Water for the Fish
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Ibn Taymiyyah begins with the virtue of remembering Allah. And the Qur’an is full of it. Remember Me, and I will remember you. And: truly, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, once asked his companions: shall I not tell you of the best of your deeds, the purest in the sight of your King, the highest in raising your rank, better for you than spending gold and silver, and better than meeting your enemy in battle? They said: yes. He said: the remembrance of Allah.
In another hadith, in Sahih Muslim, he said: the mufarridun have gone ahead. They asked, who are the mufarridun? He said: the men and women who remember Allah often.
Ibn Taymiyyah’s student, Ibn al-Qayyim, reported that his teacher used to say: remembrance is to the heart what water is to the fish. So what happens to a fish when it is taken out of the water?
Think about that. A fish out of water does not die immediately. It struggles. It gasps. It becomes weaker and weaker. That is a heart without remembrance. Anxious, restless, struggling to breathe.
The good news is that this water is free, and always near. SubhanAllah. Alhamdulillah. La ilaha illallah. Allahu akbar. A few words, and the heart can breathe again.
