The Human Form

Imagine your body was a car

Ruh = the starter and alternator
Nafs = the wild engine
Qalb = the driver
Aql = the GPS

Maintaining your car (Aligning with Allah)

Ruh needs to be uncovered (Deep worship, presence in salah)
Qalb needs to be purified (Sincerity, zikr, humility)
Nafs needs to be disciplined (Fasting, controlling desires)
Aql needs to be guided by revelation (Reflection & knowledge)

You're not just a body. You are a symphony of soul, heart, intellect & self.
You feel it when they are aligned: peace, clarity, closeness.

RUH (The Soul)

It gives you life & consciousness.

Ruh is pure by origin
Always drawn to Allah
You can't 'clean' the ruh you can only let it shine again.
Doesn't sin - it's your nafs that pulls away.

NAFS (The Lower Self)

Nafs is like a wild horse: either it rides you, or you ride it.
Meaning: Your ego, urges, inner cravings. Always pulling you down.

Levels of your nafs:

Ammarah: Commands to evil
Lawwamah: Self-reproaching
Mutma'innah: Tranquil

AQL (The intellect)

The reasoning, rational side of you. Aql is linked to your qalb. If your heart is clean, your thinking is clear. But if your heart is corrupt, even your logic will deceive you.

Aql helps with:

Weighing consequences
Understand truth
Learning, thinking, reflecting

QALB (The spiritual heart)

"They have hearts they do not understand with. 7:179

"The Day when neither wealth nor children will benefit, except someone who comes to Allah with a sound heart" Surah Ash-Shu'Ara 26:88-89

The Qalb is your center of decision, love, sincerity and faith. If it's pure, your whole life aligns. It "turns" between truth & falsehood. Your ability to see the truth starts inside your chest, not your head. If the qalb submits to the ruh, your nafs & Aql will follow, but if the qalb follows the nafs, your entire being gets lost. Allah is not just after how much you know. He's after how much you feel, fear & love. That's where real faith lives.

States of the heart:

Dead (Mayyit)
Sick (Marid)
Hard (Qasi)
Sound (Salim)

Allah didn't say the disbelievers were dumb. He said their hearts were sealed. He didn't say the hypocrites had no intellect. He said they had sick hearts. So don't ask "Why can't they understand islam?" Ask "What happened to their hearts?" The mind can be smart but the heart decides if it let's the light in.

The Arabic word for "heart" (Qalb) literally means to turn or to flip. That's because the heart is always shifting. One day soft, the next hard. One day awake, the next asleep. The Quran speaks to the heart more because it's the true battlefield. If you don't guard it, nothing else in you will stay standing.

So next time you ask "Why isn't the Quran moving me?" "Why does my iman feel low?" Don't rush to watch a lecture or debate someone. Go sit with your heart. Clean it. Talk to it. Because maybe, just maybe...it's not your mind that's needs proof. It's your heart that needs to remember.

LUBB AL QALB (The very core of the heart)

The pure, innermost faculty of understanding and intellect.