The Criterion of Tazkiya
The Quran states: “He who purifies it (soul) will indeed be successful and he who corrupts it is sure to fail.” (91:9-10). We learn from this verse of the Quran that purification (tazkiya) means saving one’s God-given personality from corruption or defilement. As for man’s nature, he is born with it. Every human being comes into this world with the purified personality desirable by God. But in leading his life in this world, he never ceases to corrupt his God-given nature. In modern terminology this is called environmental or societal conditioning.
In this respect, the criterion of purification is for a person to learn about his fall from grace through introspection. And on the principle of self-reform he should rehabilitate himself and return to the natural state bestowed upon him by his Creator. The purified personality in other words is restored to pristine virtue. One who purifies himself in this way is the one who will be held deserving of entry into Paradise in the Hereafter.
What is the criterion of tazkiya? It is that one becomes so in tune with the divine way of thinking and the divine way of life that one feels that one is being guided by the voice of one’s own nature. Without any hesitation one should be willing to accept this, even if it runs counter to one’s cherished desires.
The real aim of tazkiya is attachment to God. This is the whole truth. To put it another way, tazkiya enables one to focus so totally on God that one becomes free of all other considerations, save devotion to God. Tazkiya enables one to make God the centre of one’s attention in the complete sense.
Making God one’s sole concern is no simple matter. It is akin to bringing about a total revolution in one’s psyche. One who experiences such a revolution takes God as the Giver in the full sense, and regards himself as the taker in the full sense. His thinking becomes God-oriented: his feelings are centred entirely on God. His words and deeds reflect the divine culture. Modesty grows within him, he becomes a man cut to size. His heart is full of well-wishing instead of hatred for others. Instead of becoming haughty and insolent, he becomes modest.
His attitude to others is submissive rather than insolent. In all matters, he owns up to his own mistakes rather than blame others. He begins to prefer remaining silent rather than be talkative. Instead of occupying the front seat, he prefers to take the back seat.
Before uttering a single word, he gives thought to whether his words in the presence of God will be accepted or rejected. In private, he is as cautious as he is in public.
