Topic
Purification of the Heart
purification of the self
35 entries
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What if my mind wanders during dhikr?
Heedless invocation is far better than being completely and utterly heedless, and being distracted and inattentive during dhikr shall not be the reason to stop the remembrance. Allah may grant invocation with attention to the one who invokes His Name inattentively, and that is not difficult for Allah. Remembrance increases the level of certitude; what may be a struggle at first becomes effortless, then a habit, and then one performs dhikr through the heart unconsciously.
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Does the remembrance of Allah bring peace to an anxious heart?
Worries, anxiety, depression and mental health issues are on the rise, and the concept of true happiness is lost in the vortex of worldly desires. The Creator gave the secret for happiness in the Qur'an, that only through His remembrance do hearts find peace, and when the Creator has set that rule, there is no other means to satisfaction, may it be wealth, fame or status. The Qur'an is a manual and a code for conduct revealed by the Creator, and one who chooses not to follow its rules faces the repercussions not only in the afterlife but also in this world.
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How does dhikr polish the heart?
Every soul is born on fitrah and is slowly tainted by the world and its desires, and its only salvation is the remembrance of Allah, until all doubts and delusions are annihilated and the soul becomes pure again. Remembrance is the food of the soul; through it the heart is cleansed, faith is strengthened, the soul is elevated and the state of ihsan is achieved.
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Can a heart with ailments, or with anything other than Allah in it, come to know Him?
The ghair, the other, is anything and everything except Allah. Tasawwuf is complete submission to Allah: for the heart it lies in His cognizance, which cannot be achieved in a heart with ailments or with the ghair in it, and for the body in acts of obedience in accordance with the Shariah. Complete submission of the body demands the right Aqida and following Islamic jurisprudence, and with an error in Aqida, no matter how many good deeds one performs, Allah's cognizance and pleasure cannot be attained.
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Are there haram states of the heart, as there are haram acts?
The Shariah, which in many Qur'anic verses and Hadith commands states of the heart such as fear of Allah and sincerity toward Him, likewise forbids inward states such as envy, malice, pride, arrogance, love of this world and anger for the sake of one's ego. The causes and remedies for the forbidden states are discussed by scholars such as Imam al-Ghazali, Imam al-Rabbani and al-Suhrawardi, in books of Islamic jurisprudence, which deal with the inner state of a Muslim according to the Prophetic Sunnah.
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Who purified the Companions, and how did purification continue after the Prophet?
The Companions, we believe, were purified by the Beloved Prophet himself and reached a level of excellence which no other human can achieve till the end of time; even after he left this world, they continued his mission till the end of their lives. Just as the Qur'an was taught by the Companions to the Tabi'een and by the Tabi'een to the Taba Tabi'een, the Companions also took over the tasks of teaching wisdom and purification, and the process continued.
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What does Yuzakkihim (purify them) mean?
Muslims believe that all four objectives of the Prophetic mission are important, so purification, the objective named Yuzakkihim ("to purify them"), holds a strong significance in it. In the literal term that purification means following the Shariah, leading the life according to the Sunnah, getting rid of the evils and attaining the true state of heart.
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What were the four tasks of the Prophet’s mission?
When Abraham built the Ka'ba, he supplicated and asked Allah to send a Messenger amongst them, who would teach them the Book and purify them, and Allah answered his prayers by sending His Last Prophet with that mission. Its four tasks, reciting the Qur'an, teaching the Book, wisdom and purifying, form the foundation on which Islamic law, the code of conduct and governance are based.
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Can a seeker benefit from reading his shaykh’s words?
The letters Mujaddid Alf Thani wrote to disciples who lived away from him are still read and used as a great reference to Tasawwuf, and the intent can be gathered from a shaykh's words whether they are heard or read, though his company has profound benefits of its own and the traditional way of listening to him and keeping him informed of one's states remains the best way prescribed. Books are the great source of information, but it is when they are combined with tálluq, the connection with a shaykh, that information becomes knowledge, and great scholars known for their works, Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani and Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi among them, maintained tálluq with a shaykh.
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Why is bad company worse than a disbeliever’s company?
The disbelief of a disbeliever is obvious, whereas the heedless will corrupt the heart of those who keep his company, and a seeker has to make sure to find the company of the righteous. Following a heedless man whose heart is indulged in worldly desires arouses the same in the heart of his follower, and the Prophet taught that a man's religion is like that of his close friend.