اصلاح باطن

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “On every Monday and Thursday the gates of Paradise are opened, and every servant who does not associate anything with Allah Almighty is forgiven, except that person who harbours rancour against his brother (he is not forgiven). Then the command is given: keep watching these two until they are reconciled (when they are reconciled, they are forgiven).”

Man is composed of both soul and body. For the comprehensiveness of the teachings of Islam it is enough that it gives guidance on both these aspects of him. Where it has made outward deeds obligatory — such as prayer — in the same way it also draws a person's attention to the inward deeds and explains their importance. The Lord Most High declares:

“He who kept his soul pure attained his desire, and he who dragged it in the dust remained in loss.” (al-Shams 9–10)

In another place He said:

“The day when neither wealth will be of any benefit nor sons — except him who came to Allah with a pure heart.” (al-Shu'ara 88–89)

Of the many commands Allah Almighty has given us and you, some relate to the outward body and some to our soul and inward being. Thus everyone knows that we have to pray five times a day, that once a year we have to give zakat; likewise we know about fasting and Hajj too. But where in the Holy Qur'an there is the command to establish prayer and to pay zakat, in the same way there is also the command of patience and gratitude. If in one place there is the command of the obligation of fasting and the performance of Hajj, in another place this is given as the sign of the believers: that they are those who have an intense love for Allah. Just as falling short in outward deeds is a sin, so too the impurity of the inward being is a cause of ruin. Just as a person's body has an outward beauty, so too he has an inward beauty. So, just as outward deeds have their importance, in the same way inward deeds have their importance too; indeed faith and beliefs, upon which the acceptance of all deeds depends, are themselves among the acts of the inward being, and all the deeds there are exist for the perfecting of faith. Therefore the reform of the heart is the reform of deeds.

Among the inward deeds is this: that a person should be one who is patient and grateful, humble, whose heart is empty of envy and rancour, who is free of arrogance. But our condition is that those of us who do act upon the religion show great diligence in prayer, fasting and other acts of worship, yet hardly one will be found who is free of pride, arrogance, envy and the like — although to guard against these and to apply oneself to their reform is extremely necessary. In truth, the reform of the inward being is a very great part of the religion. But what care have we taken of it? Whatever we are doing, that too we are doing merely as an outward custom. Apart from a very few people, no one gives any attention at all to the real substance.

In our view sin is only this: that a person should not drink wine, should keep away from fornication, and so on. Accordingly most of us do not drink wine and do not commit fornication, but we do not consider backbiting, malice, envy, rancour and pride to be any fault at all — although, in respect of being sins, all these deeds too are sins, and to abandon all of them is likewise necessary. In truth we have abandoned a very great part of the religion; and in such a state our claim that we are Muslims is just like the claim of a man to be wealthy who has only one rupee. And just as he would be called mad, so too we shall be called mad.

The venerable scholars have said this regarding the reform of the inward being: that a person should first acquire, as much as is needed, knowledge of religion, and along with that he should create the fear of Allah in his heart. Good company and the authentic accounts of the righteous also prove helpful in the training of a person's inward being.