The Heart and why you should Quit Smoking.

I see this arab brother every year. He is frail but sturdy, scraggly but tidy. He drives a cab – a favorite profession amongst immigrant Muslims in NYC. He always smiles and in his voice you can hear the effects of too many years of inhaling smoke, the smoke from Marlboro cigarettes, on his throat – but it is till nice to hear his voice.

We first met when I too enjoyed that pastime from time to time. knowing full well that it was a nasty and dirty habit and that it was no good for me. Still, our propensity is to think of goods and bads, particularly when it comes to matters of the physical body, purely in terms of scientific ramifications. We never think of the unseen.

I recall him standing outside the Masjid one day during Ramadan, we had just broken our fast, and it was still decent weather so people were not huddled inside. The after sunset prayer was offered, and the meal was eaten, but other people – like him – had other more important matters to attend to. He needed a cigarette.

I looked at him when I exited and laughed a little and asked if he was going to give them up for the month of Mercy – Ramadan. He smiled, he knew he should have but he did not. Now, I see him often. We sometimes arrive at the Masjid for the mid-afternoon prayer around the same time, just after the larger group has prayed, and so we pray together. Almost everytime I see him I ask : “you quit yet?” and he laughs and says, “no, but I should” and then we laugh and go about our way.

Yesterday, after being reminded of the importance of the dua just before you break your fast, i was sitting in the same masajid where we often run into one another, I made that dua and wiped tears from my eyes - praying of matters of the heart nonetheless, and I looked up. The man who calls us to prayer was walking towards the Mihrab, the part of the mosque that is pointing to Mecca, and then my buddy passed by me. I asked the same question:

“you quit this Ramadan?”

“no, no,” he laughs, “they’re ready for just after prayer” he said, pulling a pack of Marlboro cigarettes out of his pocket.

Then I told him what made me never want to even think about smoking again. What made me truly ashamed for my soul and for the souls of others that smoke and for the souls of all the people in the world that are connected to those that smoke. It all started when I read a translation of the writings of a scholar named Ibn Al-Qayyem, well- really it started when a Shaikh from Turim said in a class:

“tell me one part of the Quran that talks about your brain, you can’t,” he continued, “Allah mentions the heart repeatedly but not the brain”

The heart.

We live in such a cerebral place that we can rationalize near anything. We can come up with a reason to kill someone. But our heart would have us shaking and convulsing at doing such a terrible act. Similarly to our addictions, our compulsions, our inner truths, our illusions. We can rationalize and intellectualize all of those things to be truths, or that we have our addictions under control, that we even have our emotions under control, or that our illusions are real, and our hidden truths no longer exist – but our heart, our heart forces the truth out – always.

It is this pulsating glob of flesh that sends blood to every part of our body – literally having an effect on the entire magnificent system. In Ibn Al-Qayyem’s writings I learned a simple scientific truth of the heart – that it is a warm organ and it is surrounded by a cooling organ – the lungs.

The translator added: “the lungs have been made as a ventilator for it (the heart) and they constantly blow on it (to keep it cool). This is because the heart is the hottest of the body parts. Rather it is a spring of heat.”

I understand now that when we smoke we are inhaling the corrosive and the burning and it is enveloping our heart - already hot and now we singe it from an outside source. We stain and put a mark on our hearts. We already deal with heartache and sorrow, but the heart can overcome these things, it is built to hold and to forget and to stay beating. 

Now, I also understand that in the realm of the unseen:

The translator added: “The heart provides energy to the senses, a non-physical energy that does not require any particular paths and nerves to be it carrier”

What then are we constricting when we inhale pollutants? What about the pollutants in the air or in the food that we eat? I focus on the act of smoking because it is a deliberate and conscious act that is preventable. It is the cause of millions of deaths every year and yet we knowingly choose to engage in it. For a moment think again about all of the things you inhale on a daily basis. If you could control all of it in a positive way – would you not?

The rational mind can kill another. The rational mind can kill itself. The heart is unable to cosign on this.

The Prophet (peace and Blessings be Upon him), reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, said:

“Verily, there is in the body a piece of flesh, that if it is correct, the rest of the body will be correct due to it, and if it is corrupt, then the rest of the body will be corrupt due to it. Verily, it is the heart.”

I shared this with the brother. He shook his head. I patted my hand on my heart and asked him if he would start thinking about his heart when he took a drag of his cigarette. “ I need to” I replied.

If you smoke. So do you. The Creator Knows Best.

 

bb

 

Comments

[dina]

oh, the heart... so reliable. we let it down so much... and it keeps beating on that steady rhythm. resilient.

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cigarette smoking is a dangerous to our health.