To Be Excellence is all about “Self-Purification”
“Self Purification”
Introduction:
Allah Rabbul Jallaluh created man
from three elements: mind, body and soul. The most noble of these three
elements is the soul which is a hidden secret from Allah;
“They question you about the soul. Say, 'The
Spirit is at my Lord's command, and you have been granted but little
knowledge.”
(Q, 17:85).
Allah Rabbul Jallaluh gave us a religion fit
for all these three elements; Islam for the body, faith for the mind and
excellence for the soul. Hence, a full integration is essential between these
three elements so as to have an “aligned” human being and this alignment can
never be achieved except through achieving a balance between all three elements.
This alignment and balance is the only way to help us walk in a straight line
(which is the shortest distance between two points) and with this humanity can
be set straight. If we become inclined to one element more than the others we
instantly become unaligned and we fall out of balance.
Most important element of all these
three and the most crucial is the element of excellence without which a Muslim
can never be complete. Excellence is all about self-purification which is the
subject of this article.
The human being is born and grows
up with wild lusts (and maybe immoral ones) and some of these lusts find their
way to us only through the traditions and habits of the people around us. No
faith can be straight while these ‘impurities’ lurk in the dark corners of the
human soul; that’s why self-purification is a prerequisite.
In three,
out of the four, instances we find ‘excellence’ mentioned in the Qur’an before
‘knowledge’ as a clear sign indicating the importance of self-purification in
building the Muslim personality. Knowledge without self-purification or
education is detrimental and it drives the person to conceit and arrogance
which might drive him widely to seek the world in a devastating and corrupting
way.
1. Al-Dhilal, part 2, page 3893.2).
Ighathat Al-Lahfan, Ibnul-Qayem, part 1, page 75 to 78. 3). Ihya’Ulum Al-Din,
part 3, page 4. 4). Abu-Dawood and Al-Tirmidhi.
5. Ighathat Al-Lahfan, part 2, page
75., 6). Al-Dhilal, part 6, page 3893.
7). Madarij Al-Salikin, 2/356.
9). Ighathat Al-Lahfan, part 2/ 49.
10. Al-Bukhari, 538. Muslim, 283.
1)1. Muslim, 284. 12.)Tafsir Al-Saadi,
3/293. 13). Al-Majmu’, 10/269. 14). Ighathat
Al-Lahfan, part 1/49. 13) . Madarij
Al-Salikin, 2/576. 16). Muslim, 2722.
17). Ihya’Ulum Al-Din, part 4, page 382. 1819. Ighathat Al-Lahfan, part 1, page
80. 19). Ihya’Ulum Al-Din, part 4, page
382.
20. Ihya’Ulum Al-Din, part 4, page
386. 21). TahdibMadarij Al-Salikin. 22).
TahdibMadarij Al-Salikin. ]23. Ahmad and others.
