The Garden of Knowledge

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

13 Rajab 1447/02 January 2026

All praise is due to Allah, the Cherisher, Sustainer, Nourisher and Provider of the entire creation. May peace, blessings and salutations be upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammed ﷺ.

In his Hikam, Ibn Ata’illah says the following:

تشَوُّفُك إلى ما بَطُنَ فيك من العيوب خيرٌ مِن تشوُّفِك إلى ما حُجِبَ عنك من الغيوب

Your being on the lookout for the vices hidden within you is better than your being on the lookout for the invisible realities veiled from you. (al-Iskandarī)

A really important concept for our spiritual growth as humans is to have a look within oneself and identify the faults of his inner self. Doing so will help purify  one’s actions from the calamities of the heart, one’s inside will cease to be a field of evil.

Imam Ghazzali, May Allah be pleased with him, mentions in his book Riyadat al Nafs 4 ways on how a person can become aware of his faults: 1) Sit infront of a Shaykh who has insight about faults and calamities of the heart and follow the Shaykh’s direction and advice. 2) Keep company of a sincere friend to keep a lookout on his state and actions and inform him of what remains hidden of his blameworthy actions. 3) Find out vices from ones enemies as such things undoubtedly flow off their tongues. 4) Mix with other people, notice their flows and acknowledge when he realizes he possesses the same flaws.

One of the vices/defects within is Hasad (envy). Allah says in the Holy Quran:

وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ

And from the evil of an envier when he envies.” 113:5

It is said said that the envier will never prevail. It is also said: “The envier is a violent tyrant, for he never lets go and leaves nothing behind him.” Umar b. Abd al-Aziz said: “I have not seen an oppressor who would resemble more the oppressed than the envier. His constant grief and incessant panting.” It is said: “Among the sins of the envier is that he flatters, when he is present, backbites when he is absent, and rejoices at calamity when it befalls [others].”

From the above we can see how damaging it is to have envy and we should stay away from this. Envy usually happens when we see people have things we don’t have. For example, you may see someone driving a smart car and you are driving a much smaller car and not very stylish car. Seeing them driving that car can bring about envy and hatred in our heart for that person and leads us to wishing bad and cursing them, which is absurd because they did not do anything to wrong us. Instead we need to make shukr to Allah for what we have.

This reminds me of a story shared by scholars regarding the importance of shukr. There was a man driving a small car and he saw a man driving a fancy car, so he said, Shukr, all thanks and praise be to Allah that I atleast have a car to move around. A man on a bicycle saw the man in the car and said Shukr, all thanks and praise be to Allah that I atleast have a bicycle to move around with. A man who was walking saw this man on the bicycle and said Shukr, all praise and thanks be to Allah that I have legs to walk around with. What do we notice from this short story, all of the men made shukr and praised Allah for what they had. They never envy the next person, nor did they wish ill for the next person and this is the type of people we need to become.

Another vice of the heart is backbiting. Allah says in the Holy Quran:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ ۖ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا ۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَّحِيمٌ – 49:12

O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful.

It is said that Ibrahim bin Adham was invited to a dinner. He attended it. They were discussing a man who did not come. Some of them said: “He is boring!” Ibrahim said: “This is what my soul has done to me! I came to a party where people are slandered in their absence.” He left and would not eat for three days after that. It is also said: “The backbiter is like a man who has installed a catapult and started to shoot his good deeds in all directions. He backbites one who is in Khurasan, another who is in Syria, one who is in the Hijaz, another who is in the land of the Turks. He thus scatters his good deeds, and when he finally finds himself standing before Allah, he has nothing with him.” Yahya bin Muadh said: “Let each believer benefit from you in the following three ways: if you cannot be of help to him, at least do not harm him; if you cannot make him happy, at least do not make him sad; if you cannot praise him, at least do not blame him.”

Based from the above we can understand how severe backbiting is, so much so that Ibrahim bin Adham left the gathering he was in and this is a perfect example for us. When we witness people backbiting we should politely excuse ourselves. We don’t need to make a scene or call people out, but politely excuse ourselves from such a gathering. Many a times we don’t intend to backbite, but we end up doing so, that’s why it is so important that we think before we speak and if we see a conversation going in a direction which will lead to backbiting and slandering, we should gently change the topic.

The last vice that I would like to mention (there are many more) is pride. Allah says in the Holy Quran:

فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ

So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of who fears Him. – 53:32

لَا جَرَمَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْتَكْبِرِينَ

Assuredly, Allah knows what they conceal and what they declare. Indeed, He does not like the arrogant. – 16:23

Many a times when we achieve something we become proud and arrogant and we have this way we carry ourselves and sometimes we feel that we are better than others and believe that whatever we achieved was because of our effort. However we should not forget that it was only through the will of Allah that we could achieve such heights, and no matter what we achieve we should be humble and submit our achievement to Allah. We can make use of phrases such as : “Alhamdulilah, I have achieved such and such through the will of Allah”. One can make use of similar statements and not forget to thank and praise Allah. These achievements should not make us better than anyone else, infact we should take utmost advantage of this bounty that Allah has blessed us with and use it to help others and when we do so, there is no need to advertise and show everyone what we are doing, we should do it solely for the pleasure of Allah.

When we speak of being on the lookout for the invisible realities veiled from you it refers to concealed destiny and knowledge and this is a selfish act which one has no right to. One should be pleased with the veiled realities and not allow ones heart and mind to wonder and on about it. We should be seekers of Istiqama and not seekers of miracles. Allah Almighty seeks that we continually practice Islam while our nafs seek miracles. It is better for us to forego our selfish desire and need and fulfill that which our Lord had desired for us.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the importance of looking for the invisible hidden vices within us. Doing so will help bring us closer to Allah and we should prioritize this over looking at invisible realities which have been veiled from us. We should try our utmost best to avoid envy and be happy for our fellow brothers and we should try our best to avoid having pride when Allah blesses with success. Lastly we should be weary of the conversations we get involved in, sometimes we may start backbiting or even slandering a person. All these actions leaves a stain in our heart, avoiding these actions purify our hearts.

I make dua to Allah to protect us all from these vices and may Allah grant us all the ability to stray away from them and purify our hearts.