پاکیزگی کی اہمیت

It is narrated from Abu Malik al-Harith ibn Asim al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Purity (cleanliness) is half of faith (that is, in reward it equals half of faith); and saying 'Alhamdulillah' fills the scale (that is, this deed is very heavy in the balance); and saying 'Subhan Allah wal-Hamdulillah' fills what is between the heavens and the earth. Prayer is light (by which one is guided towards the truth in this world); charity is a proof (that the one who gives it is a believer); patience is illumination. The Qur'an is a proof for you (if it is acted upon; otherwise) it is a proof against you. Every person sets out each morning about his affairs, and is either a seller of his own soul (setting it free) or its destroyer (depriving it of Allah's mercy)."

In this hadith the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out several matters for the reform of the Ummah. First he mentioned purity and described it as half of faith. In reality a human being is a combination of two things — the heart and the body — and a person's faith is complete only when both attain purity. The purity of the heart is that a person keeps himself from shirk, disbelief and innovations and holds complete faith in the Oneness of Allah; this in truth is the foundation of a person's faith. And when a person also adopts the purity of the body, his faith is completed — that is why in the noble hadith outward purity has been called half of faith. Allah instructed His Prophet ﷺ regarding this in the earliest period of revelation: "And keep your garments clean and pure, and shun all filth and impurity" (Al-Muddaththir 4–5). This hadith shows that our religion wishes us to keep ourselves clean in every way, and that outward cleanliness receives as much attention with it as does the cleanliness of the inner self. After that, the hadith mentions the virtue of the remembrance of Allah and its boundless reward; then prayer, which gives a person guidance and light; then charity, which is a proof of a believer's truthfulness and sincerity; then the virtue of patience, which is a great weapon for the believing servant at times of trial, through which he gains steadfastness; then the Noble Qur'an, which is both a means of salvation for a person and a cause of ruin, as Allah Himself has said: "Indeed this Qur'an guides to that which is most upright, and gives glad tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that for them is a great reward" (Bani Isra'il, 9). By contrast, ruin lies in not acting upon the Qur'an. And at the end of the hadith it is said that a person should not leave his soul idle, but keep it engaged in good and righteous deeds; otherwise evil deeds will become the cause of his destruction and ruin.