Make room for a softer heart

A hardened heart becomes less responsive to remembrance and revelation. Yet the Qur’an places the revival of hearts alongside the revival of lifeless earth (57:16–17): hardness is not a reason to give up hope. Ask Allah to make the heart receptive again.

Remember Allah with tongue and heart; read Qur’an with reflection; reduce excessive empty talk and heedless laughter; remember death and the Hereafter; and visit graves with the proper etiquette and guidance. Keep righteous company and spend time in night worship and humble supplication before dawn.

Mercy toward people is also part of this work. Feed those in need and care for orphans. A gentler heart is cultivated through remembrance, repentance, restraint and compassionate action—not solely by trying to feel more during prayer.