Guided Hearts

One of the entries for receiving and understanding the Divine Light is the heart that the Almighty God has given it so much capacity and potentiality to be the reservoir of the endless teachings of the universe. On one hand, the creation of this divine gift (heart) is in a way that it becomes dark by the smallest deviation, negligence, or perversion, to the point where it may overturn and due to its hardness a seal of inferiority and a denial of right is imprinted on it. The nature of the heart, its value, the extent of its affectability by actions and behavior, its soundness or illness and the various usages of the heart in the Quran are among the topics discussed in this article. The expansion and dimensions of this issue, according to the verses of the Qur'an, are so extensive that over a hundred and twenty verses of the Quran are about the importance and value of the heart, the recognition of the diseases of the heart and ways of prosperity and human misery through the heart. Referring to divine verses and existing interpretations, one can find that the hearts of believers which are capable of being guided, as well as the heart of infallibles which are incapable of being guided, each with distinct characteristics, are shaped in the light of the actions and behavior of human beings and reaches the peak of Perfection or bottom of humiliation. The whole endeavor of the Qur'an is to make a person realize that our actions and our beliefs directly affect the darkness or brightness of our heart, and this gloom or lightness are the main determinant of happiness or hardship of humanity. The alteration, the softness or hardness of the hearts are related only to the actions of humans, and if it is interpreted in the Qur'an as the hearts which are sealed, it is to picture the punishment following sins. Therefore, according to the above verses, it can be said that good and bad deeds directly affect the darkness and lightness of the hearts and, consequently, affect the happiness or misfortune of man.