Surah al-Shu'arā (The Poets)

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

[Surah al-Shu'arā (26): verse 89]
“Except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart.” (89)

“Sound” (salīm) means free from defect (sālim). This word follows a pattern used for adjectives, such as “tall,” “short,” and “graceful.” A sound heart is therefore one in which soundness has become an established quality, as knowledge and ability are established qualities in one described as knowledgeable or capable. Moreover, “sound” is the opposite of “diseased”—the contrast between the sound and the ailing.

People have expressed the meaning of a sound heart in various ways.

What encompasses all these explanations is that it is a heart free from every desire that contravenes Allah’s commands and prohibitions, and from every doubt that contradicts what He has declared. It is free from servitude to anyone besides Him and from accepting anyone other than His Messenger as its authority. Its love is thus sound, and it accepts His Messenger as its authority in its fear and hope, its reliance upon Allah, its turning to Him, its humility before Him, its preference for His pleasure in every circumstance, and its avoidance of His displeasure by every means. This is the true nature of servitude, which is due to Allah alone.

A sound heart, then, is one whose servitude is free from any share belonging to anyone other than Allah, in any respect. Rather, its servitude is devoted purely to Allah Most High: in its will, love, reliance, turning to Him,