Thoughts that Revolve in the Soul

Ibnul Qayyim رحمه الله said:

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 eemaan 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.

Allaah سُبحانه وتعالى 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.

{al-Fawaa’id pg. 31 and 173-174}