FROM THE SPIRITUAL TREE

attained spiritual progress which is desirable in Islam. In the Quran it is called, coming before one’s Lord with a “pure heart” (26: 89). According to a Hadith, while praying the Prophet observed, “May God fill my heart with light.” Similarly, while praying for someone, the Prophet once uttered these words, “O God, forgive his sins and purify his heart.” In the book Muatta of the Islamic scholar Imam Malik, a saying of sage Luqman is recorded in these words: God revives the heart with the light of wisdom, just as He revives the dead earth with rains. This is called spiritual progress. And it is this spiritual progress which is the actual goal of Islam. Those who fail to make spiritual progress will never become truly Islamic in character. o Purification is for one to rid oneself of the outer shell of moral grime acquired by external conditioning and revert to the upright nature one was born with.