Tazkiya

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem
As-salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu : )

Hope you're all in the best of health and imaan, and increasing with each day.....

I was listening to Shaykh Kamal's (db) talk on Ramadan (a beautiful and beneficial talk, Masha'Allah... may Allah preserve and increase him) and he kept making the point that Ramadan is closely tied to tazkiya, which means purification of the heart... spiritual cleansing... essentially tasawwuf. He'd mention one aspect of Ramadan and then tie that point into tazkiya, so we could see how one of the main points of Ramadan is to help us purify our hearts so that we can be better slaves of Allah subhanaahu wa ta 'aala, and by His Mercy earn His Pleasure. So for example, he was saying how when you fast, you're willingly giving up that which is lawful for the sake of attaining the Pleasure of Allah 'azza wa jal. Therefore, it's even easier to leave that which is unlawful. So in Ramadan we should be careful to avoid any and every kind of sin... sins of the limbs (eyes, ears, tongue, stomach, hands, feet and privates), sins of the mind (sinful thoughts and recollections) and sins of the heart (sinful desires.) This is essentially one of the goals of tazkiya as well... or rather, one of the steps to attaining a pure heart... leaving any and every form of sin.

So anyway, he gives a few examples of how Ramadan is closely tied to tazkiya. The above was a sneak peak at what he says.. so that you'll want to go and hear the talk on your own, if you haven't already : ) Well, the point of my saying all this was that I stumbled upon this little article-type thing on tazkiya from another sister's blog (may Allah reward her) and I thought it was sooo beautiful Masha'Allah, so I thought I'd post it here. It's really quite short, so do take a glance at it. In fact, no- read it properly.... coz if you've read everything up until this properly and I'm a complete nobody, then for sure you should be reading this teeny little article by an amazing shaykh.

Enjoy : )


TAZKIYAH

Tazkiyah is the synonym of Tasawwuf. The literal meaning of Tazkiyah is purification, but in the terminology of the seekers (the Salekin those on the path to spiritual reformation) it means to purify ones soul from all sort of spiritual diseases and maladies, which can lead to displeasure of Allah Subhanahu Wata aala

Tazkiyah is extremely important for those who are in search for the love of Allah Subhanahu Wata aala. The main objective of Tazkiyah and Tasawwuf is to purify the heart before the true love of Allah Taala can penetrates in ones heart, similar to that when one begins to pray one has to purify his body.

Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Qur'an:

Indeed Allah loves those who repent and those who are clean"

For people to clean their physical bodies they need water, whether it is from a tap, well or river. In the same way for a person to clean his inner self (Nafs) he needs the water to flow from his eyes and his heart. The heart plays a great role here. Why? Because for true repentance and spiritual cleansing the tears have to flow from the heart before the tears flow from the eyes.

There is no tap that one can just turn on and expect to find clean water within the heart. Its source lies beneath the rocks of pride, jealousy, hatred, greed, ambition, doubt and so forth. Before the water comes bursting through the rocks, one has to begin the process of slowly but surely lifting away each rock, so that the water can flow through and the rays of the sun can enter those places, which were once covered in darkness by these rocks. If these rocks are removed then there is true spiritual reformation.

Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Qur'an

Indeed he is successful who purifies himself. (Surah as-Shams: 9)

It is only after cleansing the heart and the soul from spiritual diseases one is able to truly become aware of the presence of his Lord.

The Holy Qur'an and Ahadith are filled with warnings regarding specific diseases and their injurious and detrimental effects. Therefore it is essential to diagnose these diseases and find an effective cure in order to find serenity and peace in the hearts.

Allah Ta'ala says in the holy Qur'an:

Indeed whosoever purifies himself shall achieve success
(Surah al-Ghashiyah: 14)

http://www.khanqah.co.uk/Tasawwuf_article.htm

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Please take a moment to make du'a for all the 'ulema and awilyaa of today and of days gone by, those we know of and those awliyaa who spent their lives in silent worship of Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala and were never known.

Was-salaam ma'al ikraam,
Zareen