Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, rahimahullah, was one of the most penetrating scholars of the heart in the entire Islamic tradition. A student of Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and a titan of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaah, his writings on the inner states of the worshipper remain among the most powerful and relevant in our time. His book Inner Dimensions of the Prayer is not simply about the mechanics of salah — it is about what happens to the heart when salah is performed with presence, understanding, and sincerity, and what is lost when it is not.
The following excerpt is taken from Section 1.3: The Heart Becomes Dry When Devoid of Tawhid. Read it slowly. It is not meant to be rushed.
Section 1.3 — The Heart Becomes Dry When Devoid of Tawhid
Similarly is the case with the heart of the 'abd (of Allah) — it becomes dried whenever it is devoid of:
- Love (hubb) for Allah
- Knowledge about Him
- His remembrance (dhikr)
- Supplication and invocation
- Most importantly, tawhid
This is because the heat of desire (nafs) and the fires of lust (shahwa) infiltrating the heart cause the branches (i.e. limbs) to become unresponsive, inflexible and inert — whenever the 'abd of Allah intends to employ them in good deeds. Under these circumstances, the tree including its branches is rendered useless; its only fitting use is as fuel for (Hell) fire.
Allah said:
"Then woe unto those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of Allah. Such are in plain error."
(Al-Zumar 39:22)
When the heart is watered with the rains of Mercy, the branches will be soft, moist, pliable and responsive; if you call them for the worship of Allah, they submit and hasten to obey, letting you reap from each branch the fruits of (true) enslavement to Allah, whose essence is the irrigation of the heart, which influences the functioning of the heart and the limbs.
On the other hand, when the heart is parched and dried — rigid and hardened — the branches do not perform any good deeds because the essence of life is missing from the heart, thus the limbs are cut off from life accordingly. And even though each limb has been created and prepared to render a unique act of worship demonstrating an aspect of mankind's servitude to Allah, the limbs cannot produce their anticipated harvest due to the incapacity and hindrance in their functioning.
A Reflection
What Ibn al-Qayyim is describing here is not abstract theology. It is a lived reality that every Muslim who has experienced both khushu' and its absence will immediately recognise.
The limbs follow the heart. When the heart is alive — irrigated by tawhid, love of Allah, dhikr, and knowledge — the body responds. Salah feels different. Prostration feels different. Recitation lands differently. But when the heart is dry, the limbs go through the motions while the soul remains untouched. The salah is performed, but the benefit of the salah — its fruit — is absent.
Ibn al-Qayyim connects this dryness directly to the absence of tawhid. Not the absence of knowing that Allah exists — but the absence of tawhid as a living, breathing reality in the heart: loving Allah above all else, knowing Him through His Names and Attributes, remembering Him constantly, turning to Him in every state. When these are absent, something dies inside — and the limbs reflect that death.
This is why the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah have always said that tawhid is not merely a chapter you study once and move on from. It is the water the heart must be continually irrigated with. Without it, everything dries up.
About the Book
Inner Dimensions of the Prayer by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah is available now at The Islamic Book Cafe for $12.00. It is one of the most important books a Muslim can own on the subject of salah — not how to perform it, but how to be present in it.
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Verily a man finishes his prayer while only a tenth of his prayer is recorded for him, or a ninth, or an eighth, or a seventh, or a sixth, or a fifth, or a fourth, or a third, or a half." (Abu Dawud — authenticated by al-Albani)
May Allah make our hearts alive, our salah complete, and our limbs obedient to Him. Ameen.
Baarakallahu feekum — The Islamic Book Cafe | Portland, Oregon
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