who is obeyed by his forces. When such a king commands his troops, they carry out his orders. Some scholars, however, maintain that this illustration is still inferior to the Prophet’s ﷺ statement, “If it is sound, the whole body is sound,” for while the king may be obeyed, his soldiers do not become righteous merely because he is righteous. The heart, by contrast, when it is sound the body is sound, and when it is filled with taqwa the body is filled with taqwa.

Know that some people misuse this hadith to argue falsely. If you enjoin one of them to do good or forbid him from evil, he says, “Taqwa is here,” pointing to his chest. Tell him: “Do not shave your beard, for shaving the beard is forbidden; it is the custom of the Magians and the idolaters, whereas letting the beard grow is the practice of the prophets, the messengers, and the righteous friends of Allah.” When you say that, he replies, “Taqwa is here—taqwa is here.” We answer, “You have lied; there is no taqwa in your heart. Had taqwa truly been in your heart, you would have feared Allah, because when the heart fears Allah, the limbs follow suit, and when the heart plunges into disobedience, the limbs plunge into it as well.”

His words, “Taqwa is here,” accompanied by his gesture to his chest, prove that the intellect resides in the heart that is in the chest, exactly as the Qur’an affirms: “Have they not traveled through the land so that hearts with which they might reason could thus be given to them, or ears with which they could hear? For indeed it is not the eyes that become blind, but the hearts within the chests that grow blind” (al-Hajj 46). He first says, “hearts with which they reason,” then says, “but the hearts that are in the chests.”

Thus the heart is not the brain, as some ignorant people imagine; the intellect is in the heart. Admittedly, the brain has an effect on a person’s actions, movements, and stillness, yet—as they have put it—the brain is like a servant: it prepares and “cooks” matters and then dispatches them