Vain desire (hawa)

Hawa (desire) in the forty-first hadith of the Forty is the inclination of the soul, which should follow the revelation. The hadith: "None of you truly believes until his desire follows what I have brought." ¹

Ibn Rajab shows that following desire is the opposite of following the Messenger. He makes it a condition of faith that the inclination of the soul be subject to the Law, not its master. ¹

He notes that some desire produces arbitrariness in opinion, and the preference of appetite over evidence. ¹

Sha'rawi notes that the Jews and the Christians will not be pleased with the Prophet ﷺ until he follows their creed, and that each of the two communities rejects the other, so they do not share one satisfaction. ² He holds that guidance is God's guidance alone, while human guidance splits into many paths according to desire, and that desire is what the self wants when it is false and far from the truth. ³

The Sheikh says that desire darkens the heart, while faith, piety, remembrance of God and circles of knowledge light it ⁴.

The Sheikh says that a heart empty of love for God and longing for Him is filled by desire ⁵.

The Sheikh counts desire among the four enemies of a person, along with Satan, the world and the self, and says they are all his enemies ⁶.