A reflection on Surah An-Nas and Surah Ar-Ra'd 13:28 - why true tranquility of the heart is found only in the remembrance of Allah (SWT).
Removing a harmful thought is only half the work; something has to take its place. At Darus Saulieghien Quraan Academy, we see this in our students' own routines, a heart that is not filled with dhikr rarely stays empty for long, something else moves in. The Qur'an is direct about what should fill it instead.
Where the Heart Finds Rest
Allah (SWT) says:
أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ
"Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured." (Surah Ar-Ra'd 13:28)
People search for peace through comfort, achievement, or distraction, and some of these provide temporary relief. But the heart was created to know Allah (SWT) and remain connected to Him, and nothing else can fully satisfy what it was made for. This is why a person can hold many blessings and still feel restless, while another faces real difficulty and still carries inner peace.
A Living Heart, Not a Dead One
The Prophet (SAW) said: "The example of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not remember his Lord is like the example of the living and the dead." (Sahih al-Bukhari 6407) Allah (SWT) also commands: "And remember your Lord within yourself in humility and in fear... in the mornings and the evenings. And do not be among the heedless." (Surah Al-A'raf 7:205)
We encourage our students to treat dhikr not as an extra, but as the thing that keeps the heart alive and steady between one page of memorisation and the next.
May Allah (SWT) settle our students' hearts through His remembrance, and keep them among the living, not the heedless. Ameen.