Is your mind a masjid?

Worship or ibadah is not confined to the prayer mat.

hourofqadr

Apr 19, 2025

Assalamu'alaikum wr wb my dear friend!

Here are 2 Ideas, A Verse to Reflect Upon & One Question for you 👇

Two Ideas this week

1. Everyone has a masjid to go to, but not everyone has a mind that reflects a masjid

A masjid is a sacred space dedicated for the remembrance of Allah. But we are not always in the mosque... Yet we find some people who carry a calm or tranquility no matter where they are.

They have reached a higher level of God-consciousness & remembrance towards Allah. When they speak, their words naturally refer back to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.

Their minds are not filled with worldly clutter, corrupt ideologies and things that do not concern their Islam or akhirah. Their mind is like a masjid, a sacred space that is in remembrance of Allah.

Is your mind a sacred space? Or have you allowed the noise of dunya to fill it up?

2. Ibadah of the mind

Very little is known about the brain. Despite major advances, scientists cannot fully explain consciousness, self-awareness, memories and imagination… among so many other things.

Yet how beautiful that through our minds we are able to connect to Allah, to His creations and have our human experiences. We can reflect on His signs and have our own inner dialogue.

Allah honoured us with the gift of intellect, and with Islam as a faith of reason, reflection and remembrance. The Quran repeatedly calls for us to think!

Before we begin to pray, we first have to set the intention in our minds. We have to learn about the prayer and its importance. Ibadah begins in our minds, before the physical ibadah.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“The example of one who remembers his Lord and one who does not remember is that of the living and the dead.”

[Sahih Bukhari 6407 & Sahih Muslim 779]

And the Quran tells us:

Can those who had been dead, to whom We gave life and a light with which they can walk among people, be compared to those in complete darkness from which they can never emerge? That is how the misdeeds of the disbelievers have been made appealing to them.
Surah Al-An’am 6:122

Why? The Quran compares disbelief to death and blindness whereas belief is compared to life and the ability to see.

If we are not careful, we risk dying before our death. How? It is when the body is alive, but the soul is numb, disconnected and lost.

This is why ibadah of the mind is so important: to think deeply, to remember Allah constantly, to renew our intentions often, and to discipline our minds from acting on our nafs or intrustive thoughts or whispers of shaytan.

We must guard our minds, especially from the negative influences of social media and the internet too.

A Verse to Reflect Upon

الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ
The ones who believe and their hearts are assured with the remembrance of Allah. Listen, the hearts find peace only in the remembrance of Allah.
Surah Ar-Ra’d 13:28

There are many translations of this verse, so let’s break down some of the arabic words to have a more complete understanding:

Root Word and Meaning of تَطْمَئِنُّ

تَطْمَئِنُّ comes from the root: ط م أ ن
The root word implies inner calm, serenity, reassurance, and a settled, unmoving heart.
t’s not just absence of anxiety — it refers to a deep, soul-level tranquility that removes agitation and instills certainty.

This word تَطْمَئِنُّ is used twice, and both times the word is directly tied to the word “قلب” qalb (heart). The repetition is intentional, so we should reflect how our well-being is deeply tied to the state of our spiritual hearts.

There is also a usage of أَلَا , “Ala”, a linguistic emphasis in Arabic which could also be understood as saying “Know this!” or “Take note!” or “Pay attention!“. The translation of Mufti Taqi Usmani uses the word “Listen”.

The word remembrance in arabic is Dhikr ذِكْر. There are many forms of remembrance of Allah.