Tazkiyah and Knowledge

TAZKIYAH AND KNOWLEDGE That price is keeping oneself away from all kinds of distraction, for instance, family programmes, friendship culture, the love of food, clothes, the craving for fame and wealth and other temptations in life. All such things for a seeker of tazkiyah amount to distraction. Anyone who wants to purify himself must distance himself totally from all such things. Tazkiyah gives man a noble character and enables man to be deserving of the angels’ company. Tazkiyah brings man close to God. Without this man is like dry wood; whereas with tazkiyah, man becomes a green tree. Tazkiyah is not something mysterious: it can be equated with an awakening of the consciousness of faith. TAZKIYAH AND KNOWLEDGE Knowledge provides a wide framework for developing one’s tazkiyah. Through knowledge, which is like a booster, one discovers new aspects of increasing tazkiyah. Study increases the capacity to think in man and derive the food of realization from things at a deeper level. According to one point of view regarding the method of tazkiyah, the company of a Sufi who has attained the state of realization is a must, because just one glance from such a person is considered enough to bring about a change in the human psyche. But this point of view cannot be substantiated by either the Quran or the Hadith. According