Discovering God

impression, however, that a brief training course is all that it takes to attain a state of tazkiya. That is, it is just like receiving religious education in a seminary within the limited frame of a short-term prescribed course of study. But the truth is that this is an underestimation of tazkiya. Tazkiya, a cumulative process, and not the result of any fixed practice, requires an awakened mind. It is attained through an unflagging intellectual process and not by engaging in any temporary course of study. The Process of De-Conditioning Tazkiya, a continuous process, goes on day in and day out. When it does not happen in this way, there is a hadith which describes the result of this: “The heart becomes covered with rust, just like iron when it comes in contact with water.” A question was asked: “O Prophet! What is the way to purify or clean one’s heart?” The Prophet replied, “Remembering death often and studying the Quran.” (Shu‘ab al-Iman, al-Bayhaqi, Hadith No. 1859) This tradition of the Prophet tells us of a psychological reality. That is, in the context of the society he lives in, a person has repeatedly to undergo such experiences as produce negative feelings within him, for instance, anger, hatred, violence, revenge, and so on. An individual ought to bury these feelings instantly, for, if he fails to do so, they