The conferences

Self purification is a means
of success

Introduction:

Many Ulemas consider the self as the center of all the evils, but the reality is different from this. Allah, High Exalted is He, sow seeds of good and evil in the self of human being. He say: « …And the soul and He who balanced it; then He inspired it to knowledge of wickedness and piety! Indeed successful is he who keeps it pure; and indeed, failed is he who corrupts it ».  [Surat Ash-Shames/the Sun:7- 10]

The role of education and purification is to water the seeds of good and to refine the seeds of evil and guide them.

First: The definition of self purification:

1-Linguistically: It means cleanness or growth.

2-Its deepest meaning: it is a science that is concerned with the purification of the selves, filling them with virtues and emptying them from vices.

Ibn Massôud said: «The prophet may peace be upon him was emptying us first then filling us».

The prophet may peace be upon him said « God educated me and gave me a good breeding».

Second:  The importance of self purification:

1- It is considered as the basis of man's life, and he can not dispense with it all his life.

2- Self purification was the primordial aim of the messengers after calling to monotheism. The Almighty Allah say: «God is the one who has sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves, to recite His revelation to them and to purify them, and to teach them the Book and the wisdom, though before they had been in manifest error». [Surat Al Jumu'ah/the Friday 02].

3- Education preceded teaching. Knowledge without morals has no value, and if knowledge is related to the minds education is related to the selves.

4- Self purification is a means of success in life and in the Hereafter. The Almighty Allah say: «…And the soul and He who balanced it; then He inspired it to knowledge of wickedness and piety! Indeed successful is he who keeps it pure; and indeed failed is he who corrupts it». [Surat Ash-shams/The Sun 7-10].

5- The prophet-may peace be upon him- was always invoking God with the following invocation: «O my Lord, give myself its piety and purify it, you are the best who make it pure».

Third: Its necessity.

1- Every human being needs education and self purification all over his life, for the purified self is always successful.

2- Omar Ibn El khatab -may God be pleased with him- dispatched or sent a letter to Sâad bnu abi Oukas in which he said «Now after… I advise you to fear God and ask His help for yourselves as you ask Him victory on your enemies».

3- Self purification is a significant factor in the victory of a nation or its defeat. This is what Sallah Eddin El-Ayoubi declared at the eve of the war. When he found some tents of his soldiers enlightened he said: «victory may come from this tents», and when he found the others dark he said «defeat may come from them».

4- Contemporary psychologists like Dial Karnidji and Edward Spinner Golz agreed on the necessity to refine the self and to fortify the personality in order to ensure success in one's life.

Fourth: Means of self purification:-

1-The accomplishment of divine percepts and supererogatories such as: prayer, fasting, giving alms and pilgrimage. The letters are among the great devotions that are considered as the primordial means of self purification.

2- The glorification and the extolling of God: they embody praising, glorifying (to say: there is no god but Allah), asking God's forgiveness and invocation. Allah the Great say: «O you who believe, remember God, and glorify Him morning and evening». [Surat Al-Ahzab/The Allies 41-42].

3- Contemplating and pondering Allah's readable Book "the Holly Koran" and His opened Book i.e. "the universe".

4- Good companionship: the prophet -may peace be upon him- said: «the person follows his intimate friend's character, so choose your companions».

5- Devotions: Esh-Shafiâi said: « If you do not keep busy your self with devotion, it occupies you with sins».

6- Working: In his book “The Art of Forgetting Distress” John Boys declared that immoderate work is the ideal means to distant from sorrow and distress. The Muslim is ordered to busy himself with work and to perfect it in order to feel quietness and easiness.

7- To care about the great affairs of the nation. In fact, occupying one's self with portentous matters increases the aspiration and distant selves from banalities and futilities.

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