Ibn Daud - A Handbook of Spiritual Medicine

CHAPTER 15
Heedlessness
HEEDLESSNESS
الغَفْلَة [Ghaflah]
Heedlessness or ghaflah is being careless (paying a lack of
attention) to what is infinitely more important in one’s life (than
material goods), i.e. what Allāh has commanded us to do and
what has been prohibited. The heedlessness referenced here
is the most menacing form: being heedless of divine purpose,
accountability, the resurrection, the ultimate standing, and
judgement in the Hereafter.
Scholars have said that heedlessness is the one pathogen that
breeds all the diseases of the heart. A mughaffal (a simpleton)
is a person who is easily fooled, i.e. one who is diverted away
from what is essential and consequential, yet inclined toward
what is temporary and ultimately pointless.
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