Every Soul is a Grinding Stone

Ibn al Qayyim رحمه الله said in Al-Fawa’id:

“It is well known that man has not been given the power to kill his thoughts nor the strength to severe them. They invade him just as his breathing invades his body.

However, the strength of Iman and intellect helps him to accept his best thoughts, to be pleased with them, to experience peace and tranquility from them. It also helps him to repulse his most evil thoughts and dislike and recoil from them.

Allah created the soul similar to a grinding stone that goes round and round; one that does not stop; and always in need of something to grind. If seeds are placed therein, it will grind them. If stones are placed therein, it will still grind them.

So, the thoughts that revolve in the soul are like a seed that is placed in a grinding stone. That grinding stone is never left idle. Something or the other has to be placed inside it. So, from amongst the people are those whose grinding stone grinds seeds which comes out as flour which he and others derive benefit from.

But most of them grind soil, stones, straw and so forth so when the time of making the dough and baking comes; he sees the reality of what he ground.”

Allah (swt) says:

“By the soul and He who proportioned it and inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness. He has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who corrupts it.”

Sura Shams (91:7–10)

This shows that the soul contains both righteous and sinful inclinations. Success lies in purification; choosing to nurture the “seeds” of good thoughts and uproot the harmful ones.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“Indeed, Allah has forgiven my ummah for what crosses their minds so long as they do not speak of it or act upon it.”

Hadith: Bukhari & Muslim

This hadith clarifies that passing thoughts are not sinful in themselves. Rather, accountability begins when a person accepts, acts upon, or speaks about them.

Thus, like the grinding stone described by Ibn al-Qayyim, the heart never stops turning. If it is filled with remembrance, sincerity, and reflection, it produces benefit. If it is filled with heedlessness and sin, it produces regret.

The choice of what to place within it determines the final outcome.

An excerpt from my forthcoming book

Winnowing Winds: Footnotes on Fidelity and Fitnah