The Courage It Takes to Feel
Caspar David Friedrich, Monk by the Sea, 1808–10, oil on canvas
In common parlance, contentment sometimes connotes passivity and even disinterest. Some relate it to lack of feeling, or apathy. Those who misuse the word mean to say that a person doesn’t care; while those who abuse the word mean to say that a person is not affected by anything. However, Allah and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ praise contentment as a virtue, whereas I’ve never read of Allah praising a dead heart—a person who feels nothing. Allah says, “the worst creatures in God’s eyes are those who are (willfully) deaf and dull, who do not reason (Qur’an 8:22).” Sufyan Al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, spoke of this phenomenon: “A time will come to people in which the hearts are dead even as the bodies are alive (Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ 7/82).” In Surah Hadid, Allah distinguishes between believers and disbelievers on the basis of the qualities and activities of their hearts: “Is it not time for believers to humble their hearts to the remembrance of God and the Truth that has been revealed, and not to be like those who received the Scripture before them, whose time was extended but whose hearts hardened and many of whom were lawbreakers?” (Qur’an 57: 16) Believers are those whose hearts are responsive to God; their hearts quiver like flowers nudged by the breezes of Allah’s remembrance. The believer’s heart dynamically moves in humility, lowering itself in awe and appreciation, embracing its small part among the immeasurable expanse of creation. Allah says, “O contented soul, return to your Lord pleased and well-pleasing. Join My servant, and enter My paradise (89:27-30).” A believer’s heart is not dead: it feels gratitude like the Prophet ﷺ weeping in salat and tenderness like the Prophet ﷺ holding his granddaughter Umamah in prayer. The humility of a believer’s heart protects it from going to emotional extremes that are disordered and untethered, but the heart is still meant to feel. In Arabic, the heart (qalb) connotes turning and movement. In Latin cor (from which is derived cardiac and courage) implies that the heart is the seat of inner emotional strength and that feeling true emotion takes courage.