The Importance of Tazkiyah

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Means of Reaching God Man is the creation and God is his Creator. As such, it is human nature that he should come close to God to the ultimate extent. But various things, such as pride, negative thinking, etc., separate man from God. Tazkiyah aims at thoroughly purifying man of such negative feelings. The moment one detaches oneself from things other than God, one instantly feels that one has come as close to one’s Creator as it is humanly possible to come. One begins to experience the presence of God all around one. The level of nearness to God depends on the level of personal realization of God. For instance, everyone is in need of innumerable things to survive in this world. But no human being is the creator of all these things. Someone else has bestowed them upon mankind, and God is undoubtedly that Bestower. God, the Supreme Being, is the only Giver. It is undoubtedly due to God’s unilateral blessings that man can exist in this world. If – even for a moment – this chain of blessings were broken, man would no longer be able to sustain himself. How to Attain Tazkiyah? Traditionally, some things are considered to be the means of attaining tazkiyah, such as, supererogatory prayers, recitation of the Quran, prophetic prayers, meditation, companionship, taking lessons from the lives of the “saints”, etc. According to this thinking, tazkiyah is like a fixed course, or something to be learned from a manual. However, the truth is that there is no fixed course for attaining tazkiyah. Tazkiyah can be attained only through a living act. The real means of attaining the ends of tazkiyah is for man to reflect on the signs of God, activate his thinking, and through continuous reflection or pondering, discover the deeper realities of things. This discovery is spiritual food for a person who is a seeker of tazkiyah. For instance, suppose you see a bird. This reminds you of this saying of the Prophet that the hearts of the people of Paradise will be like the hearts of birds. You later begin to think about yourself – whether or not your heart is like that of the bird; whether or not your heart is free of all negative thinking like that of the bird; whether or not you are free from greed like the bird; whether or not you are as harmless as a bird; whether or not you follow the law of nature, just as the bird does. Such thinking is the essence of tazkiyah. Without such introspection, no one can attain tazkiyah. Tazkiyah enables a person to reach his full potential by removing obstacles from his path of development. Tazkiyah Purification of the Soul 19 www.cpsglobal.org www.alquranmission.org www.goodwordbooks.com Goodword Books 1, Nizamuddin West Market New Delhi-110 013 Tel. +9111-4182-7083, Mob. +91-8588822672 info@goodwordbooks.com Goodword Books, Chennai 82/324, Triplicane High Road, Triplicane Chennai 600005 Mob. +91-9790853944 Center for Peace and Spirituality USA 2665 Byberry Road Bensalem, PA 19020 Cell: (617) 960-7156 cps@alrisala.org Center for Peace and Spirituality 1, Nizamuddin West Market New Delhi-110 013 info@cpsglobal.org