The noble scholar of the salaf, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah is quoted on the topic of purification of the heart. Ibn al-Qayyim was famous for such topics.

Concerning the diseases of the heart, he mentions:

1. The disease of doubts
2. The disease of desires

Ibn al-Qayyim expounds, “the sick body is harmed by things which do not affect the healthy body…a small amount of heat or cold (the sick one being intolerant of this, someone healthy – unbothered), likewise movement (the healthy person is unihibited, the sick person struggles), likewise the heart (like the body) can become sick, if there is a disease in the heart, then the smallest doubt, lust or desire may affect it because the diseased heart may not be able to repel the doubt when faced with it. The heart that is healthy and strong, it repels those things easily and even more than that!”

From the other topics discussed:

• How do we attain happiness?
• The healthiness of one’s heart is the basis of all good
• The Qurʾān is a cure for the heart
• The Qurʾān is a cure for both the diseases of doubts and desires
• The Qurʾān will allow one to understand the importance of tawḥīd, the evil of shirk, the importance of īmān, the dangers of sins, the importance of righteous works, the detriment of wasting time
• If we constantly open up our ears to bāṭil, eventually it will cause us to distort the truth from its rightful place, if we accept it, we will love it (bāṭil) and be pleased with it