to satisfy our desires might lead to negative consequences, Hawa turns us away from reflecting on this. This is what takes us lower than the state of the animals, because the animals do not have the capacity to reflect.
The similitude of Hawa is that of an ignorant boy or a gluttonous sick person. For this reason, when the mind perceives something that differs to Hawa’s entreaty, the wise and noble person should consult their mind and be patient on what their mind orders them to do.
Remember, that knowing the excellence of the mind is not the same as favouring it. We should use our minds to contemplate the consequences of following the call of our desires, and reflect on how we would feel if our actions became exposed to the people. We should consider our state after the satisfaction of answering our desires has passed. If we are patient, and use our minds to strive to overcome our desires, we will feel stronger and our desires will become more subdued.