The word · The heart
الغَفْلَة
Ghaflah
Heedlessness: not the denial of the truth, but the habit of never getting round to it.
Also written · Ghafla · Gaflah · Ghafil · Ghaafil · Gafil · Heedlessness · Negligence · Forgetfulness of Allah · Distraction · Spiritual numbness · Being heedless
The meaning
What Ghaflah means in Islam
The Qur'an says people's reckoning has drawn near while they turn away heedless (Qur'an 21:1), and describes the heedless as further astray than cattle (Qur'an 7:179). It is the ordinary condition that dhikr exists to interrupt, which is one reason the adhkar are attached to times of day rather than to moods. Ghaflah is rarely a decision. It is what happens by default.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- DhikrRemembrance of Allah, in set phrases and in the wider habit of not forgetting Him.الذِّكْر
- AdhkarThe set remembrances of the day: morning, evening, sleeping, waking, eating, travel and distress.الأَذْكَار
- Qaswat al-QalbHardness of heart: the state in which reminders arrive and nothing moves.قَسْوَةُ القَلْب
- MuhasabahTaking account of yourself: a regular, honest review of what you did and why.المُحَاسَبَة
More from The heart
- 'AfwPardon: dropping a wrong you are owed, without the other person having to earn it.العَفْو
- HasadEnvy: wishing a blessing would leave someone, rather than wishing you had one too.الحَسَد
- KadhibLying: saying what you know is not so, in speech, in a hint, or in a misleading silence.الكَذِب
- NasihahSincere advice: wanting good for someone and telling them, privately and without an audience.النَّصِيحَة
- SakinahA stillness Allah sends down into the heart, usually at the moment it is least expected.السَّكِينَة
- TamimahAn amulet worn for protection, whose ruling depends on what has been put inside it.التَّمِيمَة