How can a Person make His Heart Observant during the Prayer?

Ibn al-Qayyim wrote:

The person can make his heart attuned to the remembrance of Allah if he is able to conquer his lusts and desires. If not, his heart will be conquered by his lusts and his desires have taken him prisoner. In that case, Satan will have found a place to sit and lurk. How can a person then become free of his secret whispering and thoughts?

The hearts are of three kinds: A heart which is free of any faith or goodness. This is the heart of the wrongdoer (to his own soul). Satan can take a rest from whispering into such a heart because it is his home or land. He decides within it whatever he pleases. He is completely established in that heart.

The second type of heart is a heart which is somewhat lit by the light of faith. Its lamp is there. But there is also the darkness of lusts and desires within the same heart. Satan comes to this heart and must also leave it at times. In such a heart, Satan is at war. Such a heart has different circumstances in different people. Some hearts of this nature are victorious over Satan the majority of the time, while others are losers to Satan the majority of the time. While others run about fifty-fifty.

The third type of heart is a heart which is filled with the light of faith which completely removes the lusts and their veils as well as the darkness from them. Faith is a type of radiance that burns the whispering whenever it comes close. It is like the stars in the heavens; if Satan approaches, then meteors are thrown at them and burn them. The heavens are not more inviolable than the believer. Allah protects the believer to a greater degree than He protects the heavens. The heavens are the places of worship for the angels and the place from whence comes the revelation and in it are the lights of obedience to Allah. But the heart of the believer contains the unicity of Allah, love for Allah, cognizance of Allah and faith in Allah. In it are their lights. It has the right to be guarded and protected from the schemes of its enemies. Nothing will pass to it save that it will be guarded from it.

Here is an excellent analogy: There are three types of houses. The home of the king that contains his treasures, jewels, and so on. The home of the common man that contains his treasures and provisions. But his provisions are not like that of the king. And an empty house that does not contain anything. If a thief was coming to one of these houses to steal something, which one would he come to? If you said the empty house, then your answer does not make any sense because in that house there is nothing to steal. It was said to Ibn Abbas, “The Jews allege that they receive no mischievous whispering during their prayers.” He replied, “What is Satan to do with a heart that is ruined?” If you said the house of the king, that is an impossibility. It is too difficult to get into as there are always guards present that are watching the house. It would not be possible for the thief to enter therein. How will the thief even be able to get close to it? The only solution that is left for the thief is to go to the house of the common man. Therein is what will attract him.

Ponder this analogy. Let your heart think about it. This analogy perfectly describes the conditions of the three of hearts. The heart that is void of faith and goodness is the heart of the unbeliever and the hypocrite. That is the house of Satan. He protects himself therein and has peace there. He takes it as his abode. There is no treasure or provision for him to steal from there as it all belongs to him. Therefore there is no need for the mischievous whispering either.

As for the heart that is filled with the presence of Allah and His grandeur, love for Him, protection from Him and so forth, no devil would be able to steal anything from it. The best a devil could ever do is take advantage of one of those rare moments where the person is negligent, as this happens to all people and he is human. It is the custom of man that forgetfulness, heedlessness and similar aspects sometimes occur to them.

Wahb ibn Munabbih narrated that in some of the previous divine books it was recorded that Allah said, “I do not reside in houses as they cannot encompass Me. And what thing can encompass Me when the heavens are filled by My Throne? But I am in the heart of the faithful one who leaves everything besides me.” And that is the meaning of another report, “My heavens and My earth do not encompass Me, but the heart of My believing slave encompasses Me.”[1] A heart has the [belief in the] Oneness of Allah, knowledge of Allah, love for Him, belief in Him and affirmation of His promises in it as well as desires of the soul and its character and callers to desires.

The heart is between those two calls. Sometimes it tends to the call of faith, cognizance and love of Allah Alone. But at other times it tends to the call of Satan and lusts. That type of heart is coveted by Satan. But Allah gives support to whomsoever He wills, “Victory comes only from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.” Surah Al-‘Imran: 126). But that heart cannot be overtaken by Satan except through the use of his weapons. Satan enters into it and he finds his weapons there [in the person’s heart] and he takes them and fights with them. Satan’s weapons are the lusts, doubts, deceptions and false hopes that are found in the heart. Satan finds these within the heart and uses them against the heart. But if the person has a stronger faith, it will be able to fight off Satan and overcome him.

Otherwise the place is for Satan. There is no power or might except Allah. If the person permits Satan to enter, and he opens the door to his house and allows him to come in and use those weapons to fight himself with, then he can only blame himself.