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aslam
PAKISTAN
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 Topic initiated on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 10:55 PM 
Attainment of Tazkia Nafs
Assalam-o-Alaikum,
How should one attain Tazkia Nafs? |
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ayesha
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 5:04 AM 
I believe, there are two things that help us attain tazkia e nafs:
1. A well developed sense of right and wrong.....something that is present is every human being naturally. We call it 'the conscience'. We either pay heed to it and continuously keep questioning our own deeds/thoughts/behaviors in a just manner or subdue its cries. The former path is a very arduous one that needs a lot of courage and effort.
2. We also go through some 'natural pruning' through the tests that come our way in this life. If we seek Allah's help and try to develop the right approach towards these tests (patience, remembrance, seeking His mercy and refuge gainst all evil, forgiveness for our sins), we can hope to take a step towards the tazkia e nafs that is so important in anyone's life.
Edited by - ayesha on July 23 2003 02:47:41 |
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Jhangeer Hanif
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 6:02 AM
You will agree that inner purification is not something tangible. Rather very impalable indeed. I often think of it in terms: inner purification is so vulnerable that you let it be affected and it will be.
The Holy Qur'an itself has not prescribed a specific manner to attain inner purification. The implication being that a believer attains inner purification by acting upon the dictations of his sense of morality and also the decrees of the Shari'ah. As a person submits himself to both these sources of guidance, he comes to experience purity of heart. However, he has to be very vigilant to protect it from the adverse winds which are unleashed by Evil.
In this regard, what the sister has suggested above is very helful. We need to listen to the calls of our consceience and analyze our deeds. |
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n/a
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 10:56 AM
I agree. But attaining this ultimate state is extremely difficult.
cousin in the US who is your student.
Edited by - jhangeer hanif on July 29 2003 22:17:05 |
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Jhangeer Hanif
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 10:20 PM
Yes, Of course. This is extremely difficult, but Allah helps those who undertake to achieve this end.
[I only removed the words 'text text' appearing in the beginning of the message.] |
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n/a
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 4:20 AM
Thank u so much for your reply.I hope & pray that Allah guides us to the straight path.(AMIN)
cousin in the US who is your student. |
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Jhangeer Hanif
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 9:36 PM
| You are welcome. What do you mean by "cousin in the US who is your student" |
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aslam
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 7:43 PM
Salamooooona,
Some of my friends insist that without the guidance of a spiritual mentor(murshid)Tazkia Nafs is almost impossible.Are they right? |
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Jhangeer Hanif
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Friday, August 1, 2003 - 1:16 AM
Of course not. There is no basis of such belief in the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah. It is your adherence to the religion of Islam that leads you to inner purification.
However, the importance of teacher who helps you learn Islam cannot be denied. But that should be just a teacher--a normal human being. |
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safia
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Friday, August 1, 2003 - 12:51 PM
Firstly i am sorry about that odd sentence which seems to appear in almost everyone of my reply!!I didnt know what a box marked,with include signature was? & it was always included! Anyway I also needed to talk about the matter of having a mentor or not. I was told we need one but in my opinion we dont need any further guidance after the Quran & Hadith. We might need some one to explain what we dont understand but no other human being can be followed except the
Prophet(S).Pls shed some light on this. |
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Jhangeer Hanif
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Friday, August 1, 2003 - 9:04 PM
The word ‘guidance’ conveys different meanings in different context, you’d agree. In the perspective of a religion, guidance means Divine Guidance. As far as this sort of guidance is concerned, it has been given to mankind through ultimate sources, the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah. Both sources are secure and protected; the former in the hearts of the Muslims and the latter in the practice of the Muslims. These both sources suffice the needs of mankind regarding divine guidance for their life in this world.
Since both sources are subject to human interpretation; difference however arise. It is this point where a person needs to turn to other people. Because Muslim scholars devote their lives to understanding the religion, they should be benefited from in this regard. But their opinion is not more than the expert opinion of an Architect or Engineer. And because we do not accept such experts to be error free and weigh their opinion in the scales of sense and reason, the opinion of scholars should also b objectively judged. If found sound and appropriate, this opinion should be accepted. This is what I meant by the relationship of a teacher and student. You may call it a relationship of a mentor and pupil. And this is indeed desirable. It would be foolish to bypass the expert scholars and start learning Islam all by yourself.
As our parents teach us good manners and etiquette, some of our teachers also do the same. Sometimes, they can do this thing far better than our parents can since the former usually have read a lot about the Prophets of Allah and other great personalities of human history; these teachers know well when, how, where a student should be told about his mistake and thereafter be asked to rectify it. As you see, this whole thing depends upon the experience of the teacher and is not of the divine nature. Therefore, a student should learn from many teachers and not one. He should assess what thing he can learn better from one teacher and what from the other. There is no question of one mentor because he is not going to be error free—some type of superhuman. |
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safia
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Friday, August 1, 2003 - 10:43 PM
| Thank u so much for discussing this matter in such detail.It has beome clear to me now. However there is another thing which I dont understand. A very common practice in Pakistan is to take oath(bayt) from a peer(mentor?) & promise to keep away from all vices. In this way one is answerable to that Peer as one on each visit tells his Peer that he has or hasnt been able to keep his promise. My question is Are we in anyway answerable to a certain person (peer)?? Arent we only answerable to Allah Taala? Is this the right way? I hope you understand what i am trying to say here.Pls explain. |
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Jhangeer Hanif
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Saturday, August 2, 2003 - 11:06 PM
You are welcome
The Holy Qur’an says:
O people who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Prophet (pbuh) and those of you who are in authority, and if you disagree among yourselves in any matter, refer it to God and the Prophet if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. This is better and more seemly as regards the consequences. (4: 59)
Thus, we are supposed to follow not only Allah and His Prophet but also those who are at the realm of state affairs. In order to administer the collective affairs of the Muslim, the need for establishing a state is imperative. It is not that Islam introduced this provision of establishing a state. Humans have always strived to live under a collective system. The religion of Islam binds us to follow the rulers, whether we like them or not. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) says:
Whether they like it or not, it is obligatory on the faithful to listen and to obey their rulers except when they be ordered to commit a sin. If they are ordered so, they should neither listen nor obey. (Muslim No: 1839)
So we the Muslims are required to follow our rulers in all circumstances. The only possibility that impedes the obedience is when these rulers ask us to go against the decrees of Islam; if they command us not to say the Sala’ah (prayer), then there is no obedience et cetera.
Viewed thus, our obedience is required for those in authority and not a Peer [a spiritual guru]. Pledging to a Peer [a spiritual guru] for obedience has no basis in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. It is an innovation in faith and should be avoided.
For details on the Political Law of Islam: Please refer to course/Discussion Forum ‘Understanding Islamic Political Directives’ |
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safia
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Sunday, August 3, 2003 - 1:22 PM
| Thank u for clarifying this concept for me.Jazak Allah. |
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aslam
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Sunday, August 3, 2003 - 10:25 PM
Assala-o-Alaikum,
Salat(prayer)plays an important role in cleansing the soul(tazkiya nafs).Al-aala87:14-15 alludes to this fact. |
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safia
PAKISTAN
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Posted - Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:55 AM
| walikum assalam. Thank you so much for this valuable piece of information. I agree with you completely. |
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