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PURITY IS THE FOUNDATION OF FAITH

Islam emphasizes purity very strongly. Quran states the reason for the coming of all prophets is to purify the mankind throughout the verses of Holy Quran. (الطهور نصف الإيمان) a Purified man has earned half of his Iman to perfection.

Quran says. (لايمسه الا المطهرون). “لايمسه “is (used in future tense مضارع) which makes the meaning as “Never can anyone touch the holy Quran, except the purified ones”. Thahir is one who is pure. Muthahir is one who is purified by a purifier. So, Quran asserts that it cannot even be approached than touched except by those who are purified in such a way. But contrary to this what is happening: The holy book is touched and dishonored by the ignorants in many ways. The holy Quran is the doctrine of divine love of Allah to his beloved Rasoolullahiﷺ and from him to his beloved Ummah.

Here at this point, we should pause a little to find what is that purity which constitutes half of Iman. Janabath is a form of impurity. Ritual bathing cleanses one from this impurity. The dust or soil can be considered as purer as it can be used to cleanse the najz from certain animals. Ablution is a cleansing process in a more inward plane of consciousness.” الحمد لله الذي جعل الماء طهورا” .We say this at the time of ablutions. Ablution cleanses the lesser impurities. So, if one has raised both these veils of impurity- could he be considered as the purified one? The purity referred as Athahoor in the sacred hadith, if attained is half of the perfection to Iman?

If this is the purity which is referred, then “قد أفلح من زكاها”

Then with this purity alone one can be successful- Which is not the case.

The physical body can be cleansed by water and soil. But even in the physical body there is a place where the drops of pure water seldom reach. Or the angel Gibreel (A.S) could cleanse one’s heart and remove the impurity with the holy water of Zam Zam as he did for our beloved prophet Rasulullahi (ﷺ). The purification of the heart is the important aspect which most of the mankind conveniently forgets or pays the least attention to.

"إِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ لَمُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ، وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ"

The ritual ablution has inner planes, which cannot be explained by tutors who only possess speculated notions of the physical world and they poorly consider themselves pure after these rituals.

So now we shall discuss further about the purification of “heart “which can rightly be considered as the door way to realization of self.

"إِن في جَوف ابْن آدم لمضغة اذا صلحت صلح بهَا سَائِر الْجَسَد وَإِذا فَسدتْ فسد بهَا سَائِر الْجَسَد الا وَهِي الْقلب. "

There is a lump of meat in every human. If it gets refined whole body gets refined. If it gets worse whole body gets worse. It is the heart. In continuation to this Hadith Ali (R.A) says:

" وفي القلب روح وفي الروح نور وفي النور سر وفي السرِّ أنا"

“Inside heart there is soul. Inside soul there is Noor, and the Sirr (The secret, the treasure) is embedded within Noor”. So, when cleansing the heart one should learn how to clean the soul in its inner plane, and the Fire should be purified on the next inward plane and the Noor (Noor is not the light as we usually understand) on the innermost plane.

One shall obtain this treasure only on such a state of purification. Last lines of this hadith are “وفي السر أنا” ie, I am contained in that secret. So, this hadith points out to what must be purified. In some religions, there are references to “Agni shudhi” (Fire purification). Religions like Majoose are fire worshippers as there is a purifying aspect in fire. Yet again the Noor inside the fire have a purifying aspect on a further deeper plane. Sun worshippers are taking this peculiar purifying aspect of Noor.

But as far as a Mu’min is concerned he seeks purification in a very special way. Remember the hadith: أنا من نور الله

Khulafa-ur Rashideen all chose just to look at the face of Allah’s Rasool (ﷺ) to all other forms of worship they did. There is definitely no other superior way to purification other than this i.e., simply to look at the graceful- countenance or radiating wajh (Face) of Allah’s habeeb (ﷺ). No better tazkiyath is there for the mankind. This method of purification reaches all planes of the heart.

So, for a Mu’min the utmost form of purity is attained by doing Muraqaba (meditating) over the radiant face of Rasulullahi(ﷺ). About attaining this purity Allah has disclosed his secret for mankind. Mu’min is a mirror to mu’min. "المؤمن مرآة المؤمن"

إن الدين عند الله الإسلام .The acceptable Deen before Allah is islam, and Islam starts with the purity attained only through the covenant of Thouheed which is etched to the various planes of consciousness of a receptive mureed ( any human having Iraada i.e., Intension.) by a Sheikh. This means that the Kalima of Shahadath must be imparted only by those who had shahadat. Deen comprehensively is Islam, Iman and Ihsan as narrated by the hadith:

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَارِزًا يَوْمًا لِلنَّاسِ فَأَتَاهُ رَجُلٌ فَقَالَ: مَا الْإِيمَانُ؟ قَالَ: "الْإِيمَانُ أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَبِلِقَائِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَتُؤْمِنَ بِالْبَعْثِ" قَالَ: مَا الْإِسْلَامُ؟ قَالَ: "الْإِسْلَامُ أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكَ بِهِ وَتُقِيمَ الصَّلَاةَ وَتُؤَدِّيَ الزَّكَاةَ الْمَفْرُوضَةَ وَتَصُومَ رَمَضَانَ" قَالَ: مَا الْإِحْسَانُ؟ قَالَ: "أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ" قَالَ: مَتَى السَّاعَةُ؟ قَالَ: "مَا الْمَسْئُولُ عَنْهَا بِأَعْلَمَ مِنَ السَّائِلِ, وَسَأُخْبِرُكَ عَنْ أَشْرَاطِهَا: إِذَا وَلَدَتِ الْأَمَةُ رَبَّتَهَا وَإِذَا تَطَاوَلَ رُعَاةُ الْإِبِلِ الْبُهْمُ فِي الْبُنْيَانِ, فِي خَمْسٍ لَا يَعْلَمُهُنَّ إِلَّا اللَّهُ تَعَالَى" ثُمَّ تَلَا النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: {إِنَّ اللَّهَ عِنْدَهُ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ} ثُمَّ أَدْبَرَ فَقَالَ: "رُدُّوهُ" فَلَمْ يَرَوْا شَيْئًا فَقَالَ: "هَذَا جِبْرِيلُ جَاءَ يُعَلِّمُ النَّاسُ دِينَهُمْ"

From this hadith through the description of Ihsan one could understand that Shahadath can be bestowed only by practicing Ihsan. Practice of Ihsan is the Muraqaba- which then becomes the foundation of deen. Muraqaba is not meditation even in its simplest form. The Sheikh guides the mureed through the various stages of shahadath (Shahadath literally means to testify an existence through vision). The Shahadath has many levels or planes of realization- which forms the journey of a mureed to his maqsad or destination.

The sweetness of the hadith “"طوبى لمن رآني ولمن رأى من رآني ولمن رأى من رأى من رآني (Happiness to Those who have seen me, and to Those who have seen Those who saw me. And to those who have seen Those who have seen Those who saw me) can be understood only by those who had seen them).

Arshad Ibrahim Sulthani