Disgraced Community

Dr. Syed Aleem Ashraf Jaisi speech on 'Purification of Heart' at Masab tank, Khaja mansion hall, Banjara Hills in an event organized by Quran Foundation.
Published in Muslim Murasu, October 2011

You have assembled here, this shows that your Imaan is in good health. You have the quest and interest in good things. Moomin, who believes in God, always pursues knowledge. Ali (rali) tells thus - A person is Aalim (scholar) until he seeks knowledge. Once he feels that he is done, that he has gained enough knowledge, his ignorance and folly starts from there.
We have gathered here to pay attention to purify our hearts. It is one of Islam’s basic tenets to strengthen soul and to purify Nafs. All of God’s commands revolve around purifying soul. If dress is clean, but body is dirty, then dress will soon become dirty. Its cleanliness will vanish.
There is no use in having clean body but impure heart. Purifying heart is more important than bodily cleanliness.
Heart, Rooh, and Nafs, these three pertain to same subject. A hadees that deals with one of these can aptly apply to all of them. They have distinct characteristics and features, but in essence they are same. Prophet tells about Qalb (heart) in one hadees – “There is a piece of flesh in your body. If it is good, whole body will be good. If it is corrupted, whole body will be corrupted. That is heart.”
Pure heart is paramount in Islam. We give more importance to look and appearance. This corrupt attitude has imbued in all aspects of our life and society. This has infiltrated religious realm also. Exhibit, cosmetic things have become more important while essence and core is losing its significance.
Rituals and other deeds are not going to be helpful unless we purify our hearts. Many verses in Quran deal with Tajkiyah Nafs, purification of heart. “He sent among them an Apostle from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of God, sanctifying them, and instructing them Scripture and Wisdom” 3:164 (Surah AlaImran, verse 164).
Prophet is entrusted with three responsibilities. To bring the Book, to teach God’s Book and Wisdom and to sanctify Nafs, heart. Purifying heart is not some esoteric subject to be dealt by some small group, Jamath or only for Sufi fraternity. All the Prophets have been sent with this sole purpose.
Man is made of physical body, intellect and Rooh (soul). Each one of these has different attributes and needs. All three should be in harmony for a person to be in proper shape. A person will be successful and receive God’s grace when all these three function correctly. Mentally impaired people are restricted in mental asylums. Although they have healthy physical bodies, society isolates them. All three components should be in synergy for a person to become member in Islamic society. Purification of Nafs is essential to qualify to enter paradise. Else they will be isolated and removed. We are not paying adequate attention to the third component.
Jibreel came and sat in front of the Prophet with his knees against Prophet's knees. Jibreel questioned about Imaan, Islam and Ehsaan. Prophet answered him. Later Prophet explained to his companions that Jibreel came to teach their Deen (religion) to them.
We are aware of the first two. But we don’t conduct enough discussions, clarifications and books on the third subject. We do not show interest in it. Syllabus and applications are different for primary education, medium education and higher education. Hidayath is different for each of the three. Imaan is for brain, Islam is for body and Ehsaan is for soul. If we accept one and reject another, Deen will be incomplete. We should be alive to the needs of all three. It is Prophet’s important duty to teach Ehsaan.
Each verse in Quran is significant. But God takes vows on some subjects to illustrate their comparatively additional importance. Some places He has taken two vows, three vows etc. But on one particular matter He has taken thirteen vows. That is Tajkiyah Nafs, purification of heart. See Surah 91, Shams, verses 1 to 10. “Truly he succeeds that purifies soul”.
Nafs commands sinful deeds. It is our biggest enemy. If we purify it, the same Nafs will lead us to goodness. Nafs is very cunning. It can turn our Ibadath (prayer) against us and lead us to hell. After doing Ibadath, we will feel proud. Then our prayer will become a sin.
Prophet tells in a hadees – A Muslim starts for prayer. He is distracted by his child crying. He proceeds further. He remembers customers in his shop. He ignores and reaches mosque and finishes prayer. Now Nafs fires the last weapon. “No one can pray as good as you”. He gets this proud feeling. Not only is his prayer wasted, but his status has gone worse than his previous status. Instead of taking him closer to God, this prayer has increased the distance.
Nafs is root of all evils. We have to purify it to succeed. The process for this is Mujahida. Jihad should be first against Nafs and Shaitan. Later it should be against others. We have three enemies. First enemy is Nafs. We are oblivious to the enemy at home and waging battle against others. We have forsaken fight against Nafs. Instead of fighting against Nafs, we are fighting under its command. This has brought great calamities for us. Instead of giving Sawab (rewards), Jihad is creating problems for our community. When I was young, I used to frequently travel between Lucknow and Allahabad in trains. I used to see that when a woman boards the train, she would look in the bogey for a Muslim and go and sit next to him. They felt a sense of security in sitting with Muslims. This was some 35 years ago. After all Jihad, now the situation is that even men are scared to sit with Muslims. This is because we changed the order.
First we had to fight against Nafs. But we gave third priority to this. Nafs did not change at all, it has become worser and worser. Once when Prophet was returning from a battle, he advised that this is small battle, big battle is that waged against one’s self. Now Mujahids are embroiled in personal and gang fights. First they fight in favor of a nation, and when situation changes, they fight against that same nation. They are unnecessarily involving whole Islamic community in their personal liking and disliking. This is bringing loss to the whole community.
Ulamas (Islamic scholars) are of the opinion that there are four entities that are hurdles to God’s path. They are Nafs, Shaitan, Maqlooq (creations) and Duniya (materialism). Maqlooq is a hurdle because we do many things and stay away from many things just to impress others. We are not giving merit to goodness. This will bring God’s wrath. We need not forsake Duniya. But we should not indulge too much and sink in it.
Nafs is our enemy. Purifying it involves purifying it externally and internally. External cleaning is easier as always. Mouth, eyes, ears, hands, legs, sex organ and stomach, these are seven servants of Nafs. But they can be helpful in doing good deeds also. Abusing others, telling lies and backbiting are done by mouth under the command of Nafs. Sufis advice us to control our tongue. Talk little, think and then talk. While talking, think whether you are pleasing your Nafs or pleasing God. Internal sins are like faking goodness, pretentious attitude and feeling proud. Let us get rid of both external and internal sins. That is Tajkiyah Nafs.