The Expansion of our Spiritual House (Real Heart, Consciousness)

The great experiences of Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) are an inspiration for humanity. Let us reflect on the concept of expansion of the heart and relate it to spiritual and luminous stature of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.): “Expansion of the Heart (Sharh-i Sadr): Sharh-i Sadr literally means to open the chest, that is, the expansion of the heart, which in turn means the expansion of the human soul, because the centre of the soul is the heart and mind. Although expansion and contraction are the characteristics of the body and not of the soul, yet the world of similitude (mithal), which is subtle and spiritual, is like this world in expansion and breadth, as God says: “And vie one with another for forgiveness from your Lord, and for a paradise as wide as are the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who are righteous.” (Holy Qur’an 3:133) 

This verse reveals the wisdom that the above-mentioned Paradise is the spiritual form of this Universe, or it is in the form of soul of this huge universe, namely the Universal Soul. It should be understood that, just as everything has a subtle spiritual form, this huge universe also has a subtle, spiritual form, which is the world of similitude, the Paradise mentioned above, as well as the extremely great expansion of the spiritual kind. 

As the concept of spiritual expansion is established, the expansion of the heart can also be explained. God says: “Is he whose heart Allah has expanded for Islam and follows (the guidance of) a Light from His Lord (equal to the one who has gone astray)? Then woe unto those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allah. Such are in plain error.” (Holy Qur’an 39:22). 

This verse shows that when a mu’min, melting in fire of true love, is engrossed in the remembrance of God in such a way that he forgets everything, save the remembrance of God, to the extent that he does not know whether he is awake or in the world of dream, his soul expands and then the Light starts to appear. 

Regarding the Holy Prophet, the Holy Qur’an says, “Did not We open your heart?” (94:1). This means that the blessed heart of the Prophet, i.e., his pure soul was expanded to the ultimate and as a result he could see the spiritual form of the entire universe in his own pure soul.”
[Source: Pir Nasir-i Khusraw and Spirituality, pages 33-34]