Tazkiyah and Renunciation
of the World

Renouncing the world is renouncing the madu. Renouncing the world is to go away from those to whom the dayee has to convey the divine truth.

In later times one group adopted the path of renunciation of the world in order to attain tazkiyah. But disenchantment with the world is required in the psychological sense rather than in the practical sense. The concept of the renunciation of the world is a product of non-dawah (missionary) thinking. The world is inhabited by human beings, as such, renouncing the world is akin to renouncing people. A dayee cannot afford to abandon people on any pretext. Others may see people from other angles, but a dayee looks at man as a potential madu. In the eyes of a dayee, every man is a madu, be he rich or poor, a commoner or a VIP, ruler or ruled. Even if he is a rival or a tyrant, in the eyes of the dayee, he is a human being. And a dayee’s first desire is to convey the truth to him.

A dayee cannot afford to say that if someone enters from one gate, he will go out from another gate. He will instead say that the coming person (visitor) is a madu for him and, as such, he will meet him and convey the message of truth to him with wisdom.

Renouncing the world is to distance oneself from the madu whereas a dayee must maintain good relations with the madu, only then he can convey the message of God to them.

A businessman can walk away from everything but he cannot walk away from his customers. In a similar way, a dayee can tolerate everything but he cannot tolerate going to a secluded place where there are no madus. When he remains among the madus, he may be beset by certain problems, but he overlooks them because he cannot afford to break off his relations with them. Along with tazkiyah, dawah is an equally important goal for the believer. And if a believer is sincere it is not possible for him either to give up his efforts to attain tazkiyah or to give up his dawah activities.