Tazkiyah and Introspection

Tazkiyah is not a one-time course. That is, it is not possible to take a course for a temporary period and become a permanently purified person. The truth is that purification is a continuous process, which lasts for a lifetime. Tazkiyah is an act of introspection, in which one has to monitor one’s own actions. One who is desirous of tazkiyah must be careful about his speech and actions at every moment. With total objectivity, he must repeatedly engage in self-reappraisal. This process of introspection is set in only in one who repents and does introspection.

This present world – a testing ground – has been created by the Creator in such a way that at every moment man is beset by trials. Repeatedly faced with the demands of the self, satanic temptations may lead him to do something undesirable; and unfavourable circumstances, coupled with a bad environment, may cause him to fall a prey to evil influences. All such failings run counter to tazkiyah.

Man should be so sensitive in this matter that, on each such occasion of temptation, he immediately becomes alert to the immanent dangers. One purifies oneself and then does one’s utmost to re-purify. Re-purifying oneself on such occasions is tazkiyah. But without introspection, no one can become a purified personality. Introspection leads to intellectual development, which is a guarantee that the process of tazkiyah will continue to take place.